Contact made with the newsperson and he is interested in the situation. He wants to help.....

Awesome!

Awesome!

Robert

As usual, the owner of a piece of equipment is getting bashed by people who don't know him. or his situation. That attitude will get you nowhere.
Anyway, I hope something comes together is this late hour for it to be saved.
Hats off to everyone putting in efforts to save it.

Grumpy Jensen

They can't even keep 136 or 1057 running, so I doubt they can even consider 5361.

What's the big secret? Ford!

While I'd love to see this loco saved I really hope it's not Ford. If Ford was going to buy a locomotive it should be a) from a primarily Michigan (or at least American) road, and b) not about to go in to junk bond status. Ford has bigger issues to deal with (and I say that as a stockholder).

I am aware of Ford's financial issues. Just looking at options.
Ford has actually been looking at an old Detroit Edison engine in the Midwest.

OK, this is getting a little silly now. Please don't write The Honourable Marc Garneau. This has absolutely nothing to do with Canada's transportation infrastructure. Writing a letter to him a waste of his time, his staff's time, your time and taxpayers time.

Let's just cut right to the chase and put this venue to bed. If there is to be any action taken on behalf of the Canadian Government here's the way to go about initiating it -

https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-herit ... ct-us.html

Writing letters to the PM, Ministers, Members of Parliment, MLA's are all scatter gun tactics that will have little to no impact. Sure you will get them talking about it, but I assure you nothing productive will come from it and it will just get passed along to this department. Contact the Department of Canadian Heritage Movable Cultural Property Program and you will get your definitive answer as to weather the CDN. Govt. is a viable option for help or not.

maybe...probably not....but you just never know who might be a railfan. And who knows...maybe one of these people had a father/grandfather that was a railroader, or even ran this engine? No harm in dreaming or getting the word out there. All it costs is a few minutes of someone's time.

The worst thing in the world is to not try. If you try and fail than it is more except able than having done nothing at all.

Robert

This is the lottery mentality.

The lottery is a voluntary tax on people who suck at math.

The offices of top government officials are flooded daily with letters and e-mails from people from all walks of life with the same "shotgun" mentality, as well as ones from too many people deluded enough to sincerely believe that the president/governor/etc. has time to devote to their particular cause and/or is personally responsible for their plight or grievances. Your missives will most likely get lost in that shuffle.

Listen to RoyalwithCheese up there.

And even THAT letter is a ridiculous long shot.

long shot...no doubt.If man was meant to fly he would have wings.We'll never reach the Moon. And we all know mainline steam will never happen again now that diesels are taking over. But it did. And is. Maybe never be as good as it was in the '70s/'80s. But if we don't try, it WILL never happen. Don't want to help? That's fine, but don't bash the hopes of us you will.

Amen!

RoyalwithCheese here. Just so I’m clear on this – to be realistic, your goal is that through a handful of letters to Canadian Government Ministers, that the Canadian Government will completely bypass Legislative procedure and authorize public funds to purchase a steam locomotive of virtually no national historical significance, from an American citizen, that is currently on U.S. soil, AND pay for it’s removal and storage? And you are basing your hopes of success on the fact that someone, somewhere within the Government may be a railfan or have had a family member who once worked for the railway and that will motivate them to go completely outside their folio to champion this project? And make it all happen within the next month?

If so, by all means, go right ahead. Or you can skip all that, go right to the source (Department of Canadian Heritage Movable Cultural Property Program) and after explaining the picture ask point blank – Can the Canadian Government help?

If the answer is Yes – “Excellent! What steps do we have to take to make this happen?” – and proceed from there.

If the answer is No – “Thanks for your time and help, have a nice day.” – and then move on and focus your efforts on another venue.

One HUGE question (among many) – when you are writing these letters to Canadian Government officials, essentially trying to sell the locomotive, are you doing so with the permission/knowledge of the locomotive’s owner?