That has suffered from as much, if not more, drama than the Steamtown restoration of B&M 3713?

Who's got the popcorn? I'll bring the soda...........mld

Yes, K 4 1361 micro-managed by Scott Cessna and Dr. Mulholland of Altoona. Burned through the better part of $ 3M ( taxpayer dollars ) and 10 years time and ended with with the K4 in a million pieces.

Got to be the biggest cluster f.... on record.

IMHO-Ross Rowland

Not railroad related but the Friends of Nobska spent three million dollars of ITEA 21 + private money to restore the SS Nobska a 1930 steam ferry boat. The job went fairly well for two years. Although there were a few questionable activities. The job was shutdown for one year due to funding issues and the "Big Dig" in Boston. When the the construction was resumed they had a new contractor, I was told by a project trustee "there was some question about the integrity of the first contractor" I advised that trustee that there was no question about the new contractor integrity, the new contractor had none.
The new construction plan would ignore the ABS approved plans. Rather than mount the strakes (the steel hull plating) horizontally the strakes would be mounted vertically. The frames would be inside the hull and be attached later. I looked at the first two strakes and asked where is the edge preparation. "we will do that later" I was told. I left the dry-dock for my own safety. You can not do the edge preparation when the edges are butted together. The remaining strakes were mounted. The contractor left the job site. "All you have to do is weld all the vertical seams". Now no money was wasted on CG or ABS inspection because it would not pass any inspection. After sitting in the number one dry dock at the Boston Naval Shipyard, now a National Park the government wanted the hull removed. The first step is to "arrest the ship". I commented they should arrest the trustees. After much hand wringing the ship was cut up and scrapped. The trustees whined, we are trying to raise more money. In fact they were trying to raise money while the ship was being cut up. The trustees had a fiducial responsibility for the money spent, no action was taken against them. I feel that the trustees were chosen to be useful idiots, to go along and agree with the decisions of a few people who to be politicly correct were integrity challenged.

The saga of the PS Alexander Hamilton is worth a nomination.

https://monmouthtimeline.org/timeline/s ... -hamilton/

Wesley

In the past 10 years? Eh you have a good argument.

Ever? Former FEC 148 has to be up there as it was in pieces moving around for decades from New Jersey, to Michigan, to Colorado, and then back to Florida with a happy ending. K&T 14, not so much but that's a bit less chaotic.

But the grandaddy of botched, drama filled steam locomotive restorations has to have PRR 1361 front and center.

At least 1361 has had a positive change, with work being performed,a good plan going forward, project updates, and capable management now at the helm. The 3713 efforts have been ongoing for nearly 30 years,with no news in years and no end in site. So no, I'd say that 3713 has taken 1361's place as the biggest cluster-f of all time. They continue to ask for donations shamelessly though, without telling you how the money will actually be used. No progress since the agreement with the Lackawanna Valley chapter ended a few years ago. I made my last donation over a year ago after being told by the Iron Horse Society that updates would be soon forthcoming but I'm still waiting.

John

"Hold my beer" — USS United States

SS United States was doomed from the start. Any and all money raised has had to go for the sky high docking fees. So very little if any was able to go to do anything to the ship.

Any restoration group would benefit from hiring someone that worked on raising funds to “restore” the SS United States.
If they were able to pursue enough fools to throw $$ at that quixotic project, imagine what could be accomplished if some of those people were to put their efforts on other projects.

Since about 1979, six owners have spent millions to evaluate to ship for re-use including two cruise lines.
The first owner sold all of the ship’s contents to pay his bills. In the 1990s an owner towed the ship to Ukraine to have all of the asbestos wall board removed, leaving an empty shell.

For comparison, restoration of the USS Texas was $75 million. The external repainting of USS New Jersey cost $10 million. Both ships are complete vessels unlike the empty SSUS.

Then you need a place to berth the ship and revenue to pay for its rent and regular maintenance.

another example that can be mentioned are the two long Island Railroad locos. They were both displayed in parks and then went to museums who took them apart without any
plan about who would restore them or a place to run them. I think that they would have been better left as static displays.

There is nothing wrong with a well maintained static display. The Illinois Railway Museum has about two dozen of them! Their first loco Public Service #7, a little 0-6-0 was recently cosmetically restored. She has been at the museum since about 1961.

Ted Miles IRM Member

I could suggest that the long-term saga of London & North Eastern Railway A3 Pacific 4472 Flying Scotsman since its 1963 retirement from British Railways would rival any of the contenders for drama, twists, and turns, with the exception of the fact that it's managed to continue in operation for longer than its initial LNER/BR commercial career.............

Forgot to mention the saga of the NKP 587.