As someone who has spent more time playing on and around the 202 than I care to admit, and I would rather it stay in Hagerstown - its home. The locomotive isnt some derelict under threat of being scrapped; its under cover, well loved, and has links to the city. Thats more than many park locomotives can claim.

The idea of replacing it with 734 is absurd. Who would pay for it to be moved and cosmetically restored? Dont ask the city, and I doubt the WMSR would front that bill -where would they get even get the funds? They have to ask for donations to fix what they already have. Not to mention they would be paying for the move and restoration of two locomotives.

Folks need to remember that not everything has to be restored to operation.

If anything, 202 should go to the Hagerstown Railroad Museum if the WMSR doesn't acquire her

I understand what you're saying, but if she doesn't go to WMSR, she's actually in a better place now than 1/2 mile up the road. Right now she's in a park setting, but most importantly, within a fenced area. A few years ago the equipment displayed at the Hagerstown Railroad Museum, which is not fenced in, was tagged with spray paint. That is why I think 202 is in a better place now.

That being said, if the "Save the 202" group and/or the City of Hagerstown is serious about keeping the 202 and giving it a cosmetic restoration, unless they plan to put it in a sealed building with UV-resistant glass, they need to be prepared to commit funds to repainting this locomtive every few years, otherwise it will just be back in the same condition its in now.

I visited the HRM last week. The indoor displays are very nice, but the equipment stored outside, not so much. In fact, it doesn't appear that it receives much, if any, maintenance. It's completely exposed to the elements, vandalism, and the occasional derailment on adjacent tracks that can bang into the cars on display. I'm not faulting the HRM at all because such organizations are always limited by funding and manpower and there's only so much they can do to take care of equipment displayed outdoors.

Earlier someone posted this link to a meeting in Hagerstown between city officials and several reps from the WMSR:

September 10, 2024 | Mayor & Council Meeting: Work Session
(Start at 10:15: Discussion between the city government and the WMSR regarding WM 202)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH-cEf7xTLA

At the 37:50 point a rep from the WMSR discusses communications with the HRM and describes the latter's membership as "shrinking," the original founders are gone, now it's run by the sons, and he adds, "They're figuring out how they're going to divest this equipment before it becomes too late."

With that in mind, the HRM doesn't appear to be a viable option for the long term care of No. 202.

I agree the HRM is the wrong place to house 202 but to their credit about the condition of the equipment outside, a decent number of those items are, to my understanding, not even owned by the organization, and they have no real authority to upkeep some of the items even if they had the resources to. The Baldwin switcher, cabooses, and the C&O car are all in surprisingly good shape, the only real issue with any of them is the graffiti that seems to crop up again everytime they finish cleaning off the previous additions.

In terms of building a real protecting structure around 202, from what has been published that was the plan when the city embarked on its journey to have the engine restored again when a contractor for the city bid close to 5x the expected price to do nothing more than put up a glorified pole building, give the locomotive a quick paint job, and reinstall the jewelry. Apparently to this contractor thought that job was going to cost well over $3 million, which I seem to recall is about the total cost to restore 1309. I maintain this contractor was only interested in extorting the taxpayer out of money, because anyone with an ounce of knowledge about steam locomotives should look at that figure in disgust. I think even the city's initial figure of being just shy of $800,000 should've been more than sufficient, and the city already has more than $600,000 in grant money set aside specifically to do it.

From what else I've been able to gather, this particular locomotive is actually in remarkable shape, despite her cosmetic appearance. Stories of being able to tow the locomotive back and forth with a pickup truck despite sitting still for decades, apparently as the WMRY was retiring her sisters they put the best parts from the fleet on her knowing she'd be the survivor, the boiler had work done to it in the 80s to allow her to operate again... I wouldn't make any real bets without a UT being done and a thorough inspection of what is there but I think it's reasonable given the engine's history that she'd actually be a phenomenal operational restoration candidate. Not to mention she's appropriately sized to be a visitor to pretty much every standard gauge tourist operation with an interchange, accompany that with the fact she's already an oil burner someone might have a very rare opportunity on their hands to have a steam locomotive actually make a return on the investment into it. Only the future will tell I suppose.