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Watts Campbell important News

Website is long gone. The person that was working on this seems to have disappeared. Very little info on the situation now except some hush hush rumors. I talked with Chad a few months ago and indeed some things have been scrapped.

The whole thing makes me sick
 
That is too bad, but it does make you appreciate those few industrial museums and old machinery collections that still exist. Also makes you appreciate just how hard an endeavor saving something like this is. Hope we here some better news in the future.

Charles
 
Sounds like from reading this post that they have given up doing anything with the building and equipment and the “museum” is just going to be on line.
 
I'm out of the loop now, I did hear things have been scrapped as well, but only third or fourth hand. Google st view shows that the engine that had been stored outside in pieces is now gone. Probably scrapped.
 
Latest Google earth photo doesn't look good for Watts Campbell. A significant portion of the roof has fallen in and there is a hydraulic excavator working in the building.
 
I was sent a couple of photos taken inside the Watts Campbell building recently (within the last 6-8 months). The excavator was inside and busy cleaning out all the wonderful history. What a shame it could not have been saved as an important piece of our industrial heritage. I was asked to not share the photos but someday permission may be obtained to post them here. A very sad ending to a historic foundry and machine shop. Fortunately some of their steam engines do survive in museums.
 
I have a tiny tidbit about a W-C engine at PSCO. Steelton Pa. Its on a list of scrapped engines from the rolling mill dated 1917.
Click to enlarge.
 
I have news from Conrad Milster, former chief engineer of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He told me that Chad Watts has now died, I believe he said of a heart attack. He couldn't comment on the state of the building though, but going off of the comments above I'm guessing nothing exists of it now. I did ask him about the disassembled Corliss on the bed of a planer, it came out of a New Jersey or PA prison and Chad wanted to restore it but never got around to it.

So as much as I hate to say it, I think the end of Watts Campbell has arrived.


Douglas
 
Chad passed quite a ways back now, over a year or more. I don't think "nothing exists" as of now but I spoke with someone in the spring who said things were deteriorating more and more. They also said that the disassembled engine that was outside(you used to be able to see it on google street view) was now gone and he didn't know where it was. The whole thing is a sad affair.
 
Chad passed quite a ways back now, over a year or more. I don't think "nothing exists" as of now but I spoke with someone in the spring who said things were deteriorating more and more. They also said that the disassembled engine that was outside(you used to be able to see it on google street view) was now gone and he didn't know where it was. The whole thing is a sad affair.
Ah i wasn't aware it was that long ago, not sure Conrad was either.
 
Indeed, its incredibly sad to see. I wonder if at least someone could go in there and get the plates off the machines. Any takers?
 








 
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