Money well spent?

[1oldgoat]

No doubt this project will cost several million dollars. (I haven't seen an estimate.) However, there are dozens of excellent candidates for restoration out there. The M1a in Strasburg, the K4s, or B&LE 2-10-4 near Pittsburgh, not to mention other efforts already underway such as N&W 1214 or C&O 2-6-6-2. Might the donations for this project be better spent on these efforts? No doubt 2 or 3 complete restorations could be completed for the cost of the 5550. Now if someone with deep pockets wants to spend his money on this, more power to him. However, soliciting and receiving donations from people who can only afford modest donations only hurts the efforts by organizations that already are struggling to complete their projects. Plus the issue of track time is also valid. CSX and UP have already been ruled out. BNSF can't handle the traffic they already have, and I seriously doubt NS would give a green board to the 5550 when they have their own program. I am an avid fan of the Pennsy and would like to see the 5550, but not at the expense of other projects. (Yes, I know I'm also taking the fun out of everything.)

[Overmod]

Locomotive design and construction was budgeted at $10 million; the infrastructure and support equipment to keep it and run it has been tentatively fixed at another $10 million.  Rather obviously that will not be raised, even over the 15-to-20 year scope of the planning, by donations from excited railfans.  Much of it is expected to come from sources that value having a 'wicked cool' example of Streamline Moderne design, which can operate cost-effectively without undue risk of delay, or failure, or track damage, etc.

The only place the locomotive 'needs' to operate is the same place Project 130 needs: the Fast Loop at TTCI.  And the T1 starts with a big leg up regarding both the inherent guiding stability and relatively low augment required to use that facility at high speed.  While yes, I do expect data from instrumented runs to substantiate the locomotive's ability to run on "diesel-optimized" main lines without causing undue damage or risk, and while yes, I do expect design optimization and running procedures to make the locomotive at least as reliable as the average run of road diesels, there is no requirement that the locomotive 'operate' anywhere except on its fixed demonstration rollers/test plant. 

I fully support any organized and effective restoration project -- ATSF 2926 and the B&M  Pacific at Steamtown being two, and PRR 1361... when it gets to its next stage, whatever that is.  But I do not think this is a 'zero-sum game' for a small fixed number of railfan dollars, and there is no other locomotive project in the United States that will appeal to as many different groups of people -- many outside the conventional steam-locomotive community -- as the T1 will. 

Of course there's no doubt that 'two or three restorations could be completed' for the $10M.   And you would then have... well, what would you do with 643 if you restored her again?  Presuming you could get Mr. Campbell to let you do anything in the first place?  Are there enough Pennsy fans to make the great expense of restoring and operating the M1a practical? -- and why not, following your own logic, devote any money that would be used on that locomotive toward better supporting something that has a track record of effective running and a full plan for the future, like 765 and the Fort Wayne organization behind her?  Or getting 1522 back in service?

I'm quite certain that anyone with dollars to donate understands where they want to put them.  We already have someone over in the T1 thread on the Trains Magazine forum making this same point -- he's putting his money decidedly 'elsewhere'.  And he is advocating that others do the same.  This is America, where you can say what you want and make an argument to influence others if you want.  I, on the other hand, would much prefer re-creating a cutting-edge locomotive, and proving the design wasn't flawed,  with my money and effort, rather than restoring yet another historic engine some part way toward operable condition without either a plan to keep it or a plan to run it.  Note that the plan for the 2-6-6-2 is set whether or not the T1 goes forward, and if 1218 goes anywhere it will be on corporate money, not the dribs and drabs that railfans contribute.  (And be it noted that putting prototypical lightweight rods on a class A, to make it better suited to modern running conditions, is much more possible, and much cheaper, than it previously would have been because of the direct actions of some of the T1 people...)

[carnej1]

Did part of this thread get deleted?

 I ask because neither the title of the thread nor the original post mention the T-1 project by name, and they probably should....

[wabash2800]

Yes, I wonder, since I had to read through it to figure out what it's about. I will not contribute a dime to this project: Now if the locomotive in question was a NYC Hudson...