1. Could you post a photo of the rotary snowplow in its current condition, and
2. Will the planned restoration be cosmetic only, or will it be mechanically restored to operating condition?
Thanks
Cosmetic, no doubt. Because if you've seen any pictures or video's of other steam rotaries, such as O Y on the C&TS, it's basically an entire locomotive where the "Drivers" actually control the rotary blade and is often pushed by another locomotive. So it looks as though Cosmetic Restoration would make the most financial sense.
For those interested in the historic details. This tender was built in 1924 for service with C&O #1542 (2-8-8-2 class H-7). It was acquired by Union Pacific in 1945 and renumbered #3572. The locomotive was vacated from the roster in May of 1947 but the tender was retained for MofW service. The tender received the Union Pacific tender class 25-RC-1594. There was a plate with this numbering as late as 2012. It came to IRM in 1993 from the Kansas City Railroad Museum along with the Gas-turbine #18 and caboose #3786.
Thanks for posting the history of this tender. I had no idea that there were any H-7 parts left. The Union Pacific purchased several large mallets from C&O and "Y" class 2-8-8-2 's from N&W, at the end of WWII as the Pacific campaign was still an active war. These proved to be too slow for the western lines and were mostly used for helper service as far as I understand. They didn't keep them long after the war ended. The H-7's were the first large example of simple mallets as they did not have large low pressure cylinders, but started the trend away from high/low pressure mallets.