The main problem with the cash-for-clunkers program is that the car has to fail a smog check and not be repairable at a "reasonable" price first. I have one that I'd like to junk, but I'd have to pay a junkyard to tow it away ("trade in" value well below $1000). The DMV/smog check program would be a good way to get it off the property with some return, but the damn thing keeps passing smog checks fine even while it's falling apart otherwise (there must be a way to "fix" that without them saying "oh, that's disconnected, repair cost is reasonable"). Maybe I'll give it to a PBS station ... but the IRS rules only allow you to deduct that the recipient can sell it for ... IOW nothing (though they would be the ones having to pay the junk yard to take it, not me, which is sort of the opposite of what's supposed to happen).

As for the locomotive: the block is drilled, so the engine can't be simply transferred to something else and continue polluting. One would expect, though, that other stuff in there (injection, blowers, brake components, etc.) are all still available for parting out. And there are probably other F40s or SD40s or even GP40s around that could use the parts. Will Metrolink make a cabbage out of it?