I attended the meeting and went to the first presentation by the both groups on Friday. I understand the K4 group had another different presentation on Saturday, but I had to leave for a wedding Saturday morning. Both presentations had a 100 people plus in them and was standing room only. I thought that was great. Here is my recap:
The K4 is moving along at a steady pace and the contractor has made good progress on the engineering and work is being focused on the boiler right now. They just raised a $100,000 and plan on spending that on the the firebox work. They will continue to raise money and they don't seem to have a target date for completion. They showed a lot of videos that I feel we have already seen and the room we were in did not have working air conditioning so it was hard to concentrate with the heat. Overall Joe did a good job showing progress. I was hoping for some more technical info, but am encouraged they are doing it right.
The T1 group blew me away. It not only seems like they are moving along, they are rapidly accelerating. They stole the show by bringing the boiler and cab with them and parking it right outside the convention. It was a steady stream of people out there with it. It was amazing the size of this locomotive. There presentation was very well put together and shown what they have done and what is next. They are clearly well on their way with the frame. They are way further along than I thought. They really demonstrated that not only do they know how to do this, but they ARE doing it. Jason Johnson and Scott McGill gave the presentation and shared lots of technical detail and methods they are using. It seems like every where you went at the convention, people were talking about the T1. Members are already dreaming of a doubleheader with the K4. Someone from TRAINS magazine was there following them around working on a story, I hope that comes out soon and is available online as I don't get the magazine anymore.
I came out of the presentation feeling very good about both groups and you have a feeling they will both be ready about the same time. It sounds like the same contractor is doing work on both engines and I suspect they are working together and sharing resources.
Here is a picture from their facebook page. Lots of other great photos. I haven't seen any more from the K4. If there are can someone share a link with us. https://www.facebook.com/t1locomotive/
