Utah's gain is Maryland's loss. Mike has done amazing things under sometimes very trying circumstances in Cumberland.

eledbetter@rypn.org

> I suppose I should weigh in on this one.

> It's pretty unlikely.

> In reference to another post in this thread,
> our board is getting younger all the time.
> We actually have some very talented and
> enthusiastic people on the board.
> Unfortunately, no matter what type of
> organization you have, it all comes down to
> money. Without funding we have no toys to
> play with. With no toys we have nobody
> coming to play on the toys and therefore, we
> have no money to continue in business. This
> is not a good thing for employees in
> particular who would not have jobs.
> Shareholders would not be overly pleased
> either.

> We have a list a mile long of things that we
> would like to see happen at Strasburg.
> Throughout the years our directors have been
> railfan oriented, but they have always tried
> to curb their enthusiasm with reality. Often
> we have erred on the conservative side, and
> while that has hurt us at times, most of the
> time it has been a good thing.

> One thing you can count on about anything -
> what goes up will come down. You must be
> able to survive and plan for the downs so
> you can get back up again.

> I would love to see #90 or #475 go to Ohio.
> It just has to make economic sense.

Remember one other very important thing: Ohio Central is ALSO a rail in the business of making money, and this has to profitable for them as well. Every locomotive has to mean added insurance, no? The other aspect is this: to send both locomotives leaves only a single engine to take care of regular chores at Strasburg, and as Linn points out, thats their "bread-and-butter" as it were. Now the obvious questions: HOW DOES ONE BECOME A STOCKHOLDER? I take it this stock does not trade very often?

TJ


Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

I actually have made a "hobby" of buying stock in shortline railroads and leased lines. As time has gone on I have been bought out of many of these, but I still own an interesting portfolio. I still would like to buy a share of the New York & Harlem, which trade about once every 5 years!

Tim

> Perhaps enough of us will be there that we
> should all get together for a
> "RYProariN" good time?

Why, oh why, did they have to pick the weekend I'm supposed to be helping to run a 20,000+ attendance convention in Baltimore?

Hmmmm, maybe I can train some monkeys to run the radio and security operations......... let's see who commits to showing up in Dennison!

LNER4472-NOSPAM-@bcpl.net

Some time back, maybe 2 years ago, I had an article on Cuban steam in the RyPN articles section, detailing precisely what the optimal preservation targets should be for American preservationists should Papa Castro croak or, ahem, meet a less than timely demise. It might behoove RyPN's editors to see if they have this article saved, and repost it if possible. (I can supply new photos if needed.)

Suppose Castro croaks tomorrow, and chaos erupts, and the next thing you know roll-on-roll-off ships are floating out of Miami with loads of old cars to unload on Cuba. Should we be trying to repatriate Cuban steam?

Here are the pros and cons, all too quickly, for those who missed them the first time around:

The steam still left in Cuba, virtually all American-built, may well be 70-100 years old, but for most or all of the past 50 years they have been stored most of that time, only being fired up three or four months per year, if at all.

The condition varies from seemingly-immaculate to piles of junk in the woods with trees growing around them. We assume water treatment, etc. to be nearly nonexistent, with many of these active steamers held together with Cuban chewing gum and chicken wire.

A *limited* number of Cuban steamers are locos that formerly operated on American railroads. An educated guess is perhaps a dozen, with the real jewels (such as a Reading camelback) already gone. In addition, a large number of Cuban locos, although not actually locos that operated for American lines, are absolutely identical in all respects to locos used on American railroads. It would therefore be possible to repatriate a "clone" of, say, a Sierra loco, or a short line loco, etc. for display, restoration, or parts.

*Should* we repatriate Cuban locos? If the reason is "because we can", probably not. We already have enough projects we're falling behind on. However, no one can stop a group or individual from seeking out the last NYO&W loco, or the last RF&P steamer, provided they can raise the necessary funding.

However, a more important potential does exist--the possibility of saving either "clones" to allow the retirement or extended preservation of already-aged American locos, or raw material to allow replica or new locos to replace historic locos. Strictly as possible examples:

*A new theme park wants vintage steamers on their railroad. Or, conversely, an operation like Disney World or Cedar Point needs "new" locos. Would we rather they re-boiler historic equipment or "kit-bash" an "expendable" loco from Cuba?

*How about an operation like the Durango & Silverton, the Strasburg, or the East Broad Top fabricating from a Cuban chassis a loco to use during the light tourist season? Or maybe replicating a loco class on the EBT, D&RGW, etc, that didn't survive? Some Cuban 2-6-0s and 2-8-0s look close to EBT locos........

*Certainly Cuba deserves to save its own heritage. I can just see the tour groups such as Trains Unlimited sponsoring an excursion line at some dying sugar plantation railroad!



LNER4472-NOSPAM-@bcpl.net