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Re:I'm not holding my breath, there are other good projects, that are far more likely, and need help...
Author: BOB2
Date: 01-20-2020 - 11:09
Nope, last time I was there, maybe five years, they were in awful shape, and you could get up close to see it. But, yeah, you're right, these are pretty substantial, and I think there are some pieces that, if you got the parts together, aren't yet in such a state that you'd have something to restore.
Of course, as we all know, who've seen a few of these, turning this slowly rusting "junk" in the boonies of Oregon, into a working steam engine, ain't cheap or easy to pull off. There's just having the basics necessary for putting some of these back together, finding or fabricating damaged, worn out, or missing parts, testing and passing the tests, and finding some place to do it, with all of the necessary equipment.
So it would take boatload of money, and a good sized crew of dedicated folks, you'd need to figure out how to get these out of there, none could be railed out, and where you're gonna take them. But, yeah like "maybe" one or the other of the Sierra engines could be restored, but how much will it cost to truck out a good sized mallet? Maybe, at the Museum in Sacramento SP shops? Where do you take a mallet these days for a major rebuild?
Static historical display and cosmetic restoration for the Sierra engines at the CSRM, or on display to the Sierra itself might be a more realistic possibility that should not be discounted, and that might at least be an improvement over the current fate of these engines.
The reality is that there are a dozen other often under-funded worthy restoration projects out there that are competing with that vision, and I've never seen any motivation or clear intention to do much with this "collection". Which is kind of sad given the history of some of this collection, but that's been my "observed" outcome, after my many years of observations of the many years of comments and updates on this collection.
But, even if I do win the lotto, I'd still be thinking twice about how high this would be on my locomotive restoration "bucket list" compared to a whole lot of other underfunded worthwhile RR and loco projects, that are needed to protect, restore, or even to just keep in working order existing operating engines and other RR equipment.
Of course, as we all know, who've seen a few of these, turning this slowly rusting "junk" in the boonies of Oregon, into a working steam engine, ain't cheap or easy to pull off. There's just having the basics necessary for putting some of these back together, finding or fabricating damaged, worn out, or missing parts, testing and passing the tests, and finding some place to do it, with all of the necessary equipment.
So it would take boatload of money, and a good sized crew of dedicated folks, you'd need to figure out how to get these out of there, none could be railed out, and where you're gonna take them. But, yeah like "maybe" one or the other of the Sierra engines could be restored, but how much will it cost to truck out a good sized mallet? Maybe, at the Museum in Sacramento SP shops? Where do you take a mallet these days for a major rebuild?
Static historical display and cosmetic restoration for the Sierra engines at the CSRM, or on display to the Sierra itself might be a more realistic possibility that should not be discounted, and that might at least be an improvement over the current fate of these engines.
The reality is that there are a dozen other often under-funded worthy restoration projects out there that are competing with that vision, and I've never seen any motivation or clear intention to do much with this "collection". Which is kind of sad given the history of some of this collection, but that's been my "observed" outcome, after my many years of observations of the many years of comments and updates on this collection.
But, even if I do win the lotto, I'd still be thinking twice about how high this would be on my locomotive restoration "bucket list" compared to a whole lot of other underfunded worthwhile RR and loco projects, that are needed to protect, restore, or even to just keep in working order existing operating engines and other RR equipment.
