I left the one year 'leeway' clock out for simplicity.

In any case, it's hard to believe the boiler in the 2012 RFP (generally noted as in decent shape and just needing to be finished) had a hydro in 2015 and then turned into the boiler described in 2016....

obviously this BSFSRYFAN fellow has an agenda... anyone care to take the time to FOIA the records involved and see if we are being trolled by fake documents? No offense, BSFSRYFAN....

No offense taken. I assure you that the documents are genuine. At least for the first two inspection reports, Mr. Rimmasch did not question their validity. For example, here is an attached internal email from the people in the FRA to people in the FRA. I don't know enough, but I am sure others can vouch for whether these people were with the FRA at the time.

This thread, though it has remained civil has become a witch hunt of sorts. I have been contacted by moderators who suspect and have suspected that it is a witch hunt and as of recently, I can confirm that it is. I mentioned above that I love our country and the legal process we have as it is designed to protect the innocent. Due process will prevail and the process will provide a result.

In addition, this thread, if you read it correctly, has indeed uncovered all of the issues of this project. This is true only from the eyes of a first hand witness. Three first hand witnesses have responded to the thread and two have emailed me personally. Others, which will remain unnamed were not, have not and to this day are not first hand witnesses to the meetings, discussions, contract reviews, contract changes and management changes that have taken place since 2012. There are a number of assumptions made in the thread, most of which are true. I do need to correct a few assumptions as a few are incorrect.

Wasatch has never engaged in and is not engaging in a which hunt against other fellow contractors. That said, there is an assumption above that WRC is making a power play against other contractors. False. Fact in mind, I will defend this one item of truth. Wasatch has not been the only contractor or worker, or employee or volunteer or railroad, or owner/operator to have touched in one way, shape or form the locomotive or the boiler or the running gear or the tender since the locomotive was built.

There is an assumption being made in this thread that contractors are to be blamed for quality of work or for FRA compliance. This is false. Please direct your attention to 49 CFR Part 230.29 (a) Responsibility. In this rule, we see that the OWNER/OPERATOR is responsible. Let's do an example. Four of us on RYPN are asked to change a brake shoe on a freight car. All four of us do it a different way. All four, ultimately get the brake shoe on and on correctly, despite the way it was done...for right or wrong, the end game was correct. Who is ultimately responsible for the installation of the brake shoe? The four us who installed it, or the OWNER/OPEWRATOR who will ultimately operate the car? Ultimately, the Owner/Operator is responsible. That said, an Owner, could, for sake of the discussion, direct an employee, a contractor, a volunteer, a manager or anybody else along the way to do something (anything) that could ultimately have been done wrong.

My bigger concern about this thread is this; What are we teaching the neXt Generation of Steam fans? What I see being taught are the following;

Going on witch hunts against fellow contractors in your own industry is justified.

Posting on web pages with the full intent to hurt and harm people is OKAY.

It really is not important to be a first hand witness. As long as you can come to a conclusion on your own, even if the neXt guy doesn't agree, it must be OKAY.

Seeking and finding the truth is far less valuable than taking $60.00 down to the court house and filing a legal action that could, ultimately end up hurting you more than it hurt the one that was accused. This is a result of the failure of the above three points.

Not sharing or using your own name is OKAY and, as a neXt Generation Steam fan, it is OKAY to act this way. This is one of the greatest follies of RYPN. In a thread like this, everybody should use a real name and share facts as first hand witnesses and not as passers bay with an agenda to hurt.

Our neXt Generation is being taught that web page forums are the court of “common opinion” and that if a case can be won on a web forum, surely it can be won in court.

We are teaching the neXt Generation of Steam fans that if you do wrong for your own customers, the best thing you can do is to go after another contractor and shift the focus from your own mistakes, to those of others, no matter if the accusations are true or not, just shift the focus.

Stepping off the soap box. Why would the younger folks want to be part of all of this? I am glad my children love the work for the work, not for the BS it brings.

Did I post as myself? Yes. And, I would also say that even if my Social Media team posted the message or not, it has always had my name on it. I am proud of who I am, the work I do and the way I work with my customers. I did remove my Social Media team from my posts as they were being and are still being censored. I have never hidden, I never will. My email address is public knowledge and I will answer any question.

Why don't we teach the neXt Generation Steam folks that we are really better than this. We can use our own names, we do not need to hide, witch hunts are really not the way to win and in the long run, nobody wins from bloody battles on the internet.

End game, the thread is a witch hunt and this is my last response. You can all read my counter claim and my response when it comes out.

I kindly ask the moderators to lock the thread on the basis that it has become and is now revealed to be a witch hunt with the sole intention to deface a contractor in the industry without basis. The topic has no intention related to the subject of preservation. The basis of the thread is that of destruction.

Kindly submitted,

John E. Rimmasch

Before this topic gets out of hand, I have elected to lock it as requested. However, I'm not going to remove the topic or any of the posts at this time.