If you were given $5,000,000 to restore a train it would be....

[Tommy0218]

A Baldwin 2-6-0 (class 8 20 D-117) 

[CMSTPP]

Without any doubt I'd get this train back among the living.
As Stevie Wonder sings......Isn't she lovely........?

 

You're on the same page as I am. But I would have restored the stream lined hiawatha set 1 from 1950 with the Super dome and the skytop lounge with a set of FP7s hauling it along. That would be wounderful. The stream lined hiawathas with the Atlantics and Baltics would have been quite a sight. If you can still find one of the steam engines still around.

 

James

[BUDBOG]

It would have to be that old Climax at the LA Fair grounds. I'd sure like to see her run again.

[railroadboy]

The Fabulous 4449 Sothern Pacific Daylight

[blade]

a 4-8-4 northern she is a real beauty,or an fp7

[StellingSun]

I would restore the #4006 Big Boy, , the PRR #460 Atlantic, and the T&P 610. It would be great to see even the Atlantic return to the  rails.

[freddok]

Easy, since I live in the Philadelphia area with roots in Northeastern PA, with $5,000,000 I'd want to restore either RDG T-1 2102 or T-1 2124. Both of those are gorgeous engines that would look great running again.

 

 

[Anonymous]

This is a good place for me to start, first off lets start from the ground up and build a new steamer with todays technology, with a steam tube boiler instead of flue tubes, computer firing controls, self lubing everything, dynamic braking on the drive axles using the heat to preheat the water. Should be a lot easier to build being we don't have to roll a shell, boiler made up of wall tubes in the shape of a old steamer and covered with lagging. Lets build a 4-6-6-4 that looks something like N&W 1218. When we get her built lets challenge GE to a tug of war with one of their newest biggest Diesels

[S&G Rute of the Silver River]

I would say ither a milwalkee road joe, most of the locos and cars at snoqualmie (we're working on it...                                .very......                 .very.......           .very slowly) or rebuilding the old milwalkee's track over snoqualmie pass.        Yes I live in snoqualmie

[gregrudd]

In the US scene I would question that one for a number of reasons.

1.  Strength of the plate frames.  British domestic engines are really quite weak in that area compared to US or British export engines.

2. Limited haulage capacity with US built stock of any era.

3. Will have to be converted to use Air brakes.

4. As an A4 has hook and buffer drawgear special transition wagons would have to used.

[tsgtbob]

<BLOCKQUOTE><table class="quoteOuterTable"><tr><td class="txt4"><img src="/trccs/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif">&nbsp;<strong>idseer1 wrote:</strong></td></tr><tr><td class="quoteTable"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="100%" valign="top" class="txt4"><P>biggest, baddest beast ANYwhere!</P>
<P>i'm with you. let's get 1604 back on the rails.</P></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>
1604 has a BIG problem
Her frame is cracked.
(rear if memory serve me correct, between the main and rear driver.)
For those who want to re-create locomotives lost to history, the biggest problem is ther is no foundry that can cast in one piece, the main frames and cylinders.
(well there is one, but it's busy. It's the Army Tank Plant at Warren Mi.)
Five million sounds like a lot, but, when you start talking about locomotives, well, let's just call them money pits!

[sansouci]

In Savannah GA there is a Southern Railway backshop and roundhouse that is the home of the local "Coastal Society." About 2 years ago, I went to a Jazz Festival there and they steamed up a restored loco and a started up ((I think it was an F-7) a diesel that they owned. It is adjacent to the old Savannah railway station, but it needs to have a bridge and some trackage laid to connect the two. Savannah is also home to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) that bootstrapped itself into existence and uses restore old houses as classrooms and offices.

I don't know where the tools and machinery went after NS auctioned them off, but they could be found.

Alternatively, wouldn't it be cheaper to send our old stuff to China for repair and restoration as they are winding down their steam program and have a lot of experienced boiler makers and machinists? That would stretch the $5 mil or whatever.

 

[ChooChooMike]

  This is a perfect world dream... and a lot more than 5 mil.   What I would like build would be a LARGE fully equiped restoration/training facility somewhere in the mid-west where museums and operators could send their personel to learn the process of steam locomotive restorations.  The shop would be equiped well enough to be able to build locomotives from scratch if necessary, but the focus would be on restorations.  Museums and tourist lines could not only send their workers there at no cost, but also their locomotives for full restoration.  The ideal thing would for it to be backed financially so that the education could be done for free while the trainees were housed and paid while they learned their trade.  Museums would be able to submit their locomotives for restoration and they would be chosen from a list of needs and worthyness.  There would be a staff of "Subject Matter Experts" in each scope of repair where they could mentor the trainees in the process of a full scope of possible repairs.  It of course would also have to have an operations/maintainence program in place where operators could learn best practices and safe operations.  The facility would also have staff available and equipment that could be used to transport hulks inbound and the complete restorations outbound to wherever they are needed.   Museums could then spend their funds on providing covered storage space and regular maintainence instead of funding the restorations.  The end result would be a yearly output of qualified steam mechanics and a steady flow of operational locomotives for them to maintain. 

Steve

SteveC - I like the way you think in terms of the bigger picture. I would love to see your ideas played out anywhere in the States.  Someone else mentioned pulling in the displaced Chinese steam workers as living examples and mentors of the lost skills.  How cool would that be ? If we could find a benefactor ($$$) I'd quit my current job in a nanosecond and work at this mythical/mystical place full time !!

Dreaming .........

Mike

[daveklepper]

A GG-1 could be restored because the coolant in the transformers CAN be replaced by modern coolants equally effective and not harmful.   It could be run in the Corridor Penn Station or Sunnyside Yard and south to Washington, but not northeast.   But the parts would be expensive.

[JanOlov]

  This is a perfect world dream... and a lot more than 5 mil.   What I would like build would be a LARGE fully equiped restoration/training facility somewhere in the mid-west where museums and operators could send their personel to learn the process of steam locomotive restorations.  The shop would be equiped well enough to be able to build locomotives from scratch if necessary, but the focus would be on restorations.  Museums and tourist lines could not only send their workers there at no cost, but also their locomotives for full restoration.  The ideal thing would for it to be backed financially so that the education could be done for free while the trainees were housed and paid while they learned their trade.  Museums would be able to submit their locomotives for restoration and they would be chosen from a list of needs and worthyness.  There would be a staff of "Subject Matter Experts" in each scope of repair where they could mentor the trainees in the process of a full scope of possible repairs.  It of course would also have to have an operations/maintainence program in place where operators could learn best practices and safe operations.  The facility would also have staff available and equipment that could be used to transport hulks inbound and the complete restorations outbound to wherever they are needed.   Museums could then spend their funds on providing covered storage space and regular maintainence instead of funding the restorations.  The end result would be a yearly output of qualified steam mechanics and a steady flow of operational locomotives for them to maintain. 

Steve

I like this idea too, believe you me. I was going to ask if we have the knowledge, tools, material etc today to build a NEW steamlocomotive like the NYC Hudson, NYNH&H I-5, any of the trains etc. etc. Not to forget a COMPLETE train like the UP M10004-6....is the blueprints still in existence?

[mmartian22]

i have agree with tomdeihl i seen both of them and it would be a fantastic just to restore one of them to their oringnal configurations  be able see them run again.

[mmartian22]

i have agree with tomdeihl i seen both of them and it would be a fantastic just to restore one of them to their oringnal configurations  be able see them run again.

[MopacBarrettTunnel]

How about something a little different - restore a Big Boy AND an Allegheny, and put them in a tug-of-war!!!!  It would either settle or start anew many debates, believe me!!  {We'd have to hire Ed King as the color-commentator, of course.}

Make it a PPV-Webcast event, to recoup a little bit of the cost, and donate any excess to the NKP #190 Fund.......

Now, there's an idea! Why not have one of the surviving DM&IR Yellowstones, versus a Big Boy then N&W 1218 versus an Alleghany.With the first round winners going for the glory! And then we'll put it on PPV(Pay Per View) on regular TV. Hey! THAT would get me to get up and buy the cable box and HDTV, and the speakers and the beer and more beer and... There could be preliminaries like, say NKP 765 vs. PM 1225, UP 844 vs. ATSF 2906,

<> 

<>Resurrecting this thread, how about something like an SD-90mac {6,000 hp version, please} / AC6000W -vs - Big Boy / Alleghany / Yellowstone?

<>

[newsmac]

Fun question! My choice would be the Texas Zephyr (1936 Denver Zephyr) By the way, anyone know who bought several cars of one of the TZ sets offered for sale on e-bay in late '06??

Hope it sold - hope it went to someone with the dollars to bring it back, even as a static piece. I rode it many times as a boy. It is part of a rich collection of summer vacation memories.

[Andrew Falconer]

I would restore an actual train something like this:

Soo Line or Grand Trunk GP7 or GP9

Grand Trunk Flat Car

Norfolk & Western Steel Coal Hopper

1950's or 1960's era Boxcar setting somewhere.

1950's or 1960's era Covered Hopper

Pacific Car & Foundry Refrigerator Car, If not scrapped yet.

Soo Line or Grand Trunk Caboose

That would be a full train.

If I could rent it out for special events or video productions, then i might be able to make some type of money for operating expenses.

Andrew

[snagletooth]

 I'd give it to IRM under the exception they rebuilt, umm, well, oh geez, well, they got SO MUCH.

Seriously, I'd love to see the little joe or the centennial. But I'd have to say the CB&Q steamer from Lincoln Park (west side pool) in Aurora. Tops on my list, being from there and crawling over it many, many times. plus it'd make the perfect sized steamer for their ops. 

[Semper Vaporo]

How about the "General" (4-4-0) at the Big Shanty Museum (recently(?) renamed to "The Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History) in Kennesaw, GA?  It has been in a nice building and well cared for (at least cosmetically) since it was run to the museum under its own power.  Granted it would require the latest FRA mandated updates and a full boiler inspection (and possibly major repairs since it has sat for so long), but $5M should be enough to get it running.

 

[trainboy414]

I would restore old rivits the 1st gg1 stored at strasburg in PA.

[traintownofcowee]

I don´t know if 5 mills would be enough, but if I could restore a whole complete train, then it would be SP´s 1950 15 car Sunset Limited complete with Mail/Baggage car, Baggage Dormitory, Sleepy Hollow Coaches, Pride of Texas Coffee Shop, Audubon Diner, French Quarter Lounge and the 10-6 Sleepers with the Blunt End Sleeper too. And the probably best feature would be the 4449 deskirted and painted black pulling the train!!!

4449 deskirted!

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!??!?!?!

Have 4460 restored!

NEVER and I mean NEVER should 4449 be deskirted! Or repainted to anything BUT the Daylight!

I myself would FINISH restoring Great Smoky Mountains Railroad #1702 & Southern #722.

The rest of the cash goes to help the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad with other problems...

 

[nutmeg1]

Who Cares?! This posting is from 28 Feb 2006!!

[Semper Vaporo]

Who Cares?! This posting is from 28 Feb 2006!!

Those that have an opinion, that might or might not differ from those already expressed.

[JanOlov]

A complete Daylight, Sunset and a Lark is high up on the list..... So is the 20th Century Limited, Broadway, Empire Builder......the list goes on.

[batterymule7]

Well it would be one of two engines, either I'd have to pull the 1401 out of the Smithsonian and steam her up or, I would have westinghouse build me an LC-2 Jackshaft electric just like the ole' N&Ws'.

[wjstix]

What about starting from scratch?? In the UK they're building a new steam engine based on a c.1930 design. How about building a new NYC J1e Hudson, or Milwaukee streamlined 4-4-2??

[VAPEURCHAPELON]

What about starting from scratch??...

That's what I had in mind with the PRR S1 6-4-4-6 some pages earlier. Yes: the "A-1 Trust" in Great Britain is the proof that it works. And in Swiss manufacturer (DLM) produced some steam engines as late as in the 1990s! Completely newly designed steam engines! The takers of these are VERY satisfied with them, but up to date none has interest to do the same with a large mainline engine.