I recently had a chance to visit the National NYC Museum in Elkhart, Ind. Located downtown, across the tracks from the (NYC) depot, the museum has a moderately-sized collection of non-operating equipment, plus a large display area inside the old freight house.
The prime attraction is the NYC Mohawk #3001. This locomotive was sold to the T&P where it was modified, and then donated to the city of Dallas for display. Elkhart later traded a GG-1 for it.
The prime attraction is the NYC Mohawk #3001. This locomotive was sold to the T&P where it was modified, and then donated to the city of Dallas for display. Elkhart later traded a GG-1 for it.
New elephant ears are being fabricated to replace the long-gone originals, and one has been recently installed. There's a thread currently in progress on RyPN about this engine.
The cab is accessible and still has most of the appliances.
This auxiliary tender was part of the Freedom Train.
And there's another GG-1 on display. (In practice, this is partly a Penn Central museum!)
And there are several freight cars, work equipment, and passenger cars on display. Several waycars are set up and open to the public, as well as this obs car, set up as a dining car. I have lots more pictures if anyone's really interested.
Finally, they also have a South Shore car, #15. The interior is much better looking than the exterior.
And a 2' gauge park train of some sort, which wasn't running.
The freight house has several large display areas of various types, all well arranged.
And a large toy train layout, which runs only NYC equipment.
Here we have a 1" scale live steam Mohawk.And an even bigger K4, made from 400,000 toothpicks. I kid you not. You have to see it to believe it.
And I thought this was interesting: a section of strap rail.
If you're in the Elkhart area, this museum is certainly worth a visit.
5 comments:
Is the Mohawk potentially operable or is it static display only?
It's a static display only. Like any other park locomotive of its size, it would take a huge amount of money to get operating. I don't believe the museum has any plans in that direction.
I was there maybe ten years ago. The exhibit I found most interesting was a collection of memorabilia donated by a New York Central engineer, detailing his career from beginning to end. A great "human interest" story...the kind of thing I wish could be told more often.
In reading this post the first thing that came to mind was: "Has anyone examined this locomotive in terms of it's condition?" I am not inferring or proposing returning it to a available status, but rather it being exposed to the weather in relation to it's long term preservation. I would think some sort of shelter to preserve it would be on their minds at the museum.. Whether it is doable is another matter. A really rare specimen.
Bruce: I know that the engine has been evaluated, and as I mentioned there's a thread on RyPN that gives a lot more details about the 3001 and the museum in general. It's quite interesting. I hope this link works:
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33452&sid=bd1f711ce4336ab422c39e02abf772a1
I should point out that the museum belongs to the city park system, and depends on volunteers for much of the labor. So capital-intensive projects are probably not feasible given the current financial status of most cities. I imagine this is basically the same arrangement as MOT, though on a smaller scale because Elkhart is smaller than St. Louis.
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