Any news on the fate of this engine?<br>



wowak@hotmail.com

From second hand information sources:<p>The meeting was on Thursday March 25(?).<br>The city of Cleburne city council is inclined towards "disposing" (however that may be accopmlished) of the engine.<br>The Age of Steam has expressed an interest and was in attendance.<br>A local group presented a petition to keep the endine in Cleburne.<br>Another individual presented a plan to open a RR museum and run an excursion all financed by a $9 million TEA-21 grant.<br>No decision was made, there will be more discussion about it in the future.<p>Any mistakes in the above recounting are based in ignorance and are mine and mine alone.<br><br>



hkading@rypn.org

I think we'll witness more of these situations in the coming years as towns try to get rid of their rusty, asbestos-laden park engines. The problem is that few organizations have the money to abate the asbestos and move the engines, much less restore them cosmetically. Texas has seen in recent years a T&NO 2-10-2 leave to Illinois, a Santa Fe 2-6-2 go to Louisiana, a KCS steam switcher go to Florida, and now a Rock Island 4-6-2 on the way to Illinois. There's also been some inquiries into moving prized EP&SW No. 1 in El Paso out of state! <br>Those organizations with the competence and wherewithal will be able to pick some of these engines up.<p><br><br>

I have wondered a lot lately myself about what IRM plans to do with all the dead park hulks and so forth they have been gathering in the past decade. Wondered even more how they can afford to do it. <p>Perhaps someone high enough up in IRM to know what is going on can write an article explaining their phenomonal success in funding this kind of work and explaining their program?<p>Dave<br>



lathro19@idt.net

I recall that either the IRM or the NMofT in St. Louis has the goal of having one locomotive of each wheel arrangement in it's collection.<p>I saw the IRM at work when they removed SP (T&NO) 2-10-2 #975 from the park here in Beaumont. They appear to have a great relationship with BNSF; being able to bring park trains back to Union over their trackage.<p>I don't known how they keep everything going, but I am glad they do. I am convinced that if the IRM did not take #975; it would have been scrapped. (The picture below shows what #975 looked like when it was first moved.) Moving it involved uncoupling the engine and tender and moving them seperately to the SP yard in Beaumont. The engine and tender were then repainted. The wheel bearings were overhauled so that they could roll again. The brake system was overhauled so that it will function off the train brakes. The engine and tender were reunited, and the driving rods removed.<p>On October 13, 1995, a Southern Pacific diesel pulled #975 out of the siding that had been its home for over a year, and towed #975 to Houston, TX for the first part of its trek to Illinois. Then, #975 sat in Houston until October 18, when the IRYM's U30C (BN 5383) took it on the remainder of its journey to Union. It was moved at the blistering pace of 20 MPH, with stops every 100 miles to grease its journel bearings! On Thanksgiving, 1996 weekend the trio of BN 5283, CB&Q Hudson #3007 and #975 made it to the IRYM.<p>I had the opportunity to visit #975 in Union; little more seems to have been done with it since it left Beaumont.<p>-James



Surviving World Steam Locomotives for Windows

james1@pernet.net

I am glad that the Illinios Railroad Museum does what it can. While they do have a large collection of steam locmotives in need of restoration, at least they are keeping them away from the whim of city councils who might sell them for scrap or (shudder) paint them bright red and weld on safety equipment to serve as a piece of playground equipment. I dearly with IRM would get the M&STL 2-8-0 rotting in a park in Mason City, IA. Nothing has been done to protect it and it is rotting away. <br>



paulkattner@hotmail.com

Agreed to all the above, but it still leaves my questions unanswered. IS IRMs primary plan to either have one of everything, to become a repository much like Barry Yard was in the UK, or what? And, what was the plan that has provided them with their unusual rate of success?<p>I did not mean to present a criticism by asking those questions. I am interested in the answers to those questions. <p>Dave<br>



lathro19@idt.net

I, too, am happy that IRM has had the success that they have, and I am also concerned about the ultimate fate of these "park engines."<p>I hope that someone at IRM will let us in on the secret of their success, as they also have a world class diesel collection. I would like to see some of the other museums get involved so that Wes Barris doesn't get any more entries for his "Recent Losses" column.<p>One thing that is helping is the asbestos on these things. I remember that several years ago the city fathers of Santa Fe, NM wanted to scrap their resident AT&SF 2-10-4. It turned out that the cost of removing the asbestos was such that they ultimately let a local railfan group pay for the asbestos removal and otherwise left the engine intact.<br><br>



bwi04@icelandair.is