Re: Wouldn't It Be Nice ...
Author: Gary Hunter
Date: 11-28-2008 - 17:18
Drew, as a California resident from San Jose, I couldn't agree more about which locomotive I'd most like to see restored. 4294 represents the crown jewel of any SP collection. I would vote for any cab forward as the most distinct and unique locomotive type from American RR history. I would personally contribute financially to such a restoration endeavor. CSRM should start a webpage for the 4294 and see what level of support could be generated to rebuild her in the context of a non-profit 503 type corporation for educational and historic purposes. If 4294 ever does get rebuilt, I sure hope she gets a retrofitted set of roller bearings, as this would cancel one of the principal justifiable arguments that would be used by UP or BNSF against allowing it to run on their property. Highest-quality restoration by the best qualified people would also go a long way toward achieving demonstrable reliability. Black Butte to Ashland sure seems like a cool place to run if things continue in the direction they have been going for that section of CORP. I believe the 4294 would have one of the largest fan-bases around, making for possibly one of the biggest donation bases. Seeing 4294 under steam again would be one of the most exciting events imagineable to me that could happen in the 20 or so years of remaining statistical life expectency I have left.