Maybe NS should have bought 2100 for excursions on the Reading/Harrisburg lines! But maybe they wouldn't touch it if it's friction bearing. NS is fussy what they let on their tracks.

As an NS shareholder, I like that they are fussy about letting others on their tracks. (as you put it) It means that there is less chance of a fly-by-night operator that takes worse care of equipment then the Gettysburg circa 1995. Substantially less chance for other's failures to cost NS money.

We as a preservation movement do not need another Gettysburg incident. The railroad industry as a whole does not need accidents involving "old-fashioned" equipment. It invites heavy-handed banning of older technologies.

So I guess 4501 and 630 won't be running much longer on NS, as representatives of older 'banned' technology?

TVRM is an operation that has proven to NS that they are capable of using these older technologies, steam/friction bearings/etc in a 21st century environment, the same goes for Ft. Wayne/765.

For the moment, there is no true ban on friction bearings or steam. Now if a car with friction bearings shows up at interchange I'll be making calls, but there is no law that says I can't move a friction bearing car or a steam locomotive.

Unfortunately, it really wouldn't take much to get a real ban on some of these things if a major accident happened. Hence my support for NS being "fussy".

NS runs a tight ship. The steam locomotive groups that they're working with have proven to NS that the locomotives are reliable, sure 630 broke down a few times but they got the kinks out of it. 611 should be flawless considering all the work they're putting into it. 611 is all rollers, too which is a plus.

The difference between "someone else" showing up to "play" on a railroad versus a railroad running its own "exceptional" equipment is comparable to a "backyard grease monkey" fixing his car with whatever parts he scrounged versus an automotive garage fixing someone else's car with parts they procured and have to warranty.

As any professional garage will tell you, the reason you're paying more for parts and labor involves the fact that you're paying for the garage to--supposedly--use its experience and judgement with regards to whether certain parts or suppliers will work or not, having the proper tools, etc. In such a case, should something go wrong, the garage can, for example, take a defective part back to their supplier, and said supplier has some assurance that it was installed properly. "No, you can't use Cheapman parts for that header--it won't last 1,000 miles! Put in the Priceyman replacement--it's better than NOS because they engineered it to take care of the original production flaw!"

If your cheap fuel filter clogs up on the Plymouth or GE on your little Podunk and Western ride, the worst that might happen is folks will have to walk a mile(?) back to the station. Have an injector fail on a mainline trip, and not only do you inconvenience hundreds of passengers, you delay millions of dollars' worth of freight.

Get back on task guys, we were on the subject of Reading 2100 back to Cleveland, not on the Norfolk Southern steam program.