Was just curious if anyone knew whether the people who are restoring her plan to keep the post-WW2 look, or give her a pre-WW2 look..(graphite smokebox, switch headlight/generator back to original positions, slatted pilot, tuscan red cab roof)

Or for imaginations sake...Mixture of both? Roller Bearings? Poppet Valves? Smoke Deflectors?

Not that it ultimately matters...I'll take a K4 under steam any day no matter how it looks. But I won't lie that I would be more excited if they were to give her a Pre-WW2 configuration. They just looked so much more graceful.

Some nice varieties to choose from! I happen to like the hard pilot with lower headlight, but as you pointed out, having her back as an operational loco is the focal point.

Sadly, I don't know the answer to your question, but I really enjoyed seeing all the variations of the K4 you posted. (I don't see the fully shrouded streamlined version, but I certainly wouldn't vote for doing that to #1361.)

Consider the following:

Is it a plaything, a working asset (like the steamers on the Strasburg or Wilmington & Western), or a museum artifact?

The Railroaders Memorial Museum is preserving (well, supposed to be, anyway) PRR 1361. 1361 never had streamlining, or poppet valves, or other such modifications. Those aren't going to happen. You could make a case for backdating to as-built appearance, but not any of the other modifications.

Suppose I owned the last remaining pre-WW2 Buick or Hudson or Studebaker. Although it's within my rights to make it into a hot-rod or paint it hot pink, is that the right thing to do? How about putting a Taco Bell in the last log cabin in the county?

I have never seen a pre-cast pilot era shot of 1361- anyone have one or a link to one?

Joshua

I would think your going to have 1361's appearance.


I would vote for the pre-war appearance when railroads were proud, the war years everything went nitty-gritty, for obvious reasons...

I know, that's why I put the "for imaginations sake.." part. Although, roller bearings would be a worthwhile investment for her. Nitpicking Purists may balk, but if you could see other pics of #5371, you'd agree that a K4 looks damn good with them.

Edit...thought some might like to see.

That huge tender looks ridiculous. They should restore it to the way it was when she left service.

You make a good point, but consider this, you don't need to update those cars to keep them on the road, they are grand-fathered in. In order to maintain any regular steam operations on a class 1 some modifications are going to need to be made.

Why worry about it's ability to run on class 1's when it is only a cosmetic restoration? Just return it to it's "last run" or "as built" appearance and left the rest alone.

The ARMM plans on restoring her to operating condition, not just cosmetically.

http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/conte ... 29033.html

Oh, haha, I was looking at a news item from the same paper dated just the week before yours.

IMHO, it's just too expensive to make the rods and drivers into roller bearings for what little the locomotive will be used. 4501 is, and will probably remain a friction bearing locomotive and NS has no problem using it.

I don't know what you guys are talking about... I was in the cab of 1361 just today and everything seemed just fine.

That cab is a little low to the ground, isn't it? ;)

That "coast to coast" tender sure looks odd, but its pretty impressive!