A Paint job is not a restoration. Paint only hides the underlying problems...and for only a short time.

Exactly.

A paint job doesn't make up for 50 years of neglect.

Did I say anything about only getting a paint job????.....NOOO!

If the area or item to be painted is properly prepped, a good coat of paint goes a long way to protecting the Locomotive for years.

Yeah, but when an engine has been allowed to rot for a great many years, what good is a paint job going to do.

It just like with 6167 back in the 70's and 80's and early 90's. Back then she every few years because the previous paint job would just fall apart in record time. No one was willing to spend the time or money to do things right i.e. pull out the asbestos, sand blast the engine and other repairs, let alone prepare it for a decent paint job.

This picture is from a newspaper article dated Jan 24 1980. Even back then she looks like she is ready to be scrapped. Of course, at about this time Guelph began using prison inmates to paint the engine, but I suspect that they just painted over what was already there.

I've also attached a photo of the 81 taken at somepoint in the early 60's. Just check out the psychadelic paint job.

And if anyone is interested, here is a photo of 29 after the fire:

http://members.shaw.ca/cprsteam/steamcp ... p29-11.jpg

Joe

I saw 29 while she was still in New Brunswick, immediatly after the fire. The locomotive didn't look all that badly, but her wooden parts, buffer beams, tender planks, etc, were reduced to charcoal. Cosmetically, she doesn't look to awfully today, but I'm doubting if operation will ever be renewed.
BTW, any word on the CPR 4-8-4 project? Are they still entertaining the idea?

As far as well kept engines, you must be forgetting TH&B 103 at Westfield Heritage Village, it is now in fantastic shape.