Chris Fussell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> smitty195 Wrote:
> > It is my understanding that these units no
> longer
> > have ANY connection to the Portland people at
> all.
> > They have been sold (or donated, or whatever)
> to
> > the Ogden Train Museum (I don't know the formal
> > name of the museum). They will be put on static
> > display, and will never be placed into
> operating
> > order.
>
> Hey, 'Joe', thought I'd help set some things
> straight: The 231 was donated by Friends of SP
> 4449 to Dynamic Rail Preservation (DynaRail),
> likewise with 644 by Northwest Rail Museum.
> DynaRail, a newly-formed nonprofit organization
> made up of a board fully committed to the cosmetic
> restoration and operation of the two locomotives,
> have entered an agreement with Ogden Union Station
> to relocate the locomotives and create a work area
> for not only these two, but also other pieces of
> equipment at the museum. I'm going to ignore your
> confident claim that they will never be placed
> into operating order, despite the fact that 644
> runs and 231 close to being fired up account a few
> gummed up exhaust valves and ring replacements...
>
>
> > I think one of the biggest mistakes they made
> was
> > painting that F40 into Daylight colors. It
> looks
> > ridiculous. There were a lot of people behind
> the
> > project at the beginning, and we were all
> thinking
> > that it was going to be restored so that it
> could
> > be operated on the rails, with Amtrak Phase III
> > livery and everything. But someone got the
> bright
> > idea of painting it Daylight orange, which
> makes
> > absolutely no sense. Once that happened, I
> could
> > see the interest go swirling down the toilet.
> I'm
> > glad that F40 is gone----it looked like hell.
> > Hopefully Ogden will repaint it to its proper
> > colors.
>
> The justification for repainting it in Daylight
> colors was due to my being unprepared to paint it
> in Phase III Amtrak, as much as I would've liked
> to. In 2005, a 700 and 4449 steam doubleheader
> trip was almost canceled due to lack of Amtrak
> power, and our relationship with Amtrak during
> that time was pretty iffy considering Amtrak
> nearly shut down a few times in 2002-2004. A month
> later, more weight was put on fixing 231 to be the
> dedicated HEP helper for these excursions, but as
> years went on, a better relationship with Amtrak
> grew to the point where the 4449 was able to do
> big trips (such as to Michigan, a hell of a feat
> to pull off these days) and utilizing the F40 was
> no longer a priority.
>
> I had also never painted a railcar or locomotive
> with a spray gun before, so this was a perfect
> opportunity to take advantage of 3 months of
> summer to needle-gun the whole carbody and slap on
> some practice paint, outdoors, under guidance and
> instruction from Doyle McCormack. He actually
> wanted me to paint a New York Central
> lightning-Daylight scheme like he did for the
> F45... To do a proper paint job, it would be wise
> to clean up the locomotive indoors and not worry
> about the rainy weather Portland gets. I didn't
> have much sunny weather to work with outdoors, and
> having had no experience spraying, I felt I would
> be more content with screwing up a temporary paint
> job instead of a good Phase III scheme that would
> only be eaten up by rust again. The temp paint
> accomplishes another thing: rust control. Rust was
> eating up the locomotive like cancer and had holes
> big enough to stick your arm through, so cleaning
> it up and putting on a coat of paint helped buy
> time. Look at the Santa Fe FP45 rehablitation
> project going on *indoors* at Orange Empire in
> Perris; it's been going on for a good while, and
> they're barely getting the carbody walls back on.
>
>
> Due to the vacating of Brooklyn Yard, Oregon Rail
> Heritage Foundation went through a long process
> determining which equipment gets to go to the new
> Enginehouse. The final result was equipment
> dedicated to the annual Holiday Express
> fundraiser, NKP 324 for switching, and the NKP PA
> so Doyle can continue completing his project that
> he set aside for years in order to dedicate full
> time efforts on the land acquisition and building
> of a new facility. The 4449 toolcar was sold and
> went to Canada. Other pieces of equipment still
> occupy space on the Oregon Pacific Railroad
> shortline (NP 498 being one of them, which now has
> busted window). NRM would've liked to continue
> work on the SP&S FA for display at the
> Enginehouse, but it had to go to a storage
> location along with 231, 644, the Daylight-painted
> Clackamas River sleeping car, and misc equipment.
> Doyle and the Friends of 4449 have played an
> incredible role in which allowed the saving of 231
> and its slow rehabilitation towards operating
> condition despite recent setbacks with vandalism,
> so gratitude is owed. It should also be noted that
> at the time when 231 and 644 went to Portland, a
> roundhouse and enginehouse was planned for a plot
> of land 3 times larger than what ultimately
> resulted. A lot changed in 10 years... but I think
> for the better.
>
> During storage in NW Portland, meth-heads busted
> their way into the sleeper car and trashed it for
> its copper. They also found and took 231's HEP
> cables and shot up the cab windshield in an
> attempt to get inside. Luckily through a week-long
> stakeout and a security system installed by
> DynaRail that utilized live video alarms, a number
> of people were netted, one of which is still
> serving time in prison with restitution hanging
> over his head.
>
> By transferring ownership to DynaRail, the
> locomotives now belong to an organization to which
> the mission statement fits, and is out of the
> problem storage lot. We can apply for grants and
> conduct thorough fundraising without running into
> issues with steam locomotive mission statements
> and objectives. Now that I've painted some
> Amtrak-certified cars (such as NP Travellers Rest
> 498) along with other steam and diesel
> locomotives, I'm confident on restoring 231 and
> 644 to their former glory.
>
> I realize you've had a beef with how I do things
> for a while, such as when you've posted here as
> 'Joe' and obsessively ranted about certain issues
> in 2011, or criticizing a project or paint job
> you've not contributed to. That's OK, I respect
> that. There are F40s currently listed for sale at
> a number of rail equipment websites, and I would
> support your endeavor to do a project however you
> see fit. What's written above is just part of the
> story, and I hope it helps paint a bigger picture
> of how things turned out the way they did. I'm
> happy, despite the challenges and setbacks, and
> have no apologies nor regrets. Fact is something's
> being done, which is about all that really counts
> and pretty much applies to all aspects of life.
>
> If anyone has any further questions, our mailing
> address, email address, and phone number is listed
> at dynarail.org and we'll be glad to appropriately
> answer any further questions.
>
> Here's to a bright red-white-blue future for 231
> and 644!

I see I'm still living in your head, rent free. That's funny!

Of course I knew you would comment here, as that was my intention. I'm well aware of how the "system" works. I think you left some information out, but so be it. It is what it is. If the 231 is ever restored to operating condition again (with "operating condition" being defined as being a restored locomotive that can do what it was designed to do, and not operate back and forth at 5 MPH on a museum track), then I will be stunned. I'd be very happy to see it do this, but I stand by my opinion that it will likely never happen.