Chris- just curious, what's the bulk of the cost? Restoring the nose sheetmetal, or the actual paint job? Is just painting #644 into Amtrak colors without restoring the original nose contours out of the question?

The bulk of the costs would go to hiring someone to fabricate the steel and fix up the nose. Some steel work also needs to be done at the tear-drop corner of the windshields. Then there's scaling the paint off of the carbody, which would take up lots of time! I estimate $4-5,000 for the paint job, including primer and paint supplies with room for error in case a flock of birds decide to fly by and leave their mark, which has happened to me a couple times. Or if someone runs into a fresh paint job with the man-lift (which another volunteer did three separate times last summer...)

Lastly, the big question: where to do the work since this weekend is 231 and 644's last at Brooklyn.

Is it still an active effort to get the 644 operational for Amtrak? I don't know if there's anything I'd like to see more than a SDP40F in Amtrak colors...but if there was a possibility to have Amtrak use the locomotive???

The 644 is operational, but there are no plans to return this unit to Amtrak colors before the 40th Anniversary event. The main reason is: Money. Funds are needed to restore the nose and repaint the locomotive, and at this time we don't have the cash nor a place to do the work.

Thought I'd share an update on 644's cab. With help from others on the prep-work, this is what we were able to do. More work is needed near the tear-drop portion of the windshield, and the ceiling.

I sprayed seafoam green using Centari Enamel, which turned out very nice despite the fact that more crap from the problem areas continued to fly around while I was spraying.

Looks great Chris! How about adding two pairs of fuzzy dice hanging from the visors?