As mentioned below, the Railroad Museum of New England acquired the last (read "newest") GE U-Boat.

There's a common thread with RMNE, RRMofPA and the Reading Tech guys along with a few others: The List ... the list of artifacts they eventually want.

All three groups have been very good at getting "first," "last" and "complete" artifacts. These are not the kinds of pieces you stumble upon. To get them, the group has to be organized enough to know what is out there, keep tabs on its status and make the right relationships that bring the piece home.

I often focus on finding the old gem in the weeds, but the policy of keeping tabs on active equipment is the best kind of planning. Maybe, if it were more widespread, the first F-40 would still be intact?

So, here are a few brain-teasers as a follow-up:

Where is the last LaGrange-built EMD?

Or the very last-built caboose (that's a tough one)?

Does the RRMofPA have dibs on the last Conrail SD70 (a PA-built unit for the last class one based in PA)?

How about the first SD90?

Rob

trains@robertjohndavis.com