BOYERTOWN PA – A 104-year-old steam passenger locomotive (at right) that has been exhibited in Tennessee since 2001 will return to Pennsylvania, and be put to use in Boyertown by the Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust, under an agreement announced Friday (April 7, 2023).
Locomotive 5288, built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1919, has been on outdoor display for more than two decades at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga TN. It will be moved to the trust during “the next few weeks for eventual restoration,” the museum states. Its directors believe “Colebrookdale could provide 5288 a broader range of options for the future,” museum President Tim Andrews said.
The financial value of the acquisition, if any, was not disclosed. The museum called the transaction a “partnership.” Andrews also noted that, after a careful review of “the current status and future possibilities for operation of the locomotive,” its “probable multi-million dollar restoration cost” was not among the museum’s current priorities, according to its Facebook page.
Colebrookdale plans to put the locomotive on display later this year near its South Washington Street station (above), the trust said in an identical announcement on its Facebook page.
“We are absolutely overjoyed to welcome the 5288 as a star in the Colebrookdale’s growing stable of steam locomotives,” the non-profit trust’s Executive Director Nathaniel Guest added. “We portray that halcyon era of passenger railroading that took place in the first decades of the 20th century. The noble lines of 5288 absolutely capture the look of that period,” he said.
Locomotive 5288 was built for the Grand Trunk Railway, and was later owned and operated by Canadian National, until being sold to Nelson Blount in 1961. It became part of the Steamtown Foundation in 1969, was transferred to the Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton in 1995, and then transferred to the Tennessee museum.
The museum’s leadership acknowledged the locomotive’s restoration “did not make sense for us in light of the limited operating options,” according to Andrews. The agreement with Colebrookdale instead allows the museum to pursue “higher priorities to see the rest of (its) collection protected from the elements.”
The partnership, he said, enhances the museum “commitment and dedication to the preservation and operation of vintage steam locomotives, particularly those with regional significance, for the education and enjoyment of the public.”
Photo provided by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum
