Ironic, 3985 and 4023 were stored side by side for decades in the old Cheyenne roundhouse.

Which should go first, 3985 or 5511, I'd say wait and see. There are solid arguments for both. One real danger I see in this entire discussion is the number of locomotives people are throwing into the Silvis project at random. One locomotive restoration is an enormous expense and technical challenge. two and you're in deep waters. Four and you're in serious depths with a rip tide.

I know RRHMA already mentioned 3985 will be first, so I doubt they'd change their minds. Th only difference I could really see is working on 5511 a little while the 3985 overhaul is going on. Simple things like removing parts, doing an overall evaluation/ultrasound and possibly ordering some parts.



I agree with that. It's fun to speculate, but 3985 itself is a massive project, especially if it's in as poor of condition as it's said to be. 5511's condition is relatively unknown, so it's hard to say what they're really getting into with that one, so the two projects are more than enough. Plus some of their equipment will be used for the 6988 overhaul and the 7081 overhaul, if that happens. It's not like most of the speculation is realistic anyways. The only logical argument for an acquisition I've seen mentioned is a Texas type, which was mentioned by RRHMA employees/volunteers themselves. You have lot's of people with outlandish speculations about restoring Yellowstones and UP 9000 at the shops. Be happy that we're getting the UP engines restored and will be getting at least one of the QJs overhauled. That's 3 pretty notable locomotives that 6 months ago most speculated wouldn't run again, especially the 5511.

Sounds like a great time to start planning mill runs of real superheater flues. If only some place had space to warehouse a run of flues until they finally all sold out.