On the point of donations and cash reserves... Just because you can do something with on-hand resources doesn't mean it's the smart thing. And frankly draining the reserves is a risk in itself if something goes south with the museum. With the crapshoot of this situation in Glenmount, I'm of the impression there were really not options left than to roll a hard six and try to make it work.

30" is typical, but that can vary. Generally gas pipelines are run across fields and places where heavy haul equipment does not roam - and when they do, the pipeline owners require reinforcement at the surface to protect the pipeline. There's likely reinforced pipeline/fill where it goes under the tracks - but on the other hand, the tracks haven't been used in decades either and without any planned rail traffic to the plant, likely a non-issue. They OK'ed the move so long as a 'bridge' was placed over the pipeline (over a road surface). But that would only be possible at a significant cost. That and the power plant owners likely wouldn't have allowed the move in the first place. It's all 100% risk and 0% benefit. Call BS all you want, but who'd foot the bill if there was a mishap and the pipeline was damaged or a transmission line was taken out?

The ownership and storage of all that equipment was mismanaged by the local NRHS chapter from the beginning. I'd guess they had nowhere secure to store this stuff after sitting at the power plant for years without any real agreement, and the power plant folks lost their patience and pushed them off the property so they could start with construction of the new gas plant adjacent to the old coal/oil plant. The tracks these things sat on was in the way of a wetlands remediation project as part of the plant's construction.

If I were king for a day at Danbury, I'd nix the project solely due to the risk of the museum's financial health. I don't think they fully realize how far in over their heads they are with this. Once they spend north of $500k just to get these things back on to the rails on their property, then what? Repairs and restoration will be well into the 6-figure range as well and with a volunteer staff - that will take years. Their existing collection is more than they can handle as it is.

Granted, the track is most likely crap and unsafe so movement on their own wheels was unlikely in any case. I think moving anything even 12” on rail was a moot point.

That said, we have misconceptions on pipeline placement in this thread. So I looked up the mapping locations of the pipelines (https://pvnpms.phmsa.dot.gov/PublicViewer/) and CSX specifications (https://www.csx.com/index.cfm/library/files/customers/property-real-estate/permitting/pipeline-design-construction-specifications/)

Disclaimer - I have no idea of when the pipelines were installed or of the spec revision in force at the time but it probably wasn’t much different. I think this may have been a revision to accommodate horizontal direction drilling (HDD). Do note that it applies to any track CSX may service, not just their own ROW:



We have a gas pipeline easement along one of our tracks and 3 service lines that cross our property under tracks that are plastic lines installed via HDD. This reminds me that though we know exactly where they are, we need to find out at what depth if we don’t know. If others have similar situations, you might want to find out the particulars for your records.

The official estimate for rescue is now $125,000, and the deadline is "three months."

https://railfan.com/danbury-up-against- ... electrics/



In the "nobody asked me....." department, given that two other very similar S-series NYC electrics survive elsewhere (St. Louis and IRM), the focus SHOULD be on the bigger, now-unique T3a. BUT if push comes to shove the smaller, more easily moved loco may have to be the only one saved if funds come up short or logistics interfere. It is something of a pity the two S survivors are far away from NYC electric territory.......

The 'historical value' in this particular S-motor is that it's the prototype - the very first one built.

Outside of a very small niche group of railfans, no one cares. But someone thinks it's worth the time/effort/cost to move it. The T3a is the only remaining T-motor left.

Not sure how they're going to disassemble 100+ yr old hunks of metal that spent most of their lives outside - the last 40 of which in ruins. Be interesting to see it happen though.

Hi guys; any updates about the equipment move? Thank - David Notarius - over there in the UK

Last I heard they were moved out of the way but still on the property.

The most recent museum press release (pertains to that still-on-the-property move): https://www.danburyrail.org/dec28

Guessing nothing happened since then, with the museum possibly raising money to move on to the next chapter.

A fundraiser has been announced by the New York Central System Historical Society, matching donations up to $5,000 on this project (for the S-Motor and the T-Motor)

https://nycshs.org/2023/06/14/we-are-kicking-off-a-campaign-to-help-save-the-electrics-we-will-match-your-donations/


I have no affiliation with this group, so review how to proceed on your own, please.
Here is the direct link for online donations:
https://www.nycshs.net/Contributions_c_185.html
And here is a direct link for mail-in contributions with a PDF to print out:
https://nycshs.files.wordpress.com/2023/05/savethe-electricsmatchingfund.pdf

YAY!!