This came through on my rss feed. It looks like railroads will be a major component.

http://www.buffalorising.com/2010/10/in ... eiled.html

It's still a proposal, but it's the kind of thing that merits follow through as a community cultural center. Just please, don't stuff and mount the I1sa Decapod indoors! Please!

Why not? DO you prefer your Decapods fully rusted?

Last time I saw the Dec, it was painted, greased and looked to be tended to pretty well. There remains the hope, the promise, of seeing her fired again, someday. Putting her under a roof would obviously be a good thing.

Does anybody know if the CPR Mikado #5361 at Depew, NY is to be included in the Center? She would seem to be slightly outside the theme of Buffalo industry, but hopefully she will receive some badly needed attention.

Steve Hunter

Oh please!!! Restore the decapod to operation? Come on lets get back to reality. That idea is so absurd as to not warrant a response other than to say "643".

WNYRHS has that as a projected goal. Laugh all you want, but bear in mind that most formidable achievements get that treatment. And yes, the Mikado should be included in the same plan, at least for preservation.

Who owns the Mikado in question? Would it be easier to bring back to operation?

The Mike was a CPR snow melter for awhile. It was privately purchased several decades ago, but has sat looking pretty sad for sometime.

Looks like that 2-8-2 might be in jeopardy, from the classifieds of this site viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30241

Doesn't sound like jeopardy to me. It would be nice to see her picked up by a Canadian group who wants to run steam. Pretty nice locomotive.

Hopefully the stated time frame doesn't unduly prevent a group from reaching agreement and gathering the cash.

Looking at the locomotive's location on Google Maps, she'll be a bear to get out of there.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?num=10&hl=en ... 8&t=h&z=19

This is far too important an engine to be lost- and yes, I would dearly love to see her come home after being kept safe for so long south of the border.

Steve Hunter

Ok, consider CP 5361 safe!

I had contacted the owner and our organization was scrambling to pull together the funding to purchase and repatriate the locomotive to Canada. Last night, I received an e-mail from him, letting me know he had just signed a deal to sell 5361 to a consortium who plan to return the old girl to steam. We would have loved to buy her and bring her home, but news of the sale and the engine's future operation was a great relief.

At the time he wrote, he wasn't at liberty to release further details. I'm sure either he, or the purchasers, will make further information available when it's ready to release to the public.

Hopefully everything will go well and we can ride behind this beautiful old girl before too long!

Steve Hunter
RMEO
Smiths Falls, Ontario

I just hope that it doesn't turn into another disaster, as so many other steam locomotive restorations have become. Get your pics now, you'll need them to identify the parts in the scrap yard after they are stolen out of the pile in the back 40.

If it isn't obvious yet, I'm just so disgruntled with all these groups who think they can restore big steam, when just about every one of them fails.

Your caution is well founded!

We can only hope the buyers are properly qualified and funded to pull this off. All we can do is wait and hope for the best, hopefully everything will turn out well.

At least, guys, whoever you are, do a thorough examination and get cautious estimates before tearing her apart. Hire reliable contractors if you don't already have qualified people in adequate supply!

Steve Hunter