Hi
I am looking into getting a group together to purchase the
Lost engines of Roanoke http://lostengines.railfan.net/
Initally I am trying to find if there are enough people
who are willing to spend some time working on this project.

Phase One consists of the following:

Getting enough people into the group to help with the legwork
necessary
If only a few people are interested then it will be very hard or
impossible.
the more people who we can get into the core group the eaiser it
will
be
for each person.

We need a Non Profit organization set up.I do not know what it will
take or cost but I am looking into it at the University where I
work.We have a Law School so
I can ask one of our law professors about how to set it up.

Check out the web site on the lost engines and see if you or anyone
you know
may be able to help. With enough people in the core group it can be
easy.

Please reply to me with the subject lost engines

Andrew Martin


amartin@wlu.edu

You might wanna set up an NRHS chapter, much easier and you only need like a dozen people to do it. You can get more info on NRHS's website.

A couple questions Andrew:

1. Have you gotten any commitments from the owner regarding his willingness to part with them?

2. If you do acquire title to them, what is your plan for what to do with them?

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

This is an admirable move, and you deserve kudos for undertaking such a bold proposal. Having examined the locos close up myself, I do believe they are at the least, cosmetically restorable, if not operable, given a great deal of expertise and money.
The owner has some major caveats regarding the purchase of the equipment, including that it all goes in one purchase or not at all. The locos need to be sent somewhere where more than a lick of paint is available, like Strasburg Railroad. I doubt they will roll on their own. Be prepared to have NS load them on flatcars for the trip to wherever. You are talking about millions of dollars for purchase, removal, and restoration. Even if you broker them off to small railroad owners with shops, the investment to be ponied upfront is very, very, steep. Let's see a plan for removal and dispostion, and then I'd be willing to consider getting excited about this rescue.
Great idea, though.

glueck@maine.edu

I doubt
> they will roll on their own.

In regards to the locomotives rolling on their own, I had heard that one had to be moved recently to facilitate the replacement of a utility pipe, and was basically dragged because it would not roll.

Southeastern Railway Museum
gapower97@yahoo.com

>Andrew, the difficulty is in the catch 22. Supposedly, the owner has asked a very high price-and wants to sell them as a lot only. You won't know what your resources are until you have a group, group won't come together until they have an idea what they are getting into...won't know what you need until you can walk in as a serious bidder.

If you know somebody who's a skilled negotiator AND the owner is willing to listen AND has a positive cash flow-the negotiator might be able to bring up the idea of donation for a tax deduction.

starting the 501c3 is easy-problem is it can take months for your "determination letter", which any business is going to REQUIRE in order to validate the deducyion on their Form 1120.

superheater@rrmail.com