I agree with the above.

-He who foresees a new record thread length coming..

It's quite enlightening to see that the consensus view this decision is nothing short of a swift kick in the b***s. This issue has been beaten to death countless times on this board and others, that anytime someone would mention the thought of a certain "K-4" we all knew which one it was (not like there were much to choose from that still exist). That being said, with the seemingly endless string of money that had been poured into the project, regardless of what should have been done etc, this was certainly not the answer we had hoped for. I for one wanted to someday see this locomotive steam once more. Realistically, I can see why such a decision was made just given the facts that all of us, by now, should know regarding why the most restoration inevitably failed. Hopefully, when the dust settles, greater minds will prevail and decide to complete this project and "Altoona's Pride" will once again be a functional and working exhibit.

Mr. Tillger,

With all due respect, and disregarding for now the issue of whether or not the politically motivated ill-thought-out use of monies on 1361 rise to the level of misrepresentations or outright fraud.........

I sincerely submit that the issue of taxpayer dollars spent on 1361 over the years (and, yes, they were MY tax dollars, both Federal and state, at the time, in addition to several three-figures' worth of direct personal contributions to the project) is somewhere about number 329,715 on the list of taxpayer frauds perpetrated by both Federal and Pennsylvania legislators against which I would want action taken.

I would like to see this locomotive operate as much as anyone, but maybe the folks in charge in Altoona are not making the decision based on emotion. Perhaps they are asking themselves if they want to spend another million of the taxpayers money on a locomotive that they do not have the resources or knowledge base to maintain or operate in an environment where most major railroads don't want to even think about steam and insurance costs are through the roof.

Perhaps they just want the people of Altoona to see what an assembled K4 looks like after an absence of many years.

Roger

Given all of the realities here the decision to officially declare that the effort to make 1361 a runner is over is no doubt a wise one.

As has been discussed here ad nauseum this sad saga will hopefully have a silver lining by providing a strong case study of how NOT to go about a mainline steam locomotive restoration, and thus help future efforts avoid this outcome.

I'm sure that if an in-depth independent audit were ever done it would uncover lots of examples of unexplained expenditures and raise many questions as to key decisions that were made over the years that led to this ending. Seems to me that the only thing that would accomplish is to further embarrass Penn. State Rep. Rick Geist who put his neck on the line in Harrisburg to raise the funding for the project, and he's already suffered enough embarrassment!

IMHO the key lesson here is that if you're going to attempt a mainline steam locomotive restoration then hire a proven professional contractor and stay COMPLETELY out of the way!!!

Simple and sad!!

Ross Rowland

I'm still waiting for cooler heads to prevail in Roanoke from 1994.

Just to change the focus of this thread a bit, what is the status of the partial roundhouse at the museum? From what I can gather it looks like one stall was being built about the time the turntable was installed. The newspaper mentions the quarter circle portion starting construction later this year. Does that mean three more stalls being built around the current one? Can anyone explain what is going on with that? The Horseshoe Curve NRHS hasn't updated their web site about the project in over 18 months and the photos there focus mostly on the turntable.

Wow this is a very interesting topic. All that money put into 1361 already and they are just willing to quit on restoring her baffles me.

I was at the museum,in Altoona, last September, as far as I could tell, the roundhouse had,nt progressed for some time,the roof is up, for just one segment, no ends or sides so it was open to the weather.
Also at that time, the cab and three pairs of driving wheels for 1361 were being stored close to the roundhouse.

Ron

This is a long shot...but maybe Jerry (age of steam roundhouse Jerry) would be interested in another steam restoration?

The thing that troubles me most is after #1361 is stuffed and mounted (and hopefully inside) at Altoona, what will we talk about?

C&O 614 languishing away in Port Clinton, Steamtown, AFT 1.........

Kevin? Is that you I hear rolling in your grave? >:-)

I wouldnt have said that if I were you...the opperator of both of those wrote above you...

Perhaps the possibility should be considered that the information on which the referenced article at the beginning of this discussion was based might have been in error?

PC

I like digging, it's what I do.

I'd recommend that you go back to the original news story link; that's a TV station in Altoona - WTAJ - that did the story:
http://wearecentralpa.com/search-fullte ... _id=165025

Within that story are a number of personal interview clips that aren't in that text that bear listening to. It's the reporter, not anyone being interviewed, that makes some of the statements that seem to fluff up the feathers the most.

That doesn't make it any easier, but it's still worth watching the news story in the TV context rather than just reading the clipped story at the head of this thread, because that doesn't include the text of the interviews.

I'll also make the editorial comment that I've used the 1361 story as a textbook case to some other DOT's and organizations on how not to do it, and other projects have actually benefitted from it seeing the grim aftermath. As a collective industry/state/interest group, lets take some of that angry vented hot steam energy and turn it into learning the whole story. It takes time, patience, and restraint, and understanding. There's a lot of justified anger out there, but you've got to use it as an object lesson toward other restoration efforts - particularly those with high-profile political backing.

I'm not giving up on it, but I also don't know of any political or organizational entity that wants to touch what has now become a radioactive and toxic project in this state with a significant casualty count. It has to quit glowing first.