FM Trainmasters

[NW Mailing List]

Bruce:   I think you are making an assumption that documentation exists that
would prove/disprove, illuminate or otherwise describe that a decision was
made- in writing- to save something or other, and that someone either
executed the orders or didn't!    Then you are assuming that such documents
could be fond in a complete form to describe the history of the 'event'
accurately.   

 

Ain't necessarily so...  Just because something didn't happen doesn't mean
that a conspiracy and a cover-up occurred.  

 

Also, a trainmaster with trucks and traction motors, especially the beefy
ones, had to represent a significant value to a slug-building program.  The
frame and trucks are all wired and probably close to -ready-to-go- so the
shop forces would probably make a strong case for utilizing what was readily
available and already paid for and depreciated.

 

Remember that for years -and one can still find reference to it today- the
N&W Class A and Y tests against the EMD F-7's are considered by some to be
tainted as the N&W 'secretly' changed the steam valves and weighted the
frame.  Lots of internet website post that the tractive effort reported by
the N&W is a lie.   What would the N&W gain by covering up what the true
tractive effort of its locomotives?   Louis Newton wrote an article for
TRAINS ( in the mid 1990's I think) that described the tests and the N&W's
business decisions based on the results.   There was no 'competiton' just
measurements that could be used by the N&W to justify or not justify the
costs of procuring diesels.

 

Gary Rolih

Secretary N&WHS 

 

 

  _____  

From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org
[mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2008 12:41 PM
To: NW Mailing List
Subject: Re: FM Trainmasters

 

On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 9:10 PM, Sam wrote:

Bruce,

 

That's what I heard too.  I wasn't going to name names, but I think enough
time has passed that it is almost ancient history.


Yeah, 20 years ago is a pretty long time. Part of the issue is that the true
fate of the Trainmaster, from my perspective, your perspective, other's
perspective, is more rumor and "he said" than fact [unless you're holding
out on us with paperwork and details :-) ].  Think of our counterparts in
2080 sifting through the NWHS archives, posting messages on whatever passes
for the internet then, and trying to determine what happened to that
Trainmaster -- much like we are doing now with N&W steam from the 1880s.  I
suspect there are people in and around Roanoke (some perhaps still with the
railroad, others retired) who know the true story behind the conversion of a
historical artifact into a slug. If someone doesn't ferret out the truth now
and document what really happened, then "us" in the future will be just as
confused. So I really had no qualms about dropping a name into the
conversation, in hopes that someone might come forward (or at least approach
someone in the society) and say or provide an interoffice memo that explains
what happened. Confidentiality may be requested, with the understanding that
eventually the information will be revealed. It is the least we could do for
future historians.

Bruce in Blacksburg

 

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