J Builders plate on ebay

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

I'd bet it had something to do with rail buffs claming them, surely that
could have been a problem then like air horns is now....

Jason Greene
Dahlonega, GA


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: "N&amp;W Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 21, 2004 9:29 AM
Subject: Re: J Builders plate on ebay


> The builders plates on the K2's and K2a's were also relocated at the
> same time. When the 611-613 came out of Roanoke in 1950, we thought they
> simply did not have plates. Later, the plates on all other streamlined
> steam began to vanish. Dad and I finally discovered what was happening
> when we stood close to a K2 at the Bluefield roundhouse one day. We
> could look up above the cylinder and see the plate just below the
> running board level. So we looked the same place for a plate on the
> 611-613, and sure enough, there it was.
>      Why? I don't know, but our guess at the time was that it was for
> cosmetic purposes. The plate, after all, did break up the smooth surface
> of the boiler jacket. There is one other possibility. The K2's, after
> all, were more than 30 years old by this time. The casual observer would
> not know it unless he read the built date on the builders plate. What
> otherwise appeared to be a modern streamlined locomotive was betrayed by
> the builders plate. (something like asking a woman how old she really
> was). The problem with this explanation is that the first relocated
> plates were on the newest J's. Then the plates were relocated on all
> existing streamliners. I still think it was cosmetic.       Jim Nichols
>
>
> nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org wrote:
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