$251K is a lot closer to reality in terms of component value than the first charge was. Supposedly Gary B. was actively recalculating the loss at REPLACEMENT rather than the value of the material at scrap (which was the initial legal charge) And Gary kept finding stuff missing as he reassembled, anything that was brass almost anywhere including parts deep in storage - like turret valve handles. Things were still being discovered.

The near-destruction of Knox & Kane's Chinese 2-8-2 (now Valley 3025) was due to an attempt to melt the crown brasses out with a torch, and it set the entire enginehouse on fire and brought it down on top of two steam locomotives.

The danger with 'trusted insiders' is that they know that such things exist. It's not unlike the copper thieves robbing diesels of wire.

The current generation of motion-detecting and phone-alerting cameras should be considered, it's a lot cheaper than insurance and can stop it instead of filing for a loss claim. The only possibly better thing I've seen lately are free-range Rotweillers at one museum site at night, behind the fence. They've had no issues..... if there's no body found the next morning you know it was an insider.

Not to be rude, but I have two comments to make regarding Randy's post just ahead of this one. First, I'm glad to see that replacement costs in the 1309 care are being calculated at the replacement value of the stolen items and not as scrap.

This is a big change from what happened to me in NJ. I had a C-420 that was robbed of all of it's copper traction motor cables. I eventually had to scrap this and another unit as being beyond economical repair.

The local 'pressed white shirt' law enforcement authorities would only let me claim the value of the stolen cables. The fact that to replace those cables would have meant that the unit would have been taken to a shop and de-trucked. The combos would have had to be taken from the trucks, disassembled, and the motors opened up to replace the cables that were sawn off flush with the motor cases. No butt splice repairs here.

Then the whole process of re-assembly would have had to take place. Much LABOR costs involved, which would have elevated this case into a major crime. But no; by law, as explained by the police, they could only take a report on what was actually stolen, but not the labor involved in the repairs. Never mind the fact that a good locomotive was ruined. Hopefully laws like this are a thing of the past; at least that is what it looks like form the above post.

Second, with respect to motion detecting cameras, that was tried some time ago at another project I'm involved with. They work too well; they produced a close-up video image every mosquito in that part of the county. We were never able to get the sensitivity adjusted to tune the bugs (literally) out.

Motion detector cameras are cheap, I have 5 in the house, and five outside, I can check on things in and out of the house at any time when I'm gone, or when the motion detector gets triggered. A few years ago, I read a funny story about a pawn shop owner who was tired of being robbed. He always went to the Waynoka, OK rattlesnake roundup in the spring. He came home with two big fat ones. He put them each in an aquarium, in both windows of his shop, so people on the sidewalk could see them. He put up a sign saying they were turned loose in the shop at night, and collected back in the morning and put back in the aquariums, you know, to keep the mouse population down. When would be burglers came around and noticed the aquariums were empty, they no longer visited his shop after hours. Even though he actually swapped the aquariums for empty ones at night, and never did let the snakes loose, the city made him get rid of them., In the spring, people in my area are all over the woods looking for Morrel mushrooms, usually tresspassing. Last spring I noticed one popular hunting spot with a large sign that said "Warning Copperheads".

An update from Trains magazine on the status of 1309’s donation campaign (Not behind paywall)

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2 ... 0vTSmK3gME

Just a thought, we bought a Furbo so that we could watch the dogs while we aren’t at home, and not only does it give us notifications of movements being detected, it also gives us notifications of people being detected also. At the end of the day all of this movement can be accessed in up to 1080p. Not only that there is also two way communication designed so you can listen to your dogs, but speak to them as well. Imagine an intruders surprise when you tell them that not only are they being watched, but all their activities have been recorded and uploaded to the cloud! Pretty cheap insurance and quite the deterrent factor.

There is a new update for #1309. Work has resumed again, and she is inching closer and closer to completion.

Hopefully, it won't be too much longer before she's running again.

https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2 ... ic-no-1309

Seems like we’ve heard this before....

$180K more for this project and it does/does not cover getting access to the Frostburg turntable?

Big engines and small railroads ... not a good combination.

Exprail

.....August, 2020. Hello folks we just turned our first wheel under steam! Now we only need another $500,000 for insurance, fuel, bridge replacement, tie and rail replacement,etc, etc. We also need to raise an additional $95,000 for crew training. We also feel it's prudent to install several small cameras mounted on board the locomotive for safety reasons. We have a quote for that job at $120,000. Software unfortunately is not included and will cost $15,000 but we feel it's worth it. Come on folks we are almost there!

I don't care who you are. That's funny right there now!

As articulateds go, she's pretty small. She's equipped with equalizing and I expect that those C&O coal branches had a few vertical curves in them that she successfully negotiated in her previous life.

The Frostburg turntable issue is basically that there are two tracks coming in, both on curve alignments. The outer track is a little wider curvature than the inner which has quite a 'kink' in it right at the platform and before the grade crossing at Frostburg (Depot St.).

Both track climb right up to the edge of the turntable pit where there's a visible vertical kink getting on to the turntable. 734 could make it, so can the diesels.

According to Gary B's analysis., the lead engine on the 1309 doesn't have enough vertical play to compensate for the combination of curve and vertical kink, and it also shifts all the weight of almost the entire 2/3 of the locomotive on to the #1 axle of the second driver set. It does actually look like it can get on the outer track, and it will fit on the bridge. But as the turntable is also the passing siding switch, you're pinned.

It does appear feasible to re-align the tracks to open up the curve a bit and also flatten the approach to the turntable, but that's going to take reconstructing the Depot St. crossing, so you have all the fun of that to deal with, not just re-aligning the track. Or, redo a passing siding to run around further down the hill, reverse the locomotive on the one track, go back down and pick up the train, and push it backwards into Frostburg, which has been considered... and half the fun at Frostburg is always watching the turntable work.

I don't think they'll know 100% until they actually try it, but you better have Hulcher on call if that lead engine climbs off and ends up on top of the turntable bridge. or blocks the street getting off.

So the plan has basically been to put power on the tail end and back it back down the hill , not an ideal solution but not a game-ender either.

Thanks, Randy for the update.

Exprail.

The possibility of this being a hare-brained idea is great, but....

A long term fix of the vertical alignment by raising the track will require increasing the grade up to the depot and all the associated platform, street and trail work. The hare-brained part: Has it been considered to lower the turntable? That might require much less ancillary construction outside of the turntable ring wall and pedestal.

Don’t throw yer rocks too hard. I bruise easily.

Actually it sounds like a possible solution to overcome the vertical step onto the turntable. If, however, the curve really needs widening, you still have to deal with the hassle of tearing up and reconstructing the road. Also, how hard would it be to lower the turntable? Doesn't sound like a cheap or easy job.