If they are interested, I'd be glad to.

If they are not, then....................

It's a sad sight yet visually interesting in its derelict condition, slowly returning to nature. I don't lose much sleep over the state of GG1 preservation seeing as how there are fifteen of them in various states of preservation, including at least two displayed indoors in "like new" cosmetic condition. I'd hazard a guess and say that the GG1 has the most surviving examples of a unique locomotive design built for a single railroad, be it steam, diesel, or electric. If a few of the ones in the worst shape were cut up, it wouldn't be a huge loss IMHO.

The original preservation plan called for preservation at Henry Ford, and frankly, one such iconic locomotive should go to that a world class museum. Cosmetically, I have no doubts about their being able to bring her back to display condition. The real loss, in my opinion, would be 4876, with such a terrific history. That locomotive would make a terrific living history presentation, tied in with the Eisenhower inauguration, the history of passenger train travel, the wreck, the rebuild.

And just to raise one particular blood pressure, it should be display in Washington Union Station. }:-)

Oh god NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had hopes that this thread would not get locked, but we just crossed that bridge haven't we! :)

I was actually being dead serious in my suggestion. Rick, a phone call, letter or email to the Henry Ford couldn't hurt....

Maybe the reality is that their preservation goals/budget, etc changed.

4876 is off topic here because it does not need to move or wouldn't if its present owner would simply follow their own mission statement which is available on their site.

Let us now please return to other sad GG1's.

Steve

The B&O Museum is an "innocent victim" in this quagmire. They were led to believe that they were "temporarily" holding it for future preservation elsewhere. And their official priorities, too, changed--which is why their own former GG1 and South Shore "Little Joe" were deaccessioned quite some time ago.

If it were high on our list of things to do, it would be here. Work has, in the past, been performed on the locomotive. The person who was heading this project ultimately left the Henry Ford Museum and we have not picked up from where the former left off due to our plate, and interior display space, being full. Trust me, gears are turning; you just may see a GG1 making its way north sometime in the next 10 years.

Years go by and they [B&OM] apparently remain blissfully unaware of their own posted mission statement under which a GG1 would qualify in several ways. Maybe they should update it? I have no stake in this but I'd be curious to see one that accurately reflects what they are or are not about these days. They have every right to be about whatever they wish. Sure would be nice to know, though.

Steve

You refer to this:
http://www.borail.org/Mission-Statement ... useum.aspx

What has been left out of that statement, either by accident, design, or simple neglect, is that the B&O Museum has narrowed its focus over the past decade and more to an more-or-less-unwritten focus almost exclusively on the B&O Railroad and affiliated companies--the C&O WM, and by two degrees of separation the CNJ. About the only "major" pieces they still retain as artifacts that aren't thus related, that I can think of, are the Ma & Pa RPO and the AFT 1/Reading 2101, and even the latter has at least a plausible link to the B&O. Okay, St. Lizzie 4 and the NYC observation car, too, but both are more or less operable resources rather than actual collection prizes.....

The B&O Museum HAD a GG1. It went off to Green Bay about a year after the major benefactor of its acquisition, George Nixon of the Baltimore Chapter NRHS/Balto. Streetcar Museum/Balto. Society of Model Engineers, passed away. There are plenty of railfans in Baltimore that have yet to forgive the B&O Museum for that move. If the GG1 down on the back track on the "First Mile" were one of only two or three left, one could make a much stronger case for its presence at the B&O Museum. As it is, there are a dozen or so more scattered elsewhere in "better" homes, and two others still awaiting "salvation," with one other scrapped after acquisition for preservation.

As a PRR fan, I may not like what the B&O Museum did with 4890 on a personal basis, nor does the 4876 saga sit well with me. But I have to applaud them for their focus and consistency, something that's sorely lacking at too many other railroad museums.

I can respect that. They should say so. Has Clinchfield 1 left yet?

Steve

Well the longer it sits the easier it gets too move, in ten years the body can be put in two buckets and moved on the same truck as the wheels and trucks !!

Mike Pannell