PRR 7185  Contributor's Pick!       
On the Minerva Scenic Railway
Date: 8/8/2004 Location: Minerva, OH   Map Show Minerva on a rail map Views: 586 Collection Of:   Robert Farkas
Locomotives: PRR 7185(S4)    Author:  Robert Farkas
PRR 7185
Picture Categories: Roster This picture is part of album:  Minerva Scenic Railway
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Chuck Zeiler General Curiosity got the best of me about PRR 7185, since it didn't seem to fit into the PRR numbering scheme. I thought it might be a repaint of OHIC 18, the former FPE 105. I asked Fred Stuckman, who happened to post photos of equipment in Minerva, and he directed me to Steve Berish, a Civil Engineering Student at the University of Toledo and a Writer/Correspondent for Trains Magazine. Here is Steve's reply: Unfortunately, this S4 is neither a PRR locomotive or the old FPE 105. She was actually built as South Buffalo RR 95, and was eventually sold to Jerry Jacobson sometime around the late 1980's/early 1990's. She served on Jerry's Ohio Southern RR for several years and then worked all over the Ohio Central System over the subsequent years. Sometime in either 2001 or 2002, Jerry sold the engine to the new STEAM museum in Minerva, and I believe that this is when the engine received its faux PRR paint. Sometime later after the STEAM folks dissolved the museum and became the Minerva Sce 1/16/2015 3:34:03 PM
Chuck Zeiler General Sometime later after the STEAM folks dissolved the museum and became the Minerva Scenic, the paint that it wears today was applied. She currently sits near the diamond of the WLE and OHIC in downtown Minerva, she was also re- purchased by Jerry at an auction in 2009 and still currently belongs to him and his Age of Steam Roundhouse. Now the narrative above is substantiated by some stories I've heard from older railroaders that are friends of mine, mainly employees of OHIC and OHCR, and some of my own research I did on the very same engine a few years ago. The biggest piece of evidence is the photo comparison. Notice how the two side cab windows are different, one is rounded, one is boxy. These are not standard windows for most Alco S4's and indeed were unique to some of the South Buffalo RR's S4's. Also note that FPE 105 has two boxy side cab windows. 1/16/2015 3:35:13 PM

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