They should have left them with the NCRY. The guys who restored WP 918 finished that restoration and then wanted to restore the SP F's. But they held off due to them belonging to another organization (GGRM). They were concerned that after they put in all the time and effort to restore them that the locomotives could go away. As it turned out they did. Pretty good foresight on their part.

It's too bad. By now at least one of the SP F's could be in operating condition. It would be the only SP F-unit in SP paint in operating condition. There are two other SP F units that may be in operating condition at the Galveston Railroad Museum. But they are painted in the Santa Fe Warbonnet scheme instead of being restored to their original SP scheme. The only other SP F-unit still in existence is the one up at CSRM without side panels and in primer paint.