Once considered for operation by the Santa Fe, now at the Sacramento Shops. Taken last year:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=124411

Thanks Bob, I needed a good cry. Imagine taking an engine that had been under cover since being retired, then give it to a museum who promptly strips it and leaves it outside. Thanks for not showing us the other angles which show her having been "tagged" by vandals (oh, sorry that politically correct would be disadvantaged urban artists). Both CSRM and Santa Fe should be smacked upside the head. Santa Fe should have given CSRM the money to care for their collection, and CSRM should have told Santa Fe to hold them in Belen or Alburqueque until such time that protection was available for them. Oh well, at least 2926 may run one day soon.

While we have the luxury of 20/20 hindsight, the Santa Fe Board of Directors was concerned for the future of the collection with the pending merger with the SP back in 1986. Similar collections had gone to scrap following mergers, most notably VGN's after its merger into the N&W. The Board wanted the collection "safe" in Sacramento, but the result was not what any of us would have hoped for.

Yes it is always a disappointment when you see a locomotive in primer pink and in storage. But you need to look close at the picture and look for what you don’t see and that is the jacket and the asbestos lagging that was between it and the boiler shell. You also don’t see pitting due to wet lagging. CSRM did what they had to do since they don’t have enough indoor storage space for that unit, they removed the jacket and lagging and then cleaned the boiler surface and applied a rust inhibitive primer to stop any further corrosion. The locomotive collection was in grave danger had it not been placed in their care. The other thing they did was remove anything that could be stolen by “well meaning railfans” who just have to have that item in their collection. Our museum owns a sister to 2925 its 3768 and it to has had the jacket and lagging removed, sandblasted and painted with a rust inhibitive primer and a two part epoxy paint. It sat in a park with the jacket and lagging on it for 20 yrs and the effects can be seen in the surface pitting of the boiler shell and the damage to the piping and staybolt caps. The cost 10yrs ago to do just the sandblasting and painting was just under $15,000.00. Preservation comes in stages and what the CSRM has done is the first step in that process. The concept of restoring one more 4-8-4 to steam escapes me due to the number of locomotives all ready out there and the limited amount of running time available for them. The other problem with a running restoration is where are you going to store it and what arrangements have you made for the ongoing care of the locomotive?

John Deck

I take it there was some "scandal" in the manner of how Santa Fe Historical Collection was handled? Perhaps I was out of the loop, but could somebody enlighten me as to what happened? I take it that pristine locomotives, carefully preserved, were allowed to sit unprotected and local vandals went to town?

"Pristine and carefully preserved" may be a stretch, but not much of one.
The #2925 and 2-10-4 #5021 were stored by ATSF inside the roundhouse at Belen, NM and later Albuquerque for nearly 30 years after their retirement. When they were pulled out in 1986 to be sent to CSRM, they looked like they'd need nothing more than a load of coal and water and fire in the firebox to operate again. I've often wondered why they weren't just put on display "as-is", as the museum did with ATSF 2-6-2 #1010, the "Scotty" engine.

The frustrating thing really is not so much that CSRM placed them in storage and took certain measures to stabilize and preserve them for said storage, but that they've been in that condition for 20 YEARS with no change in sight. As a repeat visitor to CSRM, I appreciate the little 'jewel' engines that shine like show cars in their "dioramas", but I REALLY love BIG, MODERN STEAM, which, aside from SP cab forward #4294 is sadly lacking at CSRM.

If there was ever an argument for deaccession of artifacts that a museum can't make good use of in a reasonable time period, the Santa Fe collection at CSRM is it, in my opinion.