JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — U.S. Sugar Corp. is interested in buying and restoring to operation an Atlantic Coast Line steam locomotive currently on display in Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Daily Record reports.
Locomotive No. 1504, a class P-5-A 4-6-2 built by Alco in 1919, would be declared surplus by the city council, which would also rescind its historic landmark status and transfer the title to the North Florida Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. The organization would the sell the locomotive for $50,000 to U.S. Sugar’s Sugar Express rail operation, which would use it for a tourist train operation on U.S. Sugar’s operation based in Clewiston, Fla. Funds from the sale would support rail preservation projects and scholarships to send students from Duval County, Fla., to NHRS Rail Camp, a one-week program which teaches high school students about railroad history, preservation, maintenance and operations.
The locomotive is currently displayed outside the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center, the former Jacksonville station named for a former CSX chairman and CEO.
“Our members have been stewards of ACL 1504 for many years, working to keep it painted and doing what we can to prevent further deterioration while exposed to the elements,” North Florida Chapter President John Holmgren said in a statement. “We acknowledge that the best way to preserve this locomotive is to have it returned to operational condition and kept under cover, and we are excited that this opportunity with Sugar Express will do both.”
Sugar Express already has one operating steam locomotive, former Florida East Coast 4-6-2 No. 148, which most recently operated on the last train of the sugar cane harvest season on May 31 [see “U.S. Sugar to use steam locomotive …,” Trains News Wire, May 28, 2021].
I wonder if this locomotive will be converted from coal to oil firing when its to operating condition or will still be a coal burner ?
Too bad that the North Florida Chapter lacks the resources to restore this locomotive back to operation.
Restoring steam locomotives to operation in modern times with modern boiler codes and inspections has long ago passed the abilities of the old-style “shadetree mechanics” that brought many locos back to some form of operation decades ago.