Hi all, I was wondering about the future of BEDT 15 if/when Day out with Thomas stops happening. Will it be converted to it's original form? Will it be sold? Will it end up like Reading 1187 did and rot for years before being saved? Does the original saddle tank still exist?
How much of the locomotive is still original above the frames?

Thanks in advance,
Lynnette

Perhaps someone from the railroad can comment with authority, but my sense is that the situation with "Thomas"/BEDT 15 is far different than it was for the Reading Camelback #1187. BEDT 15 is an operable steam locomotive with almost 26,000 lbs of tractive effort. It is capable of starting a train of perhaps 6 coaches or more on the grade between Cherry Hill and Esbenshade Road and I've watched it do that many times. The engine could certainly function on the Strasburg Rail Road with at least an off-season train, or it could be used for shuttling freight cars. I guess what I am saying is that it has value to the railroad, either through the work it could do, or its resale value. There might be some small tourist operations that would be interested in it. So, I don't see it being parked under a tarp indefinitely.

With regard to the 1187.... Folks need to understand that the Strasburg Rail Road isn't a museum. It's a tourist railroad. The 1187 was really a museum piece. Even if it was functional, it had so little power that it would be of very limited use to the railroad. Honestly, over the years, about the only thing that really deteriorated on that engine was the wooden cab structures....and that was pretty shot anyway. Everything else of value was stripped and stored and the openings were sealed off. So although it looked bad, it was really not rotting away. Some of us hoped that as a Pennsylvania Locomotive, it would eventually be cosmetically restored by the RRMPA across the street, but with several locomotives in line for the shop and limited resources, many of us wouldn't live to see it. Fortunately, it's in the hands of some folks with the means and the will to do something with it. I think, on balance, the deal with AoSR was the best thing for all parties. Thank God there are a few folks with money who are also railroad history enthusiasts. We've seen some miracles happen in the last year or two, in Pennsylvania alone.

/Kevin Madore

I can see it now; years later, after it's been restored into something more original to how it ran in service, people who remember seeing it as "Thomas" as kids will decry nobody will make it back into that guise again...

I think my eldest has already made her views clear on this one and they have been tacitly endorsed by Grandfather:

Thomas the Tank engine Sat Jul 21, 2018
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42241&p=279853&hilit=thomas#p279853

Lol.