For what it's worth, thought I would share some thoughts on the situation that Santa Fe 3463 finds itself in.

The Great Overland Station (GOS) was originally envisioned as having a strong railroad museum component and plans were made for a large outdoor display of railroad equipment. To that end, a local man donated his collection of equipment (passenger and freight cars, along with a depot) to the effort and it was planned for 3463 to be moved there as well. This would have been excellent, as the locomotive would have been displayed in context, with a passenger train at a passenger station.

Somewhere along the line, the focus of the GOS group changed and the former Union Pacific station building became an event center that happened to be in a railroad related building surrounded by a sea of memorials to anything and everything someone could think of. An insane amount of money was spent, just not on anything relating to the original concept. As I see it the GOS project, upon losing site of its original focus and cleansing itself of those who believed in the original focus, has been adrift, constantly in search of more of someone else's money to throw down the rathole of ever changing directions. I think anyone that visits the place will come to the same conclusion. Had they stuck with the original vision, not only could it have been completed for a lot less than has ben spent, but it would be completed and cohesive. If nothing else, sticking to finishing one concept would have given them a fighting chance to see what worked and what did not. When you change directions every five seconds and never really follow through on anything, it becomes really hard to pin down what exactly is succeeding or failing as the whole ship sinks.

The donated railroad equipment was moved, however the display has never really been finished, is seemingly never really open nor promoted. 3463 was abandoned in place at the park it has called home for many years. The GOS group seemed to forget about the locomotive until someone came along and mentioned that some money could be generated by selling it. At that point, GOS became enthusiastic "owners" of 3463, at least for so long as it took to collect some money from the Coalition for Sustainable Rail. (CSR)

As for CSR, I think that their project is interesting, but perhaps not worth radically altering an actual historic locomotive for. That said, becoming CSR’s guiena pig would be a far better fate for a locomotive than rusting to death in a park until it was scrapped.

The problem with 3463 though, is that it was not unwanted nor uncared for. Its sate of neglect was entirely created by the GOS group. They lost interest in it, claimed control of it (so they could sell it) and would not let anyone work on it. 3463 was bound for a good home, in a city it had ties to, where it could be seen and appreciated for what it was. Had the original plan been completed, or had GOS not actively kept work from being done on 3463, it would not be in as deplorable condition as it is now.

At this point, I think that the best solution would be to somehow split the outdoor railroad display at GOS away from the greedy idiots (my personal opinion) running the GOS group and put it in the care of a group that cares about Topeka’s railroad history. Then, follow through with the original plan and move 3463 there, where it can be a relevant and educational display.

Jason Midyette

Why is this worth a new thread? There are TWO threads dealing with the 3463 already and both are on the front page. Why not add to one of them?

You can never have too many threads.

Thanks for the history of the locomotive at the park. I agree with you about an independent group in Topeka getting control of it. My only question is why hasn't anyone attempted to do this before the CSR group came along?

What I would really like to see is the state of Kansas (with the 3463) challenge the state of Wisconsin (with their Gresley A4 Dwight Eisenhower) to a race to see who has the fastest steam locomotive.

IIRC, the GOS kind of spun off from the group that started Topeka Railroad Days back in about 1986. It was held every year, and for several years had at least one big steam locomotive in attendance, and even had train rides on the nearby Santa Fe line. UP's station was still in use by the railroad at that time.

Somewhere in the early '90s, the entire thing changed focus away from railroading to arts and crafts, antiques, etc. The railroads stopped participating as it declined into something closer to a souped-up county fair than anything railroad. I think it finally declined to where it wasn't even noticed any more and they quit having the event years ago.

It sounds like some of the same people stated the GOS and again shifted the focus away from "railroad stuff" to something else entirely.

Sometime in the late 1990's Topeka railroad days moved from Forbes airfield to the east side of downtown Topeka. Some people claimed it was to help the downtown merchants. I quit going to it when they moved. While it was at Forbes field, it was well supported by the Santa Fe Railroad and its employees. The railroad had several tents with displays from the various departments located in Topeka as well the Topeka shops. And of course there was a large railroad swap meet. The railroad employees as well as the Topeka chapter of the NRHS were a very large part of the volunteer efforts on the grounds as well as being car hosts on the trains. Nothing lasts forever.