I'll tell you what:

We'll wait until the price of procuring decent coal skyrockets, and the price to ride behind Reading 2102 or 425 on the Reading & Northern jumps from $60 to $600 in coach, higher still in dome or first class........ But, hey, worth it for the right aroma and cinders in your face, no?

In the case of 2100.... Absolutely.

Happy to see YOU have that kind of disposable income for a couple hours behind coal-burning steam.

And when we further lament why young people aren't eagerly lining up to take up the "torch" of rail preservation to replace us old-timers, that income/price gap between old and young will be Exhibit A in my VERY vitriolic response........

I have a question.... Would all those who feel strongly about the conversion of coal to oil fuels, have the same aversion to conversions the other direction? Say, if 2926 was switched to coal? Or any "originally" oil-fueled loco?

I suggest you re-visit both the current, and last years pricing, availability, and ridership of the 2102 rambles. Prices start at $99(same as last year) and go up from there. The reality is oil may be an option to keep steam running both now and in the future, but the price of the experience of riding behind an exclusively coal-burning locomotive is being extremely under-valued. I am confident 2102 would absolutely not be drawing the crowds it is if it were burning oil.

If no young people are "lining up to take up the "torch"", than who will be the audience for your "VERY vitriolic response"? Feel free to lament, just know that you are wrong. If you can't see all the progress that has been made by "youngsters" in the last few years(including 2100) than nothing I say here will change your mind.

Ok... let's wait until then though how about that? Pretty sure Durango is paying more for oil than they did for coal.



For me? Yes. Historically I like it when a locomotive burns the same fuel it did in it's working life. So a locomotive like the 3751 can burn either coal or oil. I wouldn't want the 4449 to burn coal and I wouldn't want the 611 to burn oil.

Now obviously that's "Perfect world" scenarios. I've ridden behind oil at Cumbres and at Durango and still had a great time... but it is a little piece of the historical feel gone.

I continue to watch the month-by-month quagmire that is happening with British steam preservation over a lack of suitable domestic coal and the increasing expense of sourcing Polish coal (since Russia is out of the equation for now).

Not that I'm predicting this will happen--YET--but let's consider the absurdity if and when some American political administration "conspires" to make American coal either unobtainable, too expensive, or for specific uses only (and there absolutely are factions that believe this to be "meet and right so to do").................. and the only way to continue to burn coal in a historic steam locomotive is 1) with an annual permit, with fees, and 2) by importing the coal itself from China, India, or some other "emerging Third World country" that still wantonly mines and burns coal with some "exemption" from the U.N. from reduction mandates..............

Trust me, I'm no fan or advocate of abandoning "historical" accuracy for debatable goals. But if I'm forced to make a choice between a permanently retired coal burner and one still running on the Grand Canyon Railway with "the smell of French fries," I'll take the latter, thank you..........

For what it's worth, Pere Marquette #1225 will remain a coal burner.

Also, no plans to change C&NW #175's fuel source.

Bob Thatcher, Safety Officer
Steam Railroading Institute

So what color is the #2100 going to be painted? OOPs didn't mean to start another fascinating debate that would go on for 5-6 pages! Ha!

Regards, John.

John,

What about the type of whistle RDG 2100 will carry?

Wesley

Pete has 73 pages and counting, just on the postwar Reading options...

2100 will be just like every other engine: equipped with fittings to make whistles easily 'swappagle'. If I were doing it, I'd put a manifold on there with remote 'quillable' valves so I could blow multiple whistles on one trip... }:-O

How about two colors: black, and white. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bn5kNOrfow

Without getting into the never-to be-settled-here question of fault, is that before or after you adjust for the self-insured retention and fire suppression costs?

GME

Is 73 too many, R.L.? I was thinking about adding even more.

What sort of whistle should #2100 have? A properly-maintained three-chime Leslie always sounds good. If it's going to look and smell like a Reading diesel...

Painted white, green, and yellow, it can be next season's Hess truck. ;)

You can't have too many. I find myself reading through every page. But he did say something about painting 2100 green and yellow for a diesel scheme, and what better place to go for information than...