On the subject of tiny old engines with long lives, one of the existing engines that I feel bad for is Delaware, Lackawanna & Western #565. Built in 1908 by Alco, the #565 was a class 10c Mogul with 63" drivers and Walschaerts valve gear, and considered a DL&W second-generation steam locomotive (replacing earlier steam engines that were being scrapped). At an unknown point in time, believed to be between 1913 and 1917, the DL&W shopped at least the #565, unknown if any of her sisters as well, and replaced the slide valves in the valve gear with piston valves, as well as superheating the boiler to get more power out of her, and swapping on a different headlight and adding a second air compressor. Photos of the #565 in her original DL&W days are hard to find, as it lived a seemingly ordinary career.
By 1936, the Mogul was falling out of favor, and the DL&W was purchasing larger triple-cylinder 4-8-2 Mountains and 4-8-4 Poconos. So the DL&W began scrapping their smaller engines, and the #565 was one of the engines slated to be retired. Enter the Dansville & Mount Morris, a 9 mile short line that had originally been built as the Erie & Genesee Valley in 1894. After entering receivership in the '20s, it was reorganized as the Dansville & Mount Morris. And it was a small operation. Nine miles, two stockholders, fifteen employees and two locomotives: the #565 and an older Ten-Wheeler #304. The D&MM never operated both engines concurrently. Instead, they would park one engine for a year and perform maintenance and repairs on it while operating the other, and then the next year alternate out. In his book The Mohawk That Refused To Abdicate, David Page Morgan recounted visiting the D&MM, although the #565 was the engine under repairs at the time, so he only saw the #304.
But, by 1961, the siren song of the diesel called to even the little D&MM and they purchased a GE 44-tonner, in fact the very last 44-tonner that GE would build. The #565 was snapped up by the just-opened Black River & Western tourist line, who was operating on the Central Railroad of New Jersey's Chester branch, and used until 1962. At that point, the Black River & Western got ousted from the old CNJ site, and moved to their modern days site of the PRR Ringoes-Flemington branch.
When the BR&W relocated to Ringoes, they parked the #565 first at the Flemington Lumber Company at the Flemington end, and then later relocated it to the main station at Ringoes. As the BR&W was getting established for operations at their new site, they did not operate any steam excursions from '62 to '65. In '65, they looked at firing the #565 up, but it didn't have an of it's ICC boiler paperwork, which would require a teardown, and it's running gear also had some wear and would require replacement of parts, like rear tires. Remember, the #565 had not been through a major shop since before '36 at this point, other than the D&MM's tinkering over the years. Instead they, purchased Great Western Railroad Of Colorado #80, a newer, bigger, more powerful 2-8-0 that was in better condition.
So, being surplus to its needs, and with BR&W being a financially lean company in those early years, they sold it in 1967 to a John Maris, vice president of the Morris County Central, a tourist line operating on the Morristown & Erie's rails. The #565 was moved to Whippany, NJ, where it had a hydrostatic test performed and some minor repairs, all in hopes of operating it on the MCC. But the MCC and the M&E's relationships became strained and Maris instead sold off the #565. The #565 was then purchased by a restaurant owner by the name of Anthony Citro, who wanted it as a display at his restaurant. The #565 was cleaned up and painted in DL&W lettering and displayed in Wayne, NJ.
Citro decided he wanted to restore the #565 to operation, and began having mechanical work performed at the restaurant by the Menair-Fetzer Corporation. The MCC had moved it's operations to New York, Susquehanna & Western's tracks in Newfoundland, NJ and Citro bought out John Maris' stake in the MCC, with the intent of running the #565 there. But the #565 first needed mechanical work that could not be performed in a restaurant parking lot, so it was sent to New Hope, PA to be overhauled at the New Hope & Ivyland's shops and then run at the NH&I's Bicentennial event. But before leaving Wayne, NJ, the Menair-Fetzer contractors cut the ashpan and firegrates out of the #565 for a planned coversion to oil-burning (a bit sacrilegious considering the DL&W was the "Road of Anthracite") At New Hope, the running gear was disassembled and sent out to machine shops for refit and repair, the tender was modifed to hold oil in place of coal, and the pilot, pony truck, smokebox front and boiler jacket are all removed. This is really the beginning of the #565's downward spiral. The restoration stretches on past '76, Frank Menair leaves the Menair-Fetzer Corp to go head up the new Adirondack Scenic Railroad and Tony Citro gets in over his head financially and halts work and tries to sell the #565 off, which he does in '82, to a gentleman in Elmira. Citro would die in 1989, and his restaurant close shortly afterwards.
The new owner would try and hunt down the missing parts, which were numerous, and consolidate it. There were parts scattered all over the northeast, as it had transferred owners and they had each tinkered with it and sent them out to various machine shops, and then they had never been returned before it transferred owners again. The #565 would never actually move to Elmira, but would stay on the New Hope & Ivyland and was just moved out of the way.
In '83, Don Ball, a photographer and author of railroad books, got involved. Ball had also been involved with the '76 American Freedom Train and had taken over as director of Steamtown USA. This was back when Steamtown was still a privately run park and was located in Bellows Falls, VT, operating over the old Rutland rails. Ball knew the historical significance of the #565, as it was only one of 2 surviving DL&W locomotives. So Ball purchased it for $2500. At this point in time, Steamtown USA, which had been financially hard-up since founder Nelson Blount's death in '67, was preparing to move to Scranton, PA. This would give it access to a larger population pool, plus they would get the old DL&W roundhouse and locomotive shops. Steamtown wasn't moving yet, but Ball was under pressure to move the #565 to Scranton ahead of the move. So he planned to sell it to a gentleman who was renovating the old DL&W Scranton station into a hotel, and display the enginer there, and then once Steamtown made the move, the #565 would either be sold or donated back to Steamtown.
The whole move turned into a debacle. Ball could not personally oversee the move, as he was busy hammering out Steamtown's move. The NH&I owners disassembled the #565 and loaded it on the trucks, but the trucking company felt the fees were exorbitant and Ball advised them to stop paying, which lead to a court case. Then, the trucking company owner, who was running for Scranton commisioner, towed the locomotive around Scranton on a trailer for days with campaign banners on it, leading to Ball getting angry with him for using it for political purposes. Then, after moving it to the hotel, the hotel partnership fell through and the gentleman leading that charge left town.
Ball tried to find a home for it in Scranton but began to encounter the same feelings that the DL&W itself had run into years before. The DL&W had tried to donate a 4-8-4 Pocono to Scranton and Scranton had said they would only accept the donation if the DL&W paid to move and relocate the locomotive to Nay Aug Park. The DL&W refused and the city wouldn't take the engine, so the only large modern DL&W steamer remaining was cut up. And Ball's relationship with Steamtown began to sour and he was replaced as general manager. On the subject of DL&W #565, Ball said:
"I reached a point of exasperation and recently let it be known in historic
preservation circles that the engine was unappreciated and up for sale. A
flood tide of interest ensued - unfortunately, none of it local to the
Scranton area. However, fortunately, there is still good reason for hope
for this locomotive in Scranton. Through heart-felt conviction, I decided
to pursue a sale with the one individual who shares the vision of retaining
this historically significant Lackawanna Railroad engine on home rails.
This individual has the interest and wherewithall to restore the locomotive
into a crown jewel, and it will now be up to the Scranton officials and
community leaders to work together with the new owner to show good faith.
The story should have a very happy ending."
The new owner was a man from Canada by the name of Horst Muller, who bought #565 on August 21, 1984 for $8,500. The locomotive remained at
Scranton, and Muller began negotiations with Steamtown USA to arrange an exchange. On January 17, 1985, Muller gave Steamtown $5,000 and ownership
of #565 (remember, Don Ball owned the #565, not Steamtown). In exchange, Muller received ownership of Canadian National 2-6-0 #96 which had been owned by Steamtown USA and was still in Bellows Falls.
The #565, still disassembled, sat around Scranton for many years, with parts still missing, although occasionally turning up at places like BR&W, NH&I and even Rome Locomotive Works and being sent to Scranton. As one person in 2004 recounted: "The locomotive has gotten minimal attention over the years. Parts were scattered to the four corners of the railroad yard. I saw drive rods sitting at the old DL&W scrap dock a few years ago (near the old visitor center), the lead truck wheelset is in front of the shop. The lead truck frame was feared to be accidentally scrapped during a parkwide cleanup effort about 8 years ago, but may have since re-appeared. The pilot is between the shop and roundhouse. Several barrels of parts that had made their way to the Rome Locomotive works and then re-patriated had been kept near the coal pile, but were bulldozed over when the park constructed a shed to store road salt. I have pictures of the bulldozed parts too, if I can find them."
Yep, pretty grim. In 2011, there was a surge of hope for the #565. A team began working on the #565 to get it cosmetically restored. Operation was out of the question, just too many missing parts for an engine that was described in the National Park Service brief as "terrible condition", but they wanted to get the #565 spruced up and looking complete as a nice static display, due to its historical importance. Everything was being cleaned up, parts were being moved together, a new cab was being built, and then it all came to a halt, when it was found that required National Park Service paperwork had not been completed, and thus work could not continue, and the employee whose job it was to fill out the paperwork was engaged in a pissing match with other members of the park due to being overworked. Thus the #565, one of only two DL&W engines and the only one on home turf, now sits disassembled, with allegations of more parts going missing or being stolen as well.
It is interesting to note that also at Steamtown is Nickel Plate 4-6-0 #44. Why do I mention this? Because Nickel Plate #44, on top of being the oldest surviving NKP locomotive, was later renumbered to #304 and sold to the Danville & Mount Morris. Yep, Steamtown ended up with both of the D&MM's steam locomotives. NKP #44 has not received any work, but is also just as unlikely to be restored to operation, as it is also considered to be in "terrible condition".
