.

I had a friend drive by not to long ago while on vacation, and he said that it was just sitting on a siding looking pretty forlorn. other than that I don't know. I know that they were making pretty good head way a few years ago.

The man that owned and was restoring the 253, passed away.

Joe -

Interesting. I thought that the locomotive was owned by the "Steam Locomotive Association #253 Corp." but maybe that wasn't the case.


Les

Greetings:
A most prescient posting!
I stopped by the 253 on Monday (1/19/15) and met with Betty Andrianoff, Executive Director, her husband John and Bob Bates(?), who has been heading up the restoration since the death of Steve Sprecklemeier.
The group has had a tough time of it since Steve died. Steve and Bob bought the locomotive, but I understand that it belongs to the group.
Betty is working on getting their 501-c-3 status reinstated.
There was some confusion as to what the role of the FRA was with their project, I told them how to access 49CFR, Part230 on the internet.
The most recent substantive work was that they found a certified welded to finish up some welding in the firebox.
All of the new flexis have yet to be headed up (a few still aren't screwed in) and the patches, mudring and wrapper sheet holes need to be reamed.
I gave them a couple of sources for mudring rivets, but they don't have funds to purchase them at this time.
Bob moves the locomotive a bit every month to keep the axles on the locomotive (converted to oil lubrication) from getting rusty. The tender has been converted to roller bearings.
Bob stated that they get advise from Durango & Silverton now and then. D&S turned the drivers and quartered the crankpins for them some time ago.
From my experience, I would say this project has a long way to go...
J.David

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I intend to stop by this weekend. I wish our paths had crossed, Mr. Conrad. Would have been really nice to meet you.