From what I viewed, back in 2011, I'd say 6167 would be a fair candidate for operational restoration. Yeah, I know, who's gonna pay for it and where is she going to run? But the locomotive deserves more respect than it's getting. Donation to an established and housed preservation group, such as Ft. Hamilton, might be a sensible alternative.
I wrote to the Guelph local government about a fence some years ago, and got a solid refusal (Eh?) from them. Obviously, Guelph doesn't know or appreciate what they have as a significant RR artifact from CNR. Come to think of it, apparently neither does CNR.

Let's keep our eye on the ball here. First let's make sure the thing doesn't get scrapped before we start day dreaming about operation. Why even indulge in these fantasy games? I don't know if anyone in Canada is in a position to do anything, period.

OF course donating it anywhere is going to cost quite a bit as well. We always knew that the locomotive was going to have been moved (for the past decade), but in that time I haven't heard of any proposals from anyone else.

Maybe you'll remember my whole campaign back in 2014 to convince the city to build a fence. Got me run out of town. Haven't been back since.

Significance? Ultimately its just a locomotive, that pulled stuff. It's an example of a technology, but wasn't involved in anything "historic". CN (and every other railroad) did not think twice about scrapping thousands upon thousands of examples of "Significant Railroad Artifacts" back in the day, and of the examples that did get saved, well, very few people seem to care about those either.

The "famous" 6218, which is probably "more famous" than 6167 has probably fared even worse. So it would seem that "fame" means nothing.

It has no connection to the city other than it was dumped there many years ago for some stupid reason. It passed through the city perhaps a handful of times when it was running excursions from 1960-1964, but during that time it also passed through many other places, and more times too. Don't forget that the thing also spent most of its life in Eastern Canada, so if she "belongs" anywhere, perhaps its Halifax or something. She only came to Ontario in 1957.

I have just received word that a contract has been awarded to relocate CNR 6167 a second time. My understanding is that the plan is to move it to the River Run Centre (which is still in Guelph, not so far away from its current location).

hope this is a good move.

When I saw 6167, it had just been entirely renovated and painted. Problem was, the idiots left it out without a fence and exposed to vandals. Let's hope the locomotive is placed in a respectful location, indoors, and off limits to the general public. 6167 deserves better.

Well the simple answer to everything you just said is "no".

The move is scheduled for November 14.

They started digging for the new concrete base on Thursday (Oct 22), and hopefully they will pour it sooner rather than later.

Locomotive 6167 gets a new home Nov. 14
https://www.guelphtoday.com/local-news/ ... 14-2854539

Locomotive 6167’s move will be streamed live on the Guelph Museums Facebook page

Locomotive 6167 will be moving to its new home in John Galt Park beside the River Run Centre on Nov. 14

The 490,000-pound steam engine currently resides on Farqhuar Street but is being moved to a new platform located in John Galt Park on Woolwich Street just south of the River Run Centre.

Work is expected to take place on November 14, from 8 a.m.–5 p.m.

The city says the locomotive will be lifted by a crane onto a trailer, driven over the tracks to the west end of Guelph Central Station, moved onto Macdonell Street through the intersection and onto Woolwich Street ending at John Galt Park.

Macdonell and Woolwich Streets will be open to local traffic, however, a full closure of Macdonell Street from Guelph Central Station to the Wellington and Woolwich Streets intersection should be expected between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Woolwich Street, from the River Run Centre to the Wellington and Macdonell Streets intersection, will also face temporary closures.

Guelph Central Station and all bus routes are relocating to Cork Street for the day.

To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, and for safety of crews and residents, the city asks residents to stay home instead of heading downtown to watch the train move to its new home.

Locomotive 6167’s move will be streamed live on the Guelph Museums Facebook page so residents can view the process from wherever they are.

The relocation is costing an estimated $650,000.

https://www.facebook.com/guelphmuseums

$650K for just moving the engine. Wish I knew where folks find this kind of money for such a project. In "the old days" this would have been enough to restore to operation--I know, "where would you run it?"
I hope the new location is more secure and common sense will prevail and install a fence AND security cameras & lights--maybe that's part of the $650K price?

Dave I was thinking the same thing about the moving cost. Sure hope they protect her this time.

Yeah that price tag is pretty outrageous, and suspicious. Considering how much work it was to get even half that money circa 2008 (approved in 2003, delayed until 2008), and that covered the locomotive restoration only (no tender work). I think the first move only cost $150,000 or less 10 years ago...

And remember, the only reason the thing needs to be moved in the first place is because the city engineer who chose the current spot, chose to place it on railway property (in particular where GO transit planned to build a new platform at Guelph station - everyone at the time knew this, I don't know how the city didn't know about it), rather than on city property... I'm talking a matter of FEET... and of course this whole time since the previous move the city actually had to pay rent to the railroad!

Will anyone ever pay for that?

I haven't heard anything about ANY plans for additional protection of course.

You guys are toxic. You don't know the scope of the project yet you are quick to publicly attack its cost.

Per the article and a post above, they are building a new concrete platform for the locomotive in a public park. This is being done on public property, so the platform was probably professionally designed by an engineer or architect. It will likely require rebar reinforcement and multiple truckloads of concrete. It is a big project being done by paid professionals, not a couple of volunteers mixing $3 sacks of quikrete from the home store.

The project scope likely also includes cleaning up and restoring the site where the locomotive was previously located.

Also realize that the $650K price is in Canadian dollars; the US exchange rate is currently 0.77, so the cost is around $500K in US dollars.

Considering that I was involved with the project for over a decade, I think I have a handle on these things...

Plus the fact that this entire process of the engine being moved to a new site WITH a new concrete base has already been executed before and didn't cost anywhere near this much. In fact the entire project from 2008-2014 didn't cost anywhere near that much.

Add to that, another engine I was involved with was also moved and that cost only a fraction of this price...

As far as I know Canada isn't Venezuela just yet (maybe one day), and inflation has not increased by hundreds of percent over the past decade...

Joe, the job of moving it was put up for tender by the city, so I assume this was the least expensive bid or close to it.

To put things in perspective:

The entire cosmetic restoration program cost around $300,000

The first move, circa 2008 cost around $350,000.00 which included $80,000.00 for the concrete base. This amount was covered by the Federal Government as the locomotive was required to be moved as part of an infrastructure project.

Anyways, the question is why did the city planners screw this up? We knew from the get go that the locomotive would have to be moved a second time.

Who does that???

And after all this, the city will have spent a million dollars for... not much... the locomotive was only half done (the tender never got more than a quick coat of paint over the old paint), while the paint job on the locomotive failed the moment it was applied... and it cost almost $100,000 at the time...

I believe this qualifies the project for the award of boondoggle or even scandal!