Zephy set sold?

Nova55 · **Joined:** Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:09 pm **Posts:** 596

Confirmed today, Mark Twain Zephyr. No current plans yet for it though.

dinwitty · **Joined:** Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:18 pm **Posts:** 2226

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain_Zephyr

a bit of ownership history, may take a wee bit -o- work..

junior · **Posted:** Thu May 11, 2017 11:59 pm

WVNorthern wrote:

The DelMarVA peninsula is another tri-state area (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia).

...and there is the tri-state area that is SE Pennsylvania, Northern Delaware and South (New) Jersey...

filmteknik · **Posted:** Fri May 12, 2017 1:49 am

I guess they don't believe in shop trucks.

Rainier Rails · **Posted:** Fri May 12, 2017 5:49 am

Should we expect a press release/ownership announcement, if not now, then at some point later on when some sort of plan has been put together? Also, will the trainset be kept at Mid America for the time being?

Nova55 · **Joined:** Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:09 pm **Posts:** 596

I would not expect to see any announcement anytime soon from what I gather, its only a one person operation.

Rainier Rails · **Posted:** Sat May 13, 2017 6:16 am

Thanks, Nova55, for the info!

Mtn3781 · **Joined:** Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:30 pm **Posts:** 45

So was it recently sold? If so, any idea how much? If it wasn't recently sold, is it for sale?

Mtn3781 · **Joined:** Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:30 pm **Posts:** 45

Here's some more info and how it ended up at Gateway Rail Services where it's been sitting ever since.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/state-and-regional/missouri/mark-twain-train-is-idle-on-lot-of-metro-east/article_7dfce505-c227-5f29-9d94-11d0e8c8080f.html

Mgoldman · **Posted:** Mon Dec 25, 2017 1:57 pm

"So far, several groups have expressed interest. Folks with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad came by eight months ago and did some tire-kicking, he said, and a couple of other businessmen looked it over."

Imagine that! But, alas, the article dates back to 2010.

It's amazing it has sat so long - seemingly without an owner, or a legal way to transfer ownership to it's current caretakers.

Maybe Amtrak should purchase it for its planned 110 mph midwest upgrades in 2019, lol.

/Mitch

Overmod · **Joined:** Thu May 24, 2012 1:37 pm **Posts:** 2492

In keeping with the general discussion of preservation-oriented content raised by Jim Vaitkunas on the Amtrak 501 thread:

I have been reading post after post full of worthless, nebulous assertions about this topic, and have yet to learn (1) who is supposed to have bought the train; (2) where it is now; (3) whether there is any organized plan at all to restore it, or even preserve it ... in fact, as of this afternoon people aren't providing reference material less than seven years old.

This isn't preservation, it's rumor masquerading as knowledge. Please don't post further until someone has hard information that actually contains current facts.

Metra · **Joined:** Mon Dec 25, 2017 8:07 pm **Posts:** 3

Overmod wrote:

In keeping with the general discussion of preservation-oriented content raised by Jim Vaitkunas on the Amtrak 501 thread:

I have been reading post after post full of worthless, nebulous assertions about this topic, and have yet to learn (1) who is supposed to have bought the train; (2) where it is now;

I can vouch that at the end of August it was still at Gateway because I checked it out while I was in town for the Indycar race.

Mtn3781 · **Joined:** Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:30 pm **Posts:** 45

Is not history part of preservation? Now we know the history of how it ended up at Gateway. And I'm wondering how Gateway knew he was the owner? Because he said he was? Did the "owner" knowing it could not stay where it was, "the train was sitting in two to four feet of water", having no money pull a fast one on Gateway with talk of renovation to get it moved and then disappeared knowing they would not scrap it. It has been safely stored for 10 years now.

For anybody that wants to do something with it, we now know that Gateway wants $88,000 for having moved it. Do they want anything for having stored it for 10 years? Gateway is in possession of it, but apparently isn't even sure who owns it. Has the mystery "owner" that had it moved possibly passed away?

It got moved in Jan 2008 and the news article was Oct 2010, so almost 3 yrs. During that time there were lots of tire kickers. Some with deep pockets, and yet 7 years later there it sits. Is that an indication of it's condition? We have the opinion of somebody "whose company specializes in restoring and repairing rail cars" that just a cosmetic restoration would run $4.5 millionish. Knowing who some of tire kickers were, someone with an interest in doing something with it has some leads on potential partners. Or the reverse, parties that may object to what they wanted to do.

For those with a keen eye, there was a lot of valuable info in that news article which is why I posted it.

Mtn3781 · **Joined:** Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:30 pm **Posts:** 45

Metra wrote:

I can vouch that at the end of August it was still at Gateway because I checked it out while I was in town for the Indycar race.

Checked it out as in looked thru the fence at it, or a hands on inspection? Did you talk to anybody at Gateway about it? What if anything can you tell us?

Frank Hicks · **Posted:** Tue Dec 26, 2017 5:55 pm

Overmod wrote:

... in fact, as of this afternoon people aren't providing reference material less than seven years old.

Some reference material practically brand new, at only three and a half years old: https://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2014/07/mark-twain-zephyr.html

Zephy set sold?

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