I was going to make the joke of "this week's we-have-48-hours-to-save-it plea".......

But as I checked it, they'd just cracked the $50K mark a few minutes ago. That's probably enough to stop the scrapping, but they still have to move it somewhere else, etc.

That loco had been floating around the Wilkes-Barre/Pittston, Pa. area as Luzerne & Susquehanna 50/600 for over 25 years, and I'll bet if you kicked around the right junk piles in Pittston the original number boards may still be around somewhere in a certain pile...................

Barring where the horns are located now?

The question is, do you want to run it over a line, or have an authentic appearance? As I recall, Danbury's demonstration trackage is all within a yard, so about the only horn-blowing would be at a trespasser or animal. But another line that uses an authentic period SW1 on the line on which it operated, the Wilmington & Western, has plenty of good reason to apply loud 5-chime horns during excursion use. Revisit the issue if W&W 84508 is ever retired as B&O 8408 for display.......

BTW: does $50K seem optimistic for scrap value for such a small unit?

That is a bone of contention, especially if the engine is not relatively isolated or is part of even a small common carrier.

People concerned with liabilies have told me that leaving any "working" end-cab switcher with the original "single-note horn on the front wall of the cab below the roofline" is asking for trouble.

My own observations over the years make me believe that if a locomotive crosses enough at-grade intersections on a regular basis, a better air horn (and/or horn location), a reliable bell that actually gets serviced now and then and a more visible set of headlights may not be 100% historically correct, but are good ideas as long as the original mounting bracket(s) aren't destroyed and any original equipment is removed and stored securely.

That's not quite what I mean. There's pictures of this engine wearing the late era Blue with the horn on a stand bolted to the middle of the hood. Two chimes faced forward, one faced rearward with that setup. I think at this point the horn is mounted on the cab as would be normal.

That might be more in line with the market value of an old 600hp switcher in operable condition. Seems like a gouge to me if you were expecting to pocket around $8K in scrap.