Wonder if anybody at the RR Museum of Pa is aware of this situation. Not that they have the funds, but perhaps they have some influence. I bet if PRR 4483 in Hamburg, NY was in the same trouble the powers to be would make some sort of attempt to acquire it for the collection. As has been said, where there is a will, there might be a way. B&LE 643 would certainly fill a void in their theme/purpose. Just wondering.
Loco3750

I can tell you with confidence that the RR Museum of Pa. is KEENLY aware of the situation, if from nothing else but these posts. That doesn't mean they can do a damned thing about it, however.

The "official" policy of ALL of the staff of the RR Museum of Pa.--not that there's anything of the staff that they USED to have, what with the budget and staff cutbacks of the past couple of years and all--is that they're NOT allowed to officially register any expression of "appropriateness" or "qualification" of any POTENTIAL museum acquisition.

They might be able to do, as one of the officials and i used to joke, the whole routine of, "wow, whatta nice piece that is.... [whistles at the sky].... we don't have anything like that at the museum now...... [whistles innocently]....... that railroad isn't represented enough in our collection...... [whistles]........ SO many opportunities for interpretation..... [whistles, shoves hands in pockets, walks away innocently]......." But that's about it.

The Railroad Museum of Pa. does NOT have an acquisition budget. Not officially, at least. And not that big, at any rate. ANY such effort to bring the B&LE 643 to the RR Museum of Pa. would have to be driven by either private donations or the Friends of the RR Museum. IF there is a hat to be passed or negotiations to be had, they will come at the behest of the Friends, not Museum staff or the Commonwealth. (Though, to be honest, if someone has to go "begging" to NS, CSX, and/or Amtrak, it's better to be the Railroad Museum of Pa. or the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum than, say, the Ohio Central, the Reading & Northern, or the Townburg Railroad Park.)

I'd much rather see the B&LE 643 at Strasburg, or for that matter Steamtown, or Station Square in Pittsburgh, or the Ohio Central or IRM roundhouse. But they really don't have a say in the matter.

Just for the record, IRM doesn't HAVE a roundhouse. At least not yet.

Les

I know. But as long as we're dreaming, what's one more fantasy? <:-)

I think it all boils down to a few factors. Will Campbell sell the engine?? Does the buyer have the $$ to purchase, move, restore either for display or operation & if restored for operation, have a place to operate such a big heavy engine. If the purchaser not meet even one of those factors there is no use even trying to buy the engine from the way I see it.
This kind of reminds me of the saying that a boat is a big hole in the water you throw money in.

DBH

Going back to the link to the museum that started all of this discussion, I noted how similar the "many levels of sponsorship recognition" and the "naming rights" program sound to a certain other long term railroad equipment rebuilding project that has been occasionally discussed here.

PC

From what I understand she was fired up once and never moved. Not too many people know about the fire up though.

Not to beat a dead horse any more, but did it ever run under it's own power (after the new pistons were made) or was it fired up prior to then? I can recall a photo someplace..R&R, L&RP?????

December 30, 1987, according to Trains Magazine. I saw photos of her outside the Union RR shops in Hall, Pa. Test moving was planned for April 1988, but I don't know if that actually happened. I seem to recall the same photo that others saw, but it wasn't in Trains.

I seem to remember it was a color photo and was in the Railroad News Photos feature of Trains. Could be wrong.

But i do know that it wasn't at Hall but at the B&O Glenwood Shops.

According to Glenn, they did a stationary steam test but moved it under compressed air back and forth inside the Glenwood Shops which was a rather long distance for being indoors. In 1996 we were within one or two work sessions of steaming her up at the P&LE shops at McKees Rocks but that never came to pass. In hindsight it could have opened up a LOT of doors and prevented some of the challenges today.