> I often hear it repeated that because the museum sand-blasted the locomotive,

False. The SP sandblasted and painted it and then said "it never will move again" after shoving it into the display building.

> that work would be needed to remove the abrasive grit.

True, and work will also be needed to repair all the accelerated wear on the moving parts from the sandblasting grit incurred moving it into the display building and then out to its restoration location. The sand and grit is in /everything/.

>Also heard a rumor 4294 was rode the worst out of the dozen.

When a fireman in the 1970s, I asked several old heads about it, and they all said "worst of the bunch".

>Lack of roller bearings is one of the primary reasons RRs rightfully use to deny use of the equipment.

These are usually cars, freight and passenger, because the RRs have forgotten how to maintain and use plain bearings. It's an RR policy thing, not an FRA reg.

> Lead babbits are environmentally problematic these days.

Since most main bearings are bronze, this shouldn't be too much of an issue. Besides, there are more than a hundred different babbitt alloys, many of which don't contain any lead at all.

> IIRC the SP used a proprietary type of "pad" bearing instead of roller.

Spring pad lubricators in the cellars -- the WP used grease. The "cellar" isn't the bearing, rather the chamber under the axle, which contains the lubricant and the feed mechanism. Unique to the SP perhaps, but proprietary? Hardly, because its design was difficult to keep secret. Kodak film was proprietary, and still is, because it's manufactured in secret. Ever see a patent on a Kodak film product?