This engine now resides in Midway, Kentucky as a show piece. It had to be taken out of service because its only federally licensed engineer took another job as Yardmaster for a very large railroad company. 😞
I live in Kentucky were this engine is now. I’ve seen it in a R.J. Corman workshop at a small R.J. Corman train yard in Lexington, KY. The railroad company tore down the shed that it called home, planning to rebuild it in Midway, KY. I think they might have made a new plan because Old Smokey was supposed to go to Midway KY back in 2017, but I went there probably last January, and there’s no shed or Old Smokey in the area that he was planning to move to. All that’s there is a R.J. Corman caboose. I really wish the guys over at R.J. Corman could get Old Smokey up and running again. I used to live where there was a railroad track behind my house, and every time a train went buy, it would be an R.J. Corman train. I grew up in that house which means R.J. Corman was my childhood. I hope they get the plans for this engine set up soon, it really is good as I’ve seen it many times in my life.
This is great footage revealing what really goes on! I've been looking at the company that sells Chinese steam locomotives and what they offer but I've never seen where they do it and if the engines are tested. Now I've got the basic idea. Do you know the costs?
I'm afraid the 701 Factory closed shortly after my visit in 2007. In 2004 the last of CR's principle steam loco workshops at Mudanjiang in Heilongjiang offered to sell me fully overhauled QJs for $100,000 each for shipment to a project in Indonesia that I was engaged on. However by 2008, Mudanjiang had closed and it was no longer permitted to move QJs over CR's rail tracks, either to workshops or to port. So the opportunity disappeared at the same time that the GFC ended the Indonesian project. I was told very recently that there are no more QJs operational in China now - just a few SYs and JSs.
Chris Newman Aww how unfortunate they closed their shops, but the pricing didn't seem too bad. Do you by chance know anything about Multipower International Inc. That seems to be the only one that still sells and offers rebuilds in one facility.
I met the man from Multipower quite a few times. His name was Qiang Ge, and he had American citizenship and good connections within the rail industry in China. I got in touch with him after Mudanjiang closed down to see if he could find me an alternative source of QJs. He was extremely helpful and provided me with a lot of information, but in the end I couldn't pursue the business with him once the Indonesian project folded. He was dealing in diesels and other railway equipment. Steam locos were just a small part of his operation.
As I understand it, Corman ran it for a while but the company's founder, sadly, met with untimely death then the locomotive was put in storage. No one wanted to operate it anymore. See the first comment.
It's a QJ. Trust me, I've seen both SY, QJ, and even JS, and I'm pretty familiar with Old Smokey. It's in Lexington, KY (per my visit a week ago, it could've moved) and is being prepared for restoration
I'm afraid I don;'t know what's become of 7040. All I remember was that RJ Corman was terminally ill at the time the locomotive was delivered. The loco was intended for publicity purposes so I expect that its value to the company would still be higher than its scrap value. I'd be very surprised if it's been scrapped.
TexasRailfan21 QJ 7040 became RJ Corman 2008 and has been stored inside of an engine house in Lexington, KY since Corman’s death in 2013. Last I heard RJC is working on finding a place to permanently display the locomotive. I believe it is in good mechanical condition and it’s flue time hasn’t expired yet which means it could be returned to operation fairly easily if the need should arise, but RJC doesn’t seem interested in doing so as of now.
Midwest Railfanner I saw that... very exciting! It will be in good hands there. I believe it still has some flue time left so it wouldn’t need much to get it running again. Maybe they will surprise us and have it run from Lexington to Ravenna!
Shame China closed the shops Would of loved to purchase a cosmetically restored QJ (which is my favorite Chinese locomotive) from them once I had the money and have it outside my house were we once had a large fenced off pool even though of putting screens in the cab windows to play railway educational videos or just a repeated video of a train going down some tracks
The smoke deflectors were the best part of the QJ, it’s really too bad they took them off. Why did they want it to look “more American?” It’s obviously better with deflectors.
in the 1960s, after a great falling out with Russia, Chairman Mao became obsessed with fear of a Russian nuclear attack. In consequence, he ordered a massive decentralization and protection of Chinese industries. (I don't think he was so concerned about Chinese people!) Large factories were moved to remote country places and many were moved underground. I remember on my first trip to China in 1986, visiting an underground flour mill that included a large underground grain silo. Another example is the Beijing aircraft museum near Changping, at the edge of the mountains, where much of the fighter aircraft collection is housed in underground caves that were originally excavated for their protection.
What does it cost to ship a locomotive from China? Wouldn't it have been easier to find an American locomotive, restore it and use it for publicity rather than bring one all the way from China? I'm glad some of them were brought here, but i wonder about all that's involved with doing it. Iowa Interstate seems to be doing well with their QJ.
Yeah, the IAIS QJs here are doing fine. Well, 6988 is anyway. I don't know what happened to 7081, pretty sure it's going through an inspection or restoration right now.
Why would they want to Americanise a Chinese loco. It makes no fucking sense whatsoever. That daft, annoying bell they put on it, like WTF. They even change the steam whistle to an American Tug boat style horn. That aint no steam engine, it's a tug boat. And you can bet your life that when it is running on American railways the whistle will be going 90% of the time. If you can't hear the sound of the horn/whistle, why do they need that bell? Ding Ding Ding ding. Pointless.
Seems like somebody's a little mad why not we have 3 qjs in America and are the only long standing foreign locomotives and the bell ur xompling about was removed end of 2012 it was a emd e ringer from a gp of some sort and the whistle is actually the original Chinese 5 chime toned deeper because Corman liked it
This is amazing footage! I couldn't help but smile watching this! Thank you so much for sharing!
I hope it comes back again. I hope.
It will, KSHC is planning to restore it within this decade
Midwest Railfanner actually they are sending it to a museum that I have forgot the name of. All I know is that it’s here in Kentucky.
@@spideyalex99 yes 2008 will be going to Kentucky steam heritage Corp as stated above it's in ravenenna Kentucky if you wanna got see 2716 or 587
That footage of that SY slipping is golden
BTW, R. J. “Rick” Corman affectionately nick named this engine “Old Smokey.”
This engine now resides in Midway, Kentucky as a show piece. It had to be taken out of service because its only federally licensed engineer took another job as Yardmaster for a very large railroad company. 😞
Midway? I saw it last week in Lexington. It certainly won't be a showpiece for long, KSHC is planning to restore it
Nothing stays the same for very long. This locomotive is now in a museum.
Loved it! Wish it had more audio. Patriotic music 🎶
And now it sits in the Storage Barn in their Lexington yard in Kentucky.
At least it's not scrapped.
@@1940limited DJmcRUSH it's going to be restored in a few years, according to the KSHC
Midwest Railfanner it’s going to a museum.
I usually dont care for non American/Canadian steam but I hope this QJ isnt gone. The more steam, the better.
It's not gone. In fact, I saw it on March 18th. It's being prepared to be moved to the KSHC for yet another restoration.
I live in Kentucky were this engine is now. I’ve seen it in a R.J. Corman workshop at a small R.J. Corman train yard in Lexington, KY. The railroad company tore down the shed that it called home, planning to rebuild it in Midway, KY. I think they might have made a new plan because Old Smokey was supposed to go to Midway KY back in 2017, but I went there probably last January, and there’s no shed or Old Smokey in the area that he was planning to move to. All that’s there is a R.J. Corman caboose. I really wish the guys over at R.J. Corman could get Old Smokey up and running again. I used to live where there was a railroad track behind my house, and every time a train went buy, it would be an R.J. Corman train. I grew up in that house which means R.J. Corman was my childhood. I hope they get the plans for this engine set up soon, it really is good as I’ve seen it many times in my life.
@@spideyalex99 It's now been scrapped.
@@PreservationEnthusiast actully RJ Corman donated it to the Kentucky Steam Heritage corporation
I seen it last year sitting in their yard at Lexington, it is still around.
This is great footage revealing what really goes on! I've been looking at the company that sells Chinese steam locomotives and what they offer but I've never seen where they do it and if the engines are tested. Now I've got the basic idea. Do you know the costs?
I'm afraid the 701 Factory closed shortly after my visit in 2007. In 2004 the last of CR's principle steam loco workshops at Mudanjiang in Heilongjiang offered to sell me fully overhauled QJs for $100,000 each for shipment to a project in Indonesia that I was engaged on. However by 2008, Mudanjiang had closed and it was no longer permitted to move QJs over CR's rail tracks, either to workshops or to port. So the opportunity disappeared at the same time that the GFC ended the Indonesian project. I was told very recently that there are no more QJs operational in China now - just a few SYs and JSs.
Chris Newman Aww how unfortunate they closed their shops, but the pricing didn't seem too bad. Do you by chance know anything about Multipower International Inc. That seems to be the only one that still sells and offers rebuilds in one facility.
I met the man from Multipower quite a few times. His name was Qiang Ge, and he had American citizenship and good connections within the rail industry in China. I got in touch with him after Mudanjiang closed down to see if he could find me an alternative source of QJs. He was extremely helpful and provided me with a lot of information, but in the end I couldn't pursue the business with him once the Indonesian project folded. He was dealing in diesels and other railway equipment. Steam locos were just a small part of his operation.
The engineer's don't wave from the trains anymore,not they did back in 1954 to trackside.
Rip 2008
It’s and sy class and where did this engine end up
As I understand it, Corman ran it for a while but the company's founder, sadly, met with untimely death then the locomotive was put in storage. No one wanted to operate it anymore. See the first comment.
It's a QJ
It's a QJ. Trust me, I've seen both SY, QJ, and even JS, and I'm pretty familiar with Old Smokey. It's in Lexington, KY (per my visit a week ago, it could've moved) and is being prepared for restoration
Whatever happened to the 7040 after the passing of mr. RJ Corman I certainly hope it was not scrapped
I'm afraid I don;'t know what's become of 7040. All I remember was that RJ Corman was terminally ill at the time the locomotive was delivered. The loco was intended for publicity purposes so I expect that its value to the company would still be higher than its scrap value. I'd be very surprised if it's been scrapped.
This QJ is NOT scrapped. He is now in the storage!
TexasRailfan21 QJ 7040 became RJ Corman 2008 and has been stored inside of an engine house in Lexington, KY since Corman’s death in 2013. Last I heard RJC is working on finding a place to permanently display the locomotive. I believe it is in good mechanical condition and it’s flue time hasn’t expired yet which means it could be returned to operation fairly easily if the need should arise, but RJC doesn’t seem interested in doing so as of now.
@@StationAgentProductions RJC sold it to KSHC, it'll be restored in a few years
Midwest Railfanner I saw that... very exciting! It will be in good hands there. I believe it still has some flue time left so it wouldn’t need much to get it running again. Maybe they will surprise us and have it run from Lexington to Ravenna!
Shame China closed the shops Would of loved to purchase a cosmetically restored QJ (which is my favorite Chinese locomotive) from them once I had the money and have it outside my house were we once had a large fenced off pool even though of putting screens in the cab windows to play railway educational videos or just a repeated video of a train going down some tracks
The smoke deflectors were the best part of the QJ, it’s really too bad they took them off. Why did they want it to look “more American?” It’s obviously better with deflectors.
Rj Corman didn't like the look of the smoke Deflectors for some reason
@Christy Li personally to me it looks good with or without
I'm curious as to why they'd build an underground shop.
in the 1960s, after a great falling out with Russia, Chairman Mao became obsessed with fear of a Russian nuclear attack. In consequence, he ordered a massive decentralization and protection of Chinese industries. (I don't think he was so concerned about Chinese people!) Large factories were moved to remote country places and many were moved underground. I remember on my first trip to China in 1986, visiting an underground flour mill that included a large underground grain silo. Another example is the Beijing aircraft museum near Changping, at the edge of the mountains, where much of the fighter aircraft collection is housed in underground caves that were originally excavated for their protection.
@@cjenewman thank you very much for this info!
What does it cost to ship a locomotive from China? Wouldn't it have been easier to find an American locomotive, restore it and use it for publicity rather than bring one all the way from China? I'm glad some of them were brought here, but i wonder about all that's involved with doing it. Iowa Interstate seems to be doing well with their QJ.
g bridgman When R. J. Corman wanted a new toy, money was no object.🤪
Yeah, the IAIS QJs here are doing fine. Well, 6988 is anyway. I don't know what happened to 7081, pretty sure it's going through an inspection or restoration right now.
It doesn't costs that much for sea freight. Many QJs are built as late as 1990s so they are generally in far better condition than American ones.
REST IN PEACE 2005/2018
Why would they want to Americanise a Chinese loco. It makes no fucking sense whatsoever. That daft, annoying bell they put on it, like WTF.
They even change the steam whistle to an American Tug boat style horn. That aint no steam engine, it's a tug boat. And you can bet your life that when it is running on American railways the whistle will be going 90% of the time.
If you can't hear the sound of the horn/whistle, why do they need that bell?
Ding Ding Ding ding. Pointless.
Seems like somebody's a little mad why not we have 3 qjs in America and are the only long standing foreign locomotives and the bell ur xompling about was removed end of 2012 it was a emd e ringer from a gp of some sort and the whistle is actually the original Chinese 5 chime toned deeper because Corman liked it