How often is the restoration of a piece of railroad equipment recognized by the "mainstream" preservation community? It's definitely not a common occurence. Last week, we (Roanoke Chapter NRHS Mechanical Dept) received a 2012 Preservation Award from the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation for the restoration of CW Baldwin 4-4-660 # 662. At the same ceremony, Virginia Museum of Transportation Executive Director Bev Fitzpatrick & his family were given a Lifetime Achievment award.

Scroll down, we're # 9 and Bev is # 11

http://www.roanokepreservation.org/Arch ... ds2012.pdf

No monetary awards, just a nice plaque. However, a lot of good PR, not to mention raising credibility with potential donors to future projects.
For those of you not familiar with the 662 restoration, it was reported on here and was well documented on our Facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/roanokenrhs?fref=ts

It's wonderful to see people who think positively, honored positively.

Great work, Gary, Lewis, Rick, and all!! Your work is commendable and something to be proud of.

Must say, I also like that background picture on the Mechanical Dept.'s Facebook page......

The end result says it all : You guys deserved it !!!!!! Great Job !


Kevin Kohls

That was a madfab job, Gary.

You now have the experience for the other one.
Maybe that one will really root toot.

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Rest assured, we are nefariously plotting some exciting future projects.........:) We already have a wooden boxcar restoration started as an Eagle Scout project. Probably see some passenger car work next year also, 2013 is looking interesting.

Something to remember, fellow preservationists, is that CW 662 is not an operating piece of equipment. The lesson is that to look good and gain recognition the item in question does not need to be completely functional. It just needs to look that way.
Congrats to the folks who turned this rusty hulk into a showpiece.