Many people in this thread are talking about fundraising opportunities and donations being gathered and used. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Friends of the East Broad Top, the volunteer group, is NOT restoring the locomotive. They will gladly accept donations and funding for all of their many projects - but #16 is not one of them. #16 is being restored by the EBT Foundation and the railroad itself, which is not currently asking for donations. I've searched through the Foundations page as well, and concur that they list both the FEBT and the trolley museum as worthy causes to donate to. If you want to support the railroad yourself, show up and buy tickets to ride. :)

Correct, but I think you missed the greater point. I never said that the EBT was soliciting donations for the No. 16 restoration specifically. There has been a push to support the 2022-23 fundraising campaign that covers a handful of projects. By publicizing and sharing the locomotive's progress, it gives the railroad an excellent avenue to garner interest and support, whether that's buying a ticket or donating to the campaign. Link here: https://febt.org/fundraiser/

Maybe they're not interested yet in people arguing over what whistle it will have.............

What a nerve Wick Moorman, Bennett Levin and Henry Posner have in not keeping us up to the minute on all things EBT especially the return to service of # 16.

Just because they have committed substantial personal funds and thanks to the credibility they bring to the effort garnered substantial grants for the state doesn't give them the right to ignore our foamer needs to be kept totally informed. Perhaps an every other day update from the CMO is in order???

How dare they???

Ross Rowland

I don't think anybody can (or should) criticize the pace of the modern EBT's restoration. With so much private money involved, they can absolutely do what they want. Lord knows everyone and their brother is going to show up no matter what they do or don't share.

But the lack of transparency in sharing well, any information at all is just.... weird. Just anything at all would be more than what they've given out so far.

Again, they can do whatever they want and I'll still show up and buy a ticket. But sharing almost nothing at all is just weird and leaves an odd taste. Takes a lot of confidence in peoples' willingness to show up when it's done to not hype it up at all.

Especially when they want the public to support their cause, commit to riding the trains, donate funds to the friends, etc.

How frigging hard is it to give updates to keep the buzz going? Giving updates isn’t committing to a run date. Look at the Alaska Railroad engine where they’ve given constant and consistent updates. Same with 2926. 2101. I could go on and on.

It causes MORE issue to NOT show what’s happening. Especially when these operations depends on public support.

Joe

After all the BLASTING a certain Western Maryland based railroad got over delays during restoring a fairly large engine, I would not say one word to the general public.

The Royal You have Earned Such Treatment the Hard Way -- Spoken in John Houseman's voice.

Having done major renovations to an over century old house, I have learned to never say how long it's going to take. There is always a "While you are in there" you'd better fix this surprise.

Brian

Brian:

Thanks. I'll keep your resume on file for the next time we need PR specialist on a restoration project. In all seriousness, the WMSR's fault was to over-promise and under deliver, continuously. You can showcase your work without giving target completion dates.

All I'm hoping is that they're maintaining a video log and notes on the restoration, and that at some point we might see some of that material.

Just as "it'll be done when it's done", the stages of restoration will be done when they get done. I trust they will be done properly and effectively.

From the railroad's website:

Returning to the original question, I would expect she will be. I heard through the grapevine that they wanted to have her out for X-mas trains, but it doesn't seem like that is going to happen. Now they should have several months of relatively interruption free work time to work toward operations in the spring.

Speaking of the Strasburg, they've already shown us exactly how this can be done effectively without promising anything. Take a look at their "the Latest from the Strasburg Shops" updates.

They post really nice updates showing what's being done. They don't promise any completion dates (that I've noticed) or even identify the locomotive in some instances.

EBT could easily do the same thing. "Here's a quarterly update of the progress on #16" and simply show what's done without promising anything.

Obviously, they don't owe us anything. However, if they're asking for donations etc, then it would seem to be a good way to get some good PR.

Now, given who they are, I'm sure they've already thought of that and decided it wasn't beneficial at this time. But I can see why somebody would consider it a possibility.

Moderators should immediately lock any post with such a subject line.

You're being sarcastic, correct?

I certainly hope so. I’d hate to see posts reduced to:

We turned some bolts with a wrench today. Can’t say which wrench or what size bolt, though. It was on something big. Or maybe small. Thanks for reading. Please donate.