Great Plains Transportation Museum Santa Fe FP45 93

New773 · **Joined:** Sat Jul 27, 2019 10:53 pm **Posts:** 35

The Great Plains Transportation Museum has raised $193,000. to ship Santa Fe FP45 93 to Mid America Car in Kansas City for a cosmetic restoration. Some three months later, the museum says it now needs an additional $50k to complete the restoration. On Facebook the museum says it won’t be operational. The attached picture is from the GPTM site, which looks like 93 is in rough shape. My question is, how does a “cosmetic restoration” cost $247k? The “layers of paint” covered hidden damage. It seems really expensive to me with not much of an explanation for the cost. Replacing steel panels rather than just prep and paint the old?

From the Go Fund Me site:
In September 2023, GPTM announced a major cosmetic restoration effort by the skilled tradesmen at Mid-America Car in Kansas City. The goal was to collect $193,000 to cover all costs for this effort. The quote for restoration work, including a fresh coat of red and silver paint in the Santa Fe Super Fleet scheme, was $134,500. Generous donations by many got us to that goal in June 2025.

However, once 93 arrived at Mid-America Car in late August 2025, and the locomotive was grit blasted to bare metal, significant additional age- and weather-related damage was revealed when the layers of paint and filled repair materials were removed. The urgent need to properly complete 93’s cosmetic restoration is for an additional $50,000 to cover work related to the newly discovered damage.

New773 · **Joined:** Sat Jul 27, 2019 10:53 pm **Posts:** 35

From Railfan & Railroad

https://railfan.com/more-needed-to-rest ... ta-fe-f45/

cumbres · **Joined:** Thu Nov 13, 2014 2:50 pm **Posts:** 32

I'm not a member of the GPTM but showed your messages to one of their board members. Since they don't have an account here they asked me to share this:

Quote:

Information posted in the forums of Railway Preservation News’s website about the cosmetic restoration of Santa Fe FP45 93 by Wichita’s Great Plains Transportation Museum (GPTM) is incorrect. While GPTM’s original goal was to collect $193,000 for all costs associated with 93’s restoration, including transportation between Wichita and Kansas City round trip, display site improvements including safe staircases to access the cab, the restoration work quote from Mid-America Car was $134,500.

The $134,500 was collected through donations by June 2025 and the locomotive arrived at MAC in Kansas City in late August. Grit blasting to bare metal revealed significant, previously hidden, additional damage. We need $50,000 to address the newly discovered damage. This brings the total restoration cost to approximately $185,000, which is in the range for a professional restoration of a large diesel locomotive by skilled craftsmen. The $247,000 reference in the RYPN post is incorrect.

Our preservation effort for Santa Fe 93 will include protective elements such as fan, exhaust port and vent covers that will help ensure this rare locomotive can be enjoyed for decades to come in its vibrant red and silver Super Fleet paint scheme.

GPTM

Wichita, KS