St. Louis Museum of Transport offers up surplus equipment

co614 · **Posted:** Wed May 27, 2009 3:47 pm

In keeping with Mr. Cloos's admonition, please allow me to state the following;

1. I do not remember the names of the original R&LHS signatories to the agreement although I have seen a copy of it some years ago. I can say that the late Perry Shoemaker who was the President of the DL&W RR at the time of the loan ( and the giver of the loco. to the R&LHS ) gave a lengthy deposition before his passing in which he testified to the important conditions that were part and parcel of the agreement with the original MOT, and the importance of those conditions to the donor railroad he then represented. One of those conditions was that the loco. was to be maintained in operating condition while it was in the care,custody and control of the MOT. Therefore, if that is correct and if Mr. Wilkins post above is correct ( see relief point # 1 ) then I guess that one of the objectives of the law suit is to have the 952 returned in operating condition?? If they win that, then it will be an expensive judgement as I'm guessing that to restore her to service will represent seven figures???

2. The folks behind the effort to get the loco. returned to its rightfull owner are very serious folks who have deep pockets and lots of determination, as is already clearly shown by their tenacity and investment. IMHO should they prevail at trial I suspect there's a good chance that they will see it through all the way to seeing her return to active service???

Time ( and the judge) will tell!!!

Ross Rowland

steamtown observer · **Joined:** Mon Oct 25, 2004 3:11 pm **Posts:** 371

Dave Crosby wrote:

It would be interesting to know who the founding members of the Lackawanna Chapter of the R&LHS were/are and if any of them are posters in this thread.

It almost seems as though the Lackawanna Chapter was founded with the express intent of retrieving the 952.

Dave Crosby

There are two "factions" within the group. One of them is strictly to gain control of 952. The other part is trying to restore the DL&W station at the Delaware Water Gap. They were able to raise the funds to put up a temporary roof and otherwise stabilize the building. Recently the town has taken on a greater interest and they are currently completely replacing the roof on the freight house part of the building. I don't know how much financial help the Chapter gave, but they do deserve acknowledgment for saving the building when it looked like it was going to be destroyed.