Recently, I bought a derelict 23" gauge OUTSIDE flange 4 wheel Whitcomb industrial locomotive from a scrap dealer in PA. The number on the casting is 50379. It is powered by a 6BL590 Waukesha flat head six 245 ci gas engine. It has a Fuller truck type multi-disc clutch and transmission with only high and low ratios and a center idle position. Forward and reverse is provided by a shifting lever on the differential, an arrangement I had never seen. The differental doesn't have any identifying marks so assume it is a Whitcomb product. When I had it shipped, they weighed it at 4 1/2 tons without a cab. The cab had been wrecked and I can't determine what it's original shape was.

I am rebuilding it to use as the construction loco on our Florida Live Steamers 1 1/2 mile 24" gauge club track near Jacksonville. Then it will haul passengers when the steam locomotives aren't in commission. I have been four months obtaining the necessary parts to rebuild the engine. The valves were the main hold-up. I finally got a set of intake valves from a Waukesha dealer in Massachusetts and had a set of exhaust valves made by a machine shop in Los Angeles which makes racing engine parts. The engine re-assembly is in progress with an end August completion date. The wheels and axles are in a friend's machine shop in Jacksonville getting turned down to the same size and treads reduced in size to fit our switch frogs. Of course, we're also reversing the wheels to inside flanges. The loco as built had a manual brake system. I'll be adding air brakes for the loco and for the passenger cars. I removed the sander valves since we forunately don't need sanders very often here. I hope to have it running before the turn of the millenium.

My questions are two-fold. Does anyone have any idea what the history of this loco is? Waukesha Engine tells me they built that engine from 1933 to 1946 so I assume that is the period of the loco. My primary concern is seeing what the thing looked like with a cab. From what I saw that remained, it looked as though it might have been just an open top platform with angle iron and steel sheet sides up about 30" with an opening in the back for entry. The fuel tank was mounted on the right side of this railing. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated and attributed to the submitter.

-- Tom Keenan (tkeenan@worldnet.att.net), August 16, 1999