Jason Asselin video'd one of the sharks out of the building
Re: E&LS Shark Sighting
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:37 pm
by Ypsi
If you like Jason or not, that is an incredibly lucky find. I hope that this is a good sign for the sharks.. or at minimum not a bad sign.
Re: E&LS Shark Sighting
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2021 7:06 pm
by Standard Railfan
This video is intriguing. The last time I saw 1216 was circa 1995-96 inside the engine house at Wells. I recall that the car body was intact at that time.
Today it appears that 1216 was pulled out of the ELS back shop (ex CNW/Harnischfeger) in Escanaba with a lot of sheet metal missing. I am wondering if the locomotive had been moved for a rebuild or was the sheet metal pulled off to repair the other shark.
I noticed that the top was opened up which would be indicative of the engine/generator being worked on.
I would like to see the sharks back in service. Time will tell.
Re: E&LS Shark Sighting
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2021 7:52 pm
by Chip
Wasn't it reported that ELS was in possession of a new original Baldwin prime mover and was intending on restoring both sharks to working order for donation/display?
Re: E&LS Shark Sighting
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2021 10:05 pm
by GTW Dude
It's already been reported by TRAINS mag a while back that the sharks upon the owners death will be donated to a museum/s. Problems around both of the sharks involve one that had burnt out its traction motor via a snow train accident and the other had a very big crank shaft failure of some sort IIRC. One of the sharks was midway through it's engine rebuild before the company performing the rebuild went defunct and apparently the repair was supposedly done incorrectly and would have became a nightmare of sorts attempting to fix it on a Baldwin diesel.
Either way this is an unbelievably rare sighting for one of the sharks. As you may know, both of them are in the very bottom point of the upper peninsula (aka the middle of nowhere) and hadn't been spotted outside extreamely briefly since the 90's and someone from all the way out there STILL managed to catch a minor move in the Escanaba yard. It goes to show these are very hot topic diesels that every museum and their mom is going to want which is why they are tucked away in the first place in order to prevent greedy foamers from sneaking out and stealing parts which is part of the reason they got tucked away in the first place. So if you ever see a D&H Sharknose builder plate headed up on ebay be sure to let John Larkin know (Current owner of the sharks).
Re: E&LS Shark Sighting
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2021 10:18 pm
by GP30M4216
The 1216 is the unit that was out and about today.
The shark was out earlier this summer sitting in broad daylight when they started evaluating them and working on 1216 and nobody even noticed it. Trains magazine covered their fate.
As you may know, both of them are in the very bottom point of the upper peninsula (aka the middle of nowhere)...
Escanaba and Wells are hardly in the middle of nowhere. Esky is the third-largest city in the Upper Peninsula.
However, other points in the E&LS system like Channing, Amasa, and Sidnaw are indeed in the middle of nowhere...
Depends on your perspective - Escanaba is the largest city many Yoopers will visit with any regularity if ever - making it “the big city”. However, if you’re from a metropolis like Detroit or Chicago, the whole UP is “nowhere”.
However, Channing, Sidnaw and especially Amasa are middle of nowhere unless you’re from the moon or Mars.