The Woburn MA Historical Society is seeking information on buying a display only steam locomotive as part of a public renewal project.
It will be used as part of a playground located on a proposed bike path in the city of Woburn, MA. The location of the park is about a mile from any railhead. So we will have to move it by truck from the railhead.
Obviously costs are sensitive to trains weight and we only want and need the shell but will consider buying a complete steam engine if nothing else is available.
We are serious about this so we need hard figures on the cost of buying the engine, moving it, and preparing it for display.
To that end we are seeking to talk to others who may have had similar projects as well as owners of engines who want to sell or donate. (It will be a great tax write-off.)
So what we need is to have contact with someone who has:
Bought and moved a steam locomotive and has the figures available.
(This need not have been done recently.)
Offers from owners willing to sell a train and costs associated with moving it.
Knowledge of where to begin a search of this nature.
If you have any information that you think will be helpful to us please contact John Foreman at: WoburnTrainSearch@comcast.net
or if you know someone who can help us please feel free to forward this email to them. We will be eternally grateful.
I am curious about your project. You mention using a locomotive as a display in a playground. How exactly would you set this up in the context of a playground? What would be the purpose of the display?
G’day, Y’all,
You might contact the Okefenokee Heritage Center in Waycross, GA about how they got a Baldwin catalog Mike to their site. It was before 1976 and it involved either the Georgia National Guard or Army reserve. As I recall from taking pictures of it for the Waycross Journal-Herald, it was a lot like putting a couple of sections of track in front of it, push it to the end of the line then take up the track behind it and put it back in front of the loco. Repeat repeatedly.
Personally, I don’t think locomotives are good fits for playgrounds. They were never meant to be “played” on. They were serious business machines with signs on them warning employees to be cautious. For good reason!
Years ago we had a old LaFrance Airport Fire Engine Pumper in our school play ground growing up. Us small wee ones thought of a game to get inside the pump area of the rig midships where there are many pipes and things to get stuck in.
You wont believe the confined spaces a 8 year old can get into with a supply of courage.
They had to board it up and eventually remove the windows, doors etc because kids kept getting into trouble on that thing. I was only 8 at the time but learned the Hi range/Lo Range shift pattern on the driver’s transmission.
Lesson, if you want to mount an engine on a playground, you better strip it down quite a bit because when that phone rings and so-n-so is mad because his or her kid got hurt or actually stuck on or in it…
Personally I wont want to do such a thing.
Another thing, who is going to clean up vandalism or graffitti?
I seriously doubt any one in authority will let you do this. There is far too much liability and since you are looking here, you don’t have the wherewithall to do it anyway.
Bucyrus…It will be part of a government funded historical project. Woburn is an old town that had lots of old rail lines going thru it and teminating in it. The playground occupies part of what used to be an old rail line and spur. So the steam engine would be part history and part playground. something to let the kids climb on. We would prefer to have just a shell but we will take what we can get as long as it stays in budget. As far as liability for some kid getting injured goes, we have been told by the town lawyer that it will be considered a piece of playground equiptment and the town will not be at fault if someone gets hurt playing on it.
Thanks for the reply. I will pass your info on to the search committee. We have a group of lawyers that are putting their heads together about the liability end of things. That is the reason that we would prefer a shell rather than a huge piece of equiptment. Thanks again
Hi Safety, We are considering all the things you said. We have had those discussions already and are leaning towards a stripped down version. More like a shell that looks like an steam locomotive than a real one. Thanks for replying
Thanks for your reply. We have three other towns in MA that have steam locomotives on display and we have been told that it can happen in our town. The city council and well as a host of other officials know about our efforts and want this to happen. We would rather have a replica or a shell so no one gets hurt or injured on it. The playground was once part on a rail line and spur . We have had 3 serious offers since we started our search a week ago and we are evaluating them all. Again thanks for your concern.
I see nothing wrong with putting a locomotive on display as an historical artifact, but using it as a piece of playground equipment is a bad idea in my opinion. Other than the fact that kids would love to play on a locomotive, there are no good aspects to such a plan. These are the problems:
The historical significance will be downplayed for a locomotive that will mainly be seen as playground equipment.
Despite the fact that locomotives are durable, there are many items that kids can break or remove. Some may be removed as souveniers by people other than children if the locomotive is readily accessible. So the historical artifact will degrade if used as a playground toy.
The lawyer may believe that there will be no liability because the locomotive is a piece of playground equipment, but proper playground equipment is subject to rigorous safety review, and it seems absurd to think that a locomotive will pass that test and qualify as safe playground equipment. You mentioned the use of a shell or replica. A stripped down shell of an authentic locomotive will still pose severe safety issues. A replica might be made safe. It would of course compromise the effect of historica
As a Brakeman on a working steam railway, I can tell you that a steam locomotive, whether working or not, is not a play thing. As someone pointed out in one of the other four threads you started, everyone working on or around these machines goes through extensive safety training. Just because it is old, doesn’t mean its harmless. Putting it in a playground doesn’t make it analogous to monkey bars (which are not installed in new playgrounds, think about why that may be). Still want to put some random locomotive in a park to show off history (resisting urge to quote Nietzsche)? Fence it and cover it so folks can look, but don’t let them touch. You could even built proper stairs so people could look into the cab.
If you want a steam locomotive as a plaything, I would suggest that you contact playground equipment manufacturers - they may have something in their catalog that will fit your purpose.
Another consideration would be to look at designing/constructing something yourself. Look at the major features of a steam locomotive and consider how they would translate into a safe playground prop. A cab with safe and durable seats, a pipe frame (possibly with heavy gauge sheet metal sides) and a durable roof. The boiler can be totally hollow so kids can crawl through it, with steam dome, stack, headlight, and sandbox affixed to the top per usual arrangement. Include wide walkways with solid handrails along each side. The cylinders, rods, and wheels can be made from the same heavy sheet metal, cut and rolled as appropriate. The wheels would’t hold any weight, as the entire structure would be supported on pipes set into concrete. The entire model would be surrounded by pea gravel, as is often the case on playgrounds
The locomotive could be any size you wanted it to be (and can afford), and of any wheel arrangement, perhaps mimmicking a locally famous engine. A bell solidly secured in place would add play value, with the clapper pulled with a solid chain instead of a rope. Adding “controls” in the cab could happen, but they would have to be built such that they could not cause injury, and would withstand a lot of abuse. If you can provide an air source and feel it would be reasonable safe/secure, then a whistle could prove interesting. Build it yourself - using a real whistle invites theft. You also need to be able to shut off the air after hours.
Access to someone who can cut metal with a plasma cutter or a high pressure water cutter would allow you to add such details as an engine number and cab details. Someone with the ability to brake/bend/roll sheet metal would also
i agree with the latter posts i am a fireman on two steam locomotives and a scale model all three are in minnesota s ateam locomotive as well as a steam tractor is not a plaything wether striped to bare bones or not they are just too dangeruos. what happins if a kid was playing on the catwalk a long the boiler and slips and falls off the engine and is seriously hurt. i know a playground manufacturing coumpany in delano minnesota that is known world wide called landscape structures the web address is www.playlsi.com they might make a replica for you to what you are lookng for again its too dangourus to have a steamer as a plaything in a playground big boy
To have a steam engine sit in the weather outside and slowly rust is a sad thing.
I whole heartly second the postings about playground engines made specificially for children today. They ought to fit the bill very well instead of throwing money at a franken-plaything that will only create more trouble.
IF you go the whistle route with compressed air, adjust the pressure so that it will please the kid operating it inside the cab but not be audible all over the park and irritate others. Put a timer on the electric compressor so that it will not operate beyond certain hours.
Just to be around metal means to get scrapes, cuts and so forth. With today’s law-suit happy people something that can be fixed with a bit of Hydrogen Peroxide and a bandaid turns into a court affair consuming everyone’s time, money and effort.