I think we're making something simple into something complex here....

ASK the railroad if they would paint their locomotive according to your specifications if you provided the funding to cover it. Yes or no - simple. If they say NO you stop working on it.

Ask for commitments of financial support without making any reference to it being tax deductable. You get adequate support or you do not. Also simple. I'd want to make sure I had about 15-20% more committed than real cost because people lie....pretty much everybody, but not all the time about everything. Failing that, you tell the railroad thanks, and wish them well. If you succeed, you give the railroad the money and hope they come through as agreed.

If the railroad does not produce, you probably have not made many friends, and perhaps lost a few.......but there's risk in everything and it is worth the try knowing the possible consequences to you or not depending on your level of obsession with this locomotive's appearance.

dave

Nobody's ever going to prove such an idea irrefutably with public opinion surveys.

HOWEVER.......

You may not demonstrably "enhance your standing in the community" by painting a locomotive in a historic paint scheme, but you are more than likely to improve your public standing by NOT running rusty, unkempt motive power, or dip-painted "dog's breakfast" hodgepodge of locos sporting Home-Depot-stencil reporting marks and numbers.

Painting a vintage working locomotive in a "heritage" paint scheme, along with the appropriate press releases and publicity, helps to avoid the stigma that arises when what is supposed to be a professional transport service industry is operating with "obsolete," 40-60 year old motive power; you look less like "Cleetus & Bubba's Rayil-rowd Comp'ny runnin' in an' outta da junkyard" and more like a modern, well-handled outfit.

There are companies that don't paint their power and run with "Rent-a-Wreck" locos, and there are many that operate with locos painted in consistent "family" colors or brand identity (the G&W family, RJ Corman), or even vintage colors (Delaware-Lackawanna, WNY&P, SMS Services). Someone compare and contrast.

Sometimes, tax rules are complicated. Sometimes they are not. In this case, the only thing that's complicating this thing is the suppositions of the misinformed. As a public service, I will untangle this mess.

Let's take a PURELY HYPOTHETICAL example:

Let's assume that fictitious Lehigh Valley Railroad Technical and Historical Society approaches me (a pseudonymous Certified Public Accountant licensed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and authorized to practice before the IRS by Circular 230) and inquires whether they would exceed the scope of their tax exemption (assuming they are exempt as an educational and charitable organization) and/or risk disqualification if they proceed as follows:

The LVHTS has contacted the HYPOTHETICALLY INCLINED, Reading and Northern Railroad with a proposal to return three of their SW-8's to their original Lehigh Valley Cornell Red paint scheme. The R&N has agreed to repaint the locomotives, provided that they are reimbursed for the cost of paint and reasonable labor expenses.

Answer: Reasoning that LVTHS has filed a 1023 and Articles of Incorporation that asserts that it is organized to further public interest and education about the Lehigh Valley Railroad and to preserve and display artifacts of that railroad and that the public interest would in fact be piqued by seeing these three pups in their original suits, I would have no problem recommending that the expenditure would be a legitimately in furtherance of its exempt mission and presents no risk of disqualification. I would further reason that the fact that their 1023 states that it would cooperate or contract with other tax exempt or for profit entities in furtherance of it's exempt purpose that being allowed by a private railroad to repaint its locomotives into a historic scheme, as long as the costs of the paint and labor are covered is in fact arguably an in-kind donation by the R&N.

Questions?