Does finding grant money to turn it into a public art project mean.....

An officially sanctioned graffiti display?

MX

Probably not. "Public Art" is a wide reaching term used withing the Federal transportation bills for something interesting associated with a transit development. It can be a mural, hanging art, or a preserved locomotive.

Bay Area Rapid Transit preserved a 1864 stone culvert under this concept.

Most likely options are to relocate the locomotive to Arizona Railroad Museum or McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park. The City of Tucson long ago removed the SP 1673 from it's original site at Himmel Park. The 1673 is now housed under cover at the historic depot on Toole Avenue and is administered by Old Pueblo Trolley's Southern Arizona Transportation Museum. The locomotive was cleaned up and is documented with bilingual signage. The locomotive's enclosure is opened by museum staff on weekends. Fortunately, the 1673 was removed from the park before any significant deterioration could take hold and more importantly, the boiler jacket and lagging were removed. Whether that was done by the railroad or the City at a later date, I cannot say.

it sounds like the locomotive is pretty rusty. I thught things in the desert stayed pretty much rust free?

I can think of an organization that would love to inspect this locomotive, and if it is suitable, immediately work to return it to operation in the state it spent most of its career in. However, I would suspect that anti-California sentiment would complicate such a plan, just as such feelings prevented the organization in Barstow from acquiring a Santa Fe Prairie recently.

Any thoughts on such matters?

Items that are properly treated will not rust or will develop minimal rust. Our humidity here is only about 10% most of the time. That said, if the locomotive was left with insulation on the boiler, that insulation would still trap the moisture in. Airliners and military aircraft that are stored here are treated specifically to avoid moisture buildup.

Read the comments at the bottom. Sure gives you some perspective of the "other side".

People think the city can just put it on Ebay and get a fortune for it. People are out of touch with preservation...

Here's a link to an interesting Site Survey that on May 28, 2007 was conducted by Steam Operations Corporation.

http://www.cityofmesa.org/parksrec/pdf/ ... Report.pdf

From the pictures it looks as though this locomotive had a rough go as a playground apparatus!

--Jim

Having read the report, one can only wonder, what were they thinking?