I just spoke with John Ott, the Executive Director of the B&O Museum, about L&N 1616.<p>Yes, the unit is being sold to a railway equipment dealer in Washington State. However, the bill of sale explicitly preludes scrapping the engine. The Musuem also retains an irrevocable right of first refusal to repurchase the engine when the Washington State folks are done with it. That right is transferrable to any another interested party at the Museum's discretion.<p>I have more details to round out the story, which I will post in an RyPN Brief this evening. The short version, again, is that the engine WILL NOT be scrapped or stripped.<br>



eledbetter@rypn.org

Well, looks like what we have here is a case of an incorrect posting. While I'm relieved about the 1616, let's continue the discussion of creating a network for disposing and acquiring equipment within the preservation community. I think it would be a great asset to us and hopefully prevent something like this happening in the future. <br><br>



bighookx45@aol.com

I think that if indeed it is going to a dealer/broker<br>how about a serious discussion of how we can ALL work together to see it saved somewhere within its geographical domain. The last thing I would want to see is for the 1616 to go to some shortline and later fall through the cracks. Nothing against shortlines, but someone with a fleet of older GEs might need the parts. Also, for once I think it would be nice to not fight about where it should go and work toward a common good; that my friends is how a movement begins. Gee, wouldn't it be nice if the 1616's only historical value was that it helped bring the rail preservation and museum communities together.<p>One other advantage of unity is that the dealer/broker might be less inclined to feel that 1616 is gold. It's sort of like ebay. Why out bid someone you consider a friend, when all you are really interested in is seeing the item survive.<p>Whoever does get it, if you are a museum or tourist railroad and plan to leave it in it's L&N paint you can count me in for a donation. <br>



minterjr@mindspring.com

randy, you mean you expect us to act like we know and respect each other?? wow! what a concept! <br>actually, for those of you who don't know us, randy and i are old friends so i'm just teasing above; we chat frequently; we've worked to make some things happen that are good, ie, transferring the P&N boxcab electric from atlanta to spencer, so it can happen; the way to do it is just to make some contacts; i think the best thing that can happen is some exchanges, ie, trading places; at spencer, for a few years we did an exchange with south carolina rr museum in which we took a gang from one museum and went to the other one and worked for a day; it was a good way to knock down some fences; once you've swung a spike hammer for a day with someone, you're less likely to talk bad about them! perhaps now that things are more calm at spencer (no big buildings going on (except the back shop, and that's not really a direct impact on volunteers and the rail operation now) and no big engine or car projects coming up) we can do more of that; anybody want to trade places for a couple of weekends next spring?? <br>



jwrinn@charlotte.com