Should this locomotive be saved, with the help of this funding drive, then who will become the official owner of the locomotive?

More information has been made available on Facebook, from "The Royal Palm Railway Experience":

"The Royal Palm team is pleased to offer an opportunity to help save a steam engine in peril of imminent scrapping.

Louisiana & Arkansas 503 is a 1913 built 4-6-0 that is currently in Port Arthur, TX. If saved and restored, the Royal Palm Rail Experience and Orlando & Northwestern Railway is a willing potential host and long term home for the 503.

There is a Go Fund Me page established for Friends of the 503 to cover the immediate conservation and removal needs of the locomotive.

One of the leading questions we get is do you have or have plans for a steam engine?

The Royal Palm/O&NW has agreed to allow the 503 to pull our trains upon its successful salvation and restoration.

The restoration of a steam locomotive is a huge undertaking, and while we are a new company, it is difficult to raise the necessary funds. We are able to contribute labor and resources to this process, and look forward to helping this locomotive live again. Please visit the Friends of the 503 GoFundMe page at the link listed below and read over the details regarding this locomotive. It is an enormous undertaking and a long road, but one we feel is worth helping out.

This opportunity is sort of an answer to that question - but the 503 needs to be saved from scrapping first if it were to run again, anywhere. It would be perfectly suited for operation in the Golden Triangle - small yet powerful enough to pull our modern passenger cars.

We wanted to share this amongst our friends followers in an effort to help save this engine for future generations to understand and enjoy the allure of steam.

Thank you for the consideration and support in seeing the 503 saved."

Trains magazine Newswire article: Preservationists launch emergency GoFundMe page for Texas steam locomotive

A key section of the article:

More details are included in this interview:

https://wp.me/p5IPAr-nj

From one Golden Triangle to another, eh? It would be ironic seeing as the area of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange is called the Golden Triangle as well.

Over $13,000 raised so far.

Does anyone have a recent photo of this engine that they could post?

Donation made.

donation made

Thursday afternoon

For what is is worth, the City of Allen, Texas has been attempting to deal with the owner as well.

What am I missing here? Supposedly, Port Arthur was led to believe the problem was the presence of asbestos. The most recent photos, posted by elueck, show that the boiler sheeting and asbestos lagging have already been removed. It would appear that the problem has been solved, or there never was a problem in the first place. Who can explain?

Tom

Jason has broadcast live from his Facebook page the past couple of days. He has commented during the flood, fuel was leaking out of the tender and this was noticed during the post Harvey flood by the state environmental agency, which put a deadline on the city to clean it up, leading to current events. Once the fuel leak was noticed, so was the asbestos.

Jason's live updates have been both entertaining and also very informative; he has walked around the locomotive, pointing out everything from maintenance date markings (axles) to weldments (brake rigging) to weld build up on thin tires and flanges, to high water marks (just below the leading track axle centers). During yesterday's broadcast, he was spray painting outlines to cut out applicances for saving, in case they end up cutting up the locomotive.

Bob

Donation made. If you've ever wanted to prove that you're more than an armchair foamer (even with just money), this is the opportunity to do so.