Brandon, Don has offered his assistance in his previous post. I would be willing to bet that he would be more than happy to provide you with all that you need in exchange for getting the 4-8-2 SLSF 1529 "right". He was a major player in the restoration and operation of the 4-8-2 SLSF 1522, so he would be a perfect contact for the group working on the SLSF 1529. The 1500s were grand machines, and it does not take much more in effort or expense to provide a historically accurate exhibit.
Thank you for your offer. I will pass that along if possible. I left a message Wednesday for Lorie Bryant, the president of Amory Main Street, Inc., They are the group that is doing the restoration. The good news is she tried to call me back yesterday. The bad news is I had to work late and missed her call. As soon as I have more information, I will post it on this thread.
Even a simplified paint scheme of the Hungerford era, if it were true to prototype, would be better than painting it up like an amusement park ride or a circus train. Tom
I am proud to announce that Amory Mainstreet Inc. has repainted SLSF 1529 and she looks beautiful. I am a teacher, so while school is out for the holidays, I took my two kids and two other kids from our church from Sulligent, AL to Amory, MS yesterday to do some train chasing. Of course I took them to downtown to see a "real steam engine". Before getting there I had no idea that the paint job had been started, much less finished. I did not take a camera, so I took some shots with my phone. I will try to get those on my PC so I can upload them soon unless someone has better luck finding new pictures on the net than I did just now. Here are some descriptions: Red roof, gold letters with gold stripes like on 4-8-2 SLSF 1522, numbers on air tanks gone, silver hand rails on boiler. That is all I can remember. In the meantime, I just found another website with information about the project. I know the proof will be in the pictures, but the engine has never looked better in my lifetime. Here is the link to the website I just found. http://www.monroe360.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Amory-s+steam+engine+on+track++for+restoration &id=8007758&instance=secondary_stories_left_column
Silver or gray. I thought that was probably wrong. That would show up in the old black and white photographs clear as day. In any case, the overall result is such a dramatic improvement over its condition in recent years that I am willing to overlook even a few errors. At least it does not have red wheels like 4-8-2 SLSF 1527 in Mobile, AL.
I am finally taking time to upload images from my phone to my PC. Here is the newly re-painted 4-8-2 SLSF 1529 in Frisco Park in Amory, MS. Photographs are dated 12/27/2012.
A very nice job was done on the tender, steam dome, cab roof, and bell. I wish they would not have painted white sidewalls and would have made the smokebox face unicolor to match the sides of the smokebox. All in all though, it is great that they went to the expense and effort.
In their (Amory, MS) defense, everything I have read indicates that they have never done anything cosmetic to the 4-8-2 SLSF 1529 since it was donated. The white walls have been there all of my life which makes me think it is possible that Amory received 4-8-2 SLSF 1529 from Frisco with white sidewalls. The outside of the smokebox face has also been black for as long as I can remember. I never tell my age online, but I was born in the late 1970s. Due to my age, I could be totally wrong. However, it would be the first time! HA HA! I am not disagreeing with you. I am just saying that perhaps it is possible that they did not know any better because that is the way it looked when they received it. In any case, at least it is no longer rusting away.
I could mix up a batch of my graphite paint, take it and some black paint down there and finish her up in grand style. Good job on the lettering and striping.
What better way to celebrate the beginning of my spring break than to spend tonight with my family. We went over to Amory, MS. My daughters wanted their pictures taken in front of the big Trent Harmon billboard, a guy from Amory who is doing well as a contestant on American Idol. As for me, the focus did not turn out too well with my phone's camera. The sun was already down, but I wanted my picture taken in front of 4-8-2 SLSF 1529.
