Is anyone on the list involved with Santa Fe 4-6-4 3463 at Topeka? I think they are working on a cosmetic restoration, but would like a progress report.

http://abpr2.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?july02/07-06-02/ATSF3463SteamTopekaKsd.jpg
ryarger@rypn.org

> Is anyone on the list involved with Santa Fe
> 4-6-4 3463 at Topeka? I think they are
> working on a cosmetic restoration, but would
> like a progress report.

I saw this engine 10 years ago(Labor Day 1992), when I was working on the 3751 video. It looked pretty good back then, as I headed to the fairgrounds where 3751 and 3985 were on display for the weekend.
Greg Scholl


Videos

sales@gregschollvideo.com

I started helping on this restoration in 1995. The tender body was painted about 4 years ago. Work then turned to restoring the pilot and smokebox areas on the locomotive. We were able to get the stack extension and power reverse to function on compressed air. The smokebox face has been painted, & work has been done on forming new handrails. Work has also been done on the air pump and hot water heater.Not alot has been done on the engine lately. The head man leading the restoration is working on small assemblies at his home I beleive. Some of the crew of the past few years have started families and do not have as much time to spend on this project anymore. The latest project that I was involved with was about a month ago. The crew had been storing parts, mainly from the tender trucks, in the basement of the old Topeka Railroad Days office. After sitting in this basement for the last four years, we spent a Sunday afternnon moving all of it to a new storage facility across town.

The 3463 is owned by the Great Overland Station, formerly Topeka Railroad Days, Inc. GOS is restoring the old Union Pacific station in north Topeka into a railraod museum/community center. The plan is to move the locomotive to the station grounds eventually. This is still 5 or 6 years away at least. Moving her will be quite an undertaking.

Bunce652b@aol.com

Like a lot of well meaning groups this is the typical case of the road to hell paved with good intentions. Parts have been removed and taken off site with no control over who has them and no real project control over how the work will be done. This project is being attempted outdoors in a park setting. The locomotive has been moved once since it was placed in the park in Topeka. It is now sitting in an area subject to flooding. I looked at the locomotive last summer when I was in Topeka and felt that whoever is in charge of this project doesnt have a good grasp of the size of it or the cost. This locomotive needs to be put back together and a cosmetic restoration done untill such time as money and shop space are available to restore it further. It is a sin to remove the things they have removed and not have a serious plan and funding in place to do the work.

johndeck@cox.net

The 3463 was moved to its current location by the county when the property was redeveloped into the Expocenter in the mid 80's.

I can agree that a comprehensive restoration plan is not in place at this time. It would be a tragedy if this did indeed become "the road to hell paved with good intentions". But I do not believe this to be the case. There is a group of people, small as it may be , that does have an interest in doing something to help preserve this locomotive. The 3463 has been on this property since August 9, 1956. Very little was done to the engine before this group started to do something about its condition. In my opinion, there are people out there who care enough to do something to try to preserve the engine instead of just letting her sit and rust away to nothing. Steps have been taken to avoid the loss of parts that have been removed. It is possible that things may go awyr and parts may be lost for good, but hopefully that will not happen. I know of very few steam restorations, cosmetic or operational, that have had unlimited funding and a foolproof plan from the very start of the project. I agree that a more solid plan of action will need to be enacted soon. But I firmly disagree that it is a "sin" to remove some parts and try to preserve them. This crew cares enough to do something. It has taken the initiative to slow the process of deterioration this engine has endured for the past 46 years. No one else cares enough to do anything.

None of the preserved steam that runs today would be here if the people that restore and operate steam did not care about preserving the history of the iron horse. It takes people interested in this history to go and preserve what is left. Bad things can and do happen, but at least there are people who do what they can to try to preserve and present what is still around when no one else will. A locomotive cannot restore itself, it takes people to do that job.

(It is not my intention to be offensive, but the last post struck a nerve with me).

Bunce652b@aol.com