Tweetsie:
You appear to be around 15 or 16 years of age. In that case, I'm close in age to you so I can certainly relate to the unrestrained enthusiasm and lofty goals that you possess. However, I think it's time for you to take a reality check and set some more reasonable goals. Instead of suggesting to build a Y6b with no prior experience, I would suggest you try to slowly work your way into the preservation community. Specifically, I would suggest you not only start volunteering at the closest railway museum or tourist railroad, but also getting your first part-time job.

When I turned 16 in 2017, I started volunteering in the electric car shop at the Illinois Railway Museum. I met a lot of new people and started to gain a lot of knowledge. Simultaneously, I decided it was time for me to enter the workforce. I started working at a local pizza place and although it wasn't glamorous, it taught me some good lessons on the value of hard work, as well as the value of money.

Now, over a year later, I'm still volunteering. I've met many people and gained lots of useful knowledge. I still have a long way to go before I can head and undertake a major project myself, but I sense that I have slowly gained the respect of the other volunteers at IRM. Through the money that I have earned working, I've been able to donate $25 increments here and there to certain IRM projects, the L&A 503 fund, and the FRTM recovery fund. The donations aren't much but trust me, it gives you a good feeling knowing that you have contributed to a good cause.

The point I'm trying to make is that I've achieved success through setting small goals and working my way up; and you should too.

As a final note, I think you should create a distinction in your head between your dreams and your fantasies. A dream for you may be to return a locomotive to operation at your local railway museum. A fantasy would be thinking the Smithsonian will hand the 1401 over to a child with no preservation experience.

Lucas

Currently, that is my plan. I'm hoping to find volunteer work at the North Carolina Transportation Museum In Spencer, NC, and I eventually want to begin work at Tweetsie Railroad as a member of their train crew. (After I work as one of their cowboys (actors), as I need to of held a job at the park before I can apply.) Eventually, I'll look at a good restoration project to begin with. I'm currently looking at a little 0-8-0 on display in a park nearby as my first project.