Real preservation is hard. As I've ranted it's more about stupid stuff that isn't romantic at all, like saving a fleet of period coaches for your beloved steam engine to pull. Or getting the darn thing out of the weather, prerequisites of which are land and barns proximate to a friendly (or your) railroad.

It's also easy to get sucked into the wrong priorities. Selecting a unit over DITCH LIGHTS? Come on, a day's work can backdate that. This is a case where the builder and owner are both solvent and have all the drawings and records. It'd even be possible to de-cabbage #200 if that was the project commitment. Run the project right and you could even see much of the work done by the original owner in their shops. It has happened. What rich ground for preservation!



Sounds like the infamous "It's not old enough or unique enough to bother preserving" argument that doomed the F-M Trainmaster, the Mohawk, the P30CH, and very nearly the Alco PA. To save 34 GG1s and no Trainmasters is the ultimate in incompetence.

No, he's got the right idea. Somebody better figure to save an F40PH. And if you want to save the first one, do it, but it's also valid to save one that's mechanically sound.



Isn't that always the way? Railfans with a big warm fuzzy heart for some piece of equipment and a passionate "save it" are a dime a dozen, no offense. That doesn't offer anything to preservation unless they redirect their "love" intelligently. That's harder than you think -- believe me, most don't.

Okay, folks. If you were presented with Yet Another Passionate Railfan interested in preservation but with absolutely no sense of how to direct their passion -- how would you guide them?

From experience, here is what I would do:

1. Find at least 4 other people who share your belief and are willing to do real work in setting up an organization to meet the goal.

2. If you haven't already done this, contact the Railroad/Agency/Person/Company that currently owns the thing you want to preserve. Explain that you have a core group of people that want to save the piece of equipment and tell them you are looking to create a fundraising and preservation plan if they would entertain a transaction down the road. You should also be talking to railroads/companies/museums/etc. where you can store the piece. You are not looking to do the deal right on the spot, this is more of a "feasibility study". In the case of ELDCPS the diner was already for sale and we had a shortline willing to let us store and operate it.

3. Do you belong to a group that already does preservation or do you know of one? Approach them and see if you can set up an effort under their auspices. This will save you a lot of legwork and give you an initial pool of donors/volunteers. If the group or groups you contact are not interested thank them and consider going it alone. The ELDCPS came about because the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society has a strict "no equipment" policy, but we have had many members join our group and we have been able to send out requests for funds to their members - the best of both worlds.

4. Go ahead and create a non-profit organization. In most states this can be done for a couple of hundred dollars. If you poke around on the internet you can find sample Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws (or you might be able to get a copy from other groups in your state). Once you are incorporated you can set up a bank account and then start asking for members/money (some states have charitable registration laws, but most exempt the kind of private appeals you will be making and the low dollar amounts - at least at first - you will be making). In all likelyhood the amounts of money you will need will require filing with the IRS to be formally recognized as a 501c3 not for profit - especially if you might get the eqipment donated to you. This is at the ragged edge of what a layperson can do - you may want to seek professional help to do this filing but it doesn't have to be done on day one.

5. Raise money! If you poke around on this sight you can read of various efforts done by different groups. Direct appeals for money will get you something, depending on what you are saving and what you are (realistically) planning to do with it. Don't promise that the P70 coaches you are saving will storm around Horseshoe Curve every year! My approach is to try to raise money like a hospital or symphony orchestra would do. There are a number of good books on fundraising out there that you should read. Fundraising outside of the railfan world has several advantages - there is a lot more money and it will serve as a reality check to whether what you propose to do has serious staying power. Our message of "recreating the experience of dinner in the diner as it was in the 1950's/60's on the original route in the original diners" has gotten us a lot of appeal in the general public (and among outside grant givers). You are going to need a message that grabs people better than "we are saving the last SD40-2 that the XYZ RR ever bought".

Just saw a photo taken at LTEX last weekend that showed F40 #369 next in the line to be scrapped. The F40 list linked above shows it to have been at LTEX since '04, so I guess it sometimes takes awhile to get around to them. Tick, tock.

"Do you belong to a group that already does preservation"
Yes I do The Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum, and they are not interested and also have a lot of other things they need to do so that is a no go. The Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum was also a no. That only leaves The Old Colony & Fall River Railroad Museum, Is anyone from here a member there?

You're apparently still going about this wrong.

In my experience, being a card-carring, dues-paying member is less important than having a sound, viable concept. The lines/operations you name have about as much interest and use in an F40PH as the Amtrak Historical Society would have in a North Shore Electroliner or a steam locomotive.

If you were to go to a group or institution that would somehow--ANYHOW--have a vested interest in an Amtrak F40PH, either as brute motive power (see the Grand Canyon Ry) or as something representative of their mission statement (see Amtrak Historical Society or a "state" RR museum in an Amtrak-friendly state), then your odds go up dramatically. This is similar to "I have a diner, and you want to run dinner trains--let's talk" or "I have a lightweight steam loco in running condition, and you have a tourist railroad looking for motive power--let's talk".

Example: I postulated in my essay in Trains that the state RR museums in California, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania would be ideal homes for an F40PH--all three states have state-funded rail museums and have also actively supported their own Amtrak trains through the 403(b) program. Thus, it perfectly fits the museums' mission statements, and the possibility of inter-agency transfers with no money involved arose. Two of these three state museums now have an F40PH; the third has an even rarer E60CP and a Metroliner.

To convince someone else to share the liabilities of an F40, you have to identify and work with the liabilities of the loco's design, of which two spring to mind right away: They are geared for high-speed running and do NOT run well on a branch line at slow speeds; and their HEP generators make them voracious fuel hogs and noisy-as-banshee motive power. And unlike the aforementioned twin-engined Deltics, they can't be run half-power on only one engine and still be functional.

Nearest place to your presumed home turf that might stand a chance of being convinced? Maybe the Railroad Museum of New England in Connecticut. But why stop there?

Amtrak F40PH's have reason to be preserved--and find interested preservationists--nationwide. Why not see if there's interest in a nationwide group? Have one "chapter" work to spruce up and maintain the one at the California State Railroad Museum, a "southern" chapter work with the North Carolina Transportation Museum on the 307 there, a "Northeastern" chapter for one in Connecticut (or elsewhere), and maybe another one to preserve one somewhere in the Midwest (IRM? Wisconsin?) and another group work with the owner of the one in Portland, Oregon. That's conceivably five F40PH's that could end up at some future NRHS Convention or other event--and that doesn't even count the Grand Canyon, Ohio Central, or others!

Thanks for the shout out, Sandy.

While F40s were common as dirt on the Amtrak Shoreline and Springfield routes through Connecticut for many years, I don't think one would be a very good fit for RMNE. They certainly don't operate in reverse very well; the NAUG excursion train does best with a roadswitcher locomotive, which was more typical of the power for branchline/secondary mainline services that we emulate.

Howard P.
Run 8, CT

Answering a question about whether an F40 ever pulled a Presidential Campaign Train. In May of 1976, AMT F40PH #203 pulled President Ford on his Michigan campaign jaunt from Flint (MI) to Niles, (MI) over the Grand Trunk Western to Battle Creek and then over Conrail for the balance of the trip to Niles. The 7-hour campaign trip ran as an Amtrak special train.

Grand Trunk Bicentennial locomotive (GP-38 GTW 1776) was on the point out of Flint, with AMT #203 trailing. The GTW engine and engineer were supposed to come off at Battle Creek, and the AMT #203 and an Amtrak engineer were to continue on with the train, on to Niles.

Apparently, President Ford really liked the eagle-motiff bicentennial paint job, because while the photographers were taking pictures of the President, the engine and the GTW and Amtrak engineers, the idea of removing the GTW engine was vetoed. The President Ford thought it would be just great if the GTW engine and engineer stayed on the train, all the way to Niles.

The best laid plans were quickly changed on the fly. I don't know whether the GTW or Amtrak engineer actually ran the train between Battle Creek and Niles, but the the Presidential train whistled out of Battle Creek with GTW 1776 on the point, and crossed over on to the Conrail tracks, with the the Amtrak engineer, either running or acting as a pilot. I believe there were a couple of Amtrak and/or Conrail supervisors on the locomotive, as well, and the run through Kalamazoo and on to Niles was pretty much uneventful.

When it was all over, and the president had left by motorcade, it remained for the Amtrak officials to figure out how to get the Grand Trunk locomotive and engineer turned around, and on their way back to their home track in Battle Creek.

It would be 16 years before I worked another Presidential train, but that's for another time, and there were no F40's involved in that one.

G.F.Payne
Baltimore, MD

Ronald Reagan did a whistle stop tour with F40PH's (and a Chessey unit)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwahxXNDrrI
Also the F40PH has 3 modes of operation
1. Providing motive power and HEP
2. Providing only HEP and no motive power
3. Providing only motive power and no HEP
So if you run it in the mode that is just motive power it won't suck up fuel or be as noisy.

I am thinking of sending the following letter to the Old Colony & Fall River Railroad Museum, Any suggestions on wording extra, I am not to good at writing letters and spelling.

" “Save the F40PH” is a project I started with the goal to obtain and preserve one of Amtrak's F40PH locomotives. The two main hurdles I've faced are finding a home for the F40PH, and securing a nonprofit bank account in which to put funds raised for this endeavor. Although this project is still in the planning fazes I am wondering if your organization would be interested in hosting a F40PH locomotive should this project be successful?"

To become a 501(c)(3)
"of the IRC. A not-for-profit (i.e., nonprofit) organization must be organized and operated exclusively for one or more exempt purposes.
organized—A 501(c)(3) organization must be organized as a corporation, trust, or unincorporated association. An organization’s organizing documents"
You can read all this and more at
-http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4220.pdf
I would have to also first do a SS-4 fourm (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss4.pdf) HOW ARE YOU SUPOST TO PUT DOWN AN EIN NUMBER IN THE TOP RIGHT CORNER WHEN YOU ARE APPLYING FOR ONE IN THE FIRST PLACE! then after that I would need to do a Form 1023 (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1023.pdf) Maybe I should be trying to rase money for a tax attorney so I can then get started on raseing money for a F40PH . The only other way is this "As an alternative to applying for exemption, an organization may obtain many of the benefits of 501(c)(3) status by affiliating with an existing charity that acts as its agent. It is important to note that the existing charity must be given full control and authority over the program." but no orginazation around Masschutes seems to want or be able to help.

Most sizable libraries are likely to have a book somewhere on their shelves on starting, running, and managing a nonprofit organization. Even the puniest little local libraries are likely to have at least one such book in the reference section. Look under Dewey Decinal Number 658 or 346. Whatever you do, seek information from sources other than the IRS as well as the IRS.

Just saw this on RRP

When filling out the paper work for becoming a non profit it ask for the adress of the non-profit, what do I put in? Can I just put in my address?

You might want to get a P.O. box for your organization, to separate it from your personal address.

You can use your personal home address. They don't care about rigid separation of mail addresses... they care about rigid separation of money.