Hagarstown Maryland's Hidden Steam Gem

[fleegle411]

It seems to me that few people know about the second of two known surviving Western Maryland steam locomotives, There's the "Big 6" Shay at Cass, West Virginia, and then comes one of my favorite Steam Locomotives; In the City Park of Hagerstown, Maryland resides Western Maryland 4-6-2 #202, a K-2 class built in 1912. What makes this locomotive speacial in my mind is that she is simply beautiful...

Do a search at steamlocomotive.info and you should be able to find her, You can find almost any steam locomotive in the world at that site
www.steamlocomotive.info

I visited the locomotive a couple of years back, she's now under a shed within a fenced-off area along with approximatley 7 cabooses, she's been cosmetically restored, and, here's some good news; while doing a Federally-Mandated Hydro test, (Aparentley, even park engines have to be tested now) her owners discovered that the boiler was in excellent condition and last I heard; She's going to Steam again!
It appears that she'll be pulling passenger cars bowrrowed from the Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum along the Winchester & Western Shortline in winter, and return to the city park during the summer or something of that nature. Another tidbit I heard is that she will be burning "Waste Vegetable Oil" AKA Frech Fry oil from McDonald's due to some ageement; My understanding is that the 202's owners get this fuel at little or no cost and one of the passenger cars trailing the 202 will have the McDonald's M painted on it...

Please post your comments & thoughts and if you have any news regarding this engine, Please post it.

Still learning my way around the Forums
-Fleegle

[NW_611]

First off, welcome to the forum.

Secondly, this is welcome news for Western Maryland fans. Hopefully it, and more details will wind up in the Blue Mountain Express in the next issue or so. I suppose her ideal employment might be along the Western Maryland Scenic, but hey, if the City of Hagerstown and the Winchester & Western are for local operations, who am I to question it?

Maybe the fuel thing will qualify for some sort of environmental technology grant that'll help fund the whole project.

Further details regarding #202 are available from steamlocomotive.com's specific page for that locomotive.

[fleegle411]

The thought of the 202 returning to Helmstetter's curve did come to me, but I never mentioned it to anybody (Until Now)

[jay611]

202 can only operate so far outside city limits and must be back after dark. The engine is NOT operable. The throat sheet needs major repair, among other things. The boiler has passes a UV scan, but this means nothing in terms of the engine seeing steam.

Aside from that I have spoke to the WW personally and they don't want the engine on their rail as insurance costs will be too high, and major track work would need to be done.

See - http://server.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29099

http://server.rypn.org/forums/viewto...sd=a&hilit=202

Rumors... that's all their is until fire hits the grates.

[thegrindre]

Wow! Thanks for the link. I've never seen that site before.

[fleegle411]

202 can only operate so far outside city limits and must be back after dark. The engine is NOT operable. The throat sheet needs major repair, among other things. The boiler has passes a UV scan, but this means nothing in terms of the engine seeing steam.

Aside from that I have spoke to the WW personally and they don't want the engine on their rail as insurance costs will be too high, and major track work would need to be done.

See - http://server.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29099

http://server.rypn.org/forums/viewto...sd=a&hilit=202

Rumors... that's all their is until fire hits the grates.

I last visited the engine a couple of years ago so I wasn't 100% up to date on her current condition

[fleegle411]

Here are some details I forgot to add to my original post:

The group restoring the 202 (at the time of my visit) is (or was) negotiating with Norfolk Southern who owns the tracks directly behind the 202 about adding a switch so 202 could be driven in and out of the park easily.

202 was (and apparently, still is) dedicated to the children of Hagerstown, so that is why they want to return her to the park when not in use and may be the reason why she can't leave city limits

I also heard that at one time, 202 was offered to the Strasburg Railroad but they turned her down, I think because she's an oil burner.

[fleegle411]

I found some up-to-date pictures of the 202, here's a link to one but you can get to them all quite easily from there:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertdyer/3496822102/

Here's another shot of 202


I also found a youtube video of the engine:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhULcWqDmJ0

[mik34205]

crazy i stumbled apon this... i live in hagerstown md. their roundhouse museum is absolutly amazing too

[fleegle411]

I've visited Hagerstown, both the Roundhouse and Railroad museums are nice (not to mention the mural of a WM Challenger under that railroaad bridge by the roundhouse museum) By the way: in google maps; you can see the outline of the old roundhouse if you have satelite imagery on. You can also spot the 202's shed or spot the engine itself in street view mode if you know which road to look for in the city park. It's easy to spot old roundhouses in google maps. There was a roundhouse in Brunswick Maryland, but it no longer exists; you can see its outline clearly in google maps though.

(Also, sorry about my misspell in this thread's title; Hagerstown not Hagarstown...)