I see that the Museum of the American Railroad has an opportunity to buy a parts locomotive that would make PA #59 an operational restoration. The fund raising window ends Feb 28. Pretty impressive line up of restoration committee.

PA59.org

I'm quite irritated that the first I've seen of this is a mere three days before the supposed deadline. This sounds like a project that should have had more of a PR boost earlier in the fundraising........

There was a looooong thread on this back in December on RYPN.

Yep, I started it: viewtopic.php?t=38934

I am in favor of the rebuild, but I have been wondering, is 50 grand for an old MLW unit just a bit high? Someone mentioned in another thread that scrappers will barely get $6-7000 now for a unit such as an SD40-2 because of low scrap prices. Maybe they are including transit, but still....

My apologies for missing that. I screwed up my search. My bad.

I think his comment about the previous thread is more directed at the comment saying there should've been more of a PR push for this fundraiser, not your new thread.

50k for the donor engine is insanity, especially with scrap prices they way they are. And, I can not say I have heard anything on this effort outside of the post on RYPN...

quote: "50k for the donor engine is insanity, especially with scrap prices they way they are."

Yes, scrap prices are low and may remain low for some time.

I own a C420 and I would not even consider selling it to you for $50K.

Go out and price RTO GE 752E8 traction motors and wheel set combos, then go out and price an RTO Alco 251C/E engine with generator. You have now surpassed your $50,000. and you have many more parts to still harvest from the locomotive. They appear to also be hoping that they can get something out of the remaining shell, by selling it to another museum.

Anyone that thinks you can purchase a running EMD SD40-2 for $5 or 6K is dreaming. There are parties looking for the diesel engine of the model used in the SD40-2 and they are paying more then that.

Yes scrap is low, but the component parts are where the value is.

Thank you for this post. The HR-412 components are indeed where the meat stuffing is, particularly to the maritime industry.

This endeavor received coverage on various Facebook preservation groups, email outreach, RYPN, Twitter, Trainorders, Trains magazine, and a full article with photos in Railfan & Railroad magazine. If it weren't for key players on the PA59.org committee connecting the dots and facilitating a conversation that led to an agreement to hold A&M #76 for purchase, the locomotive may as well be in pieces right now.

As mentioned above-- we as the rail preservation community are about to lose out on a great opportunity to seize a package deal that gives PA 59 most of the components it needs. Sure, there may be comparable components scattered around the US or even the world to pursue, but then comes the question of its mechanical status, purchase price for those individual components (which you can be assured will surpass $55k easily), and shipping those components to Texas by land and or even sea.

Seeing an operating Santa Fe Warbonnet PA may be set back for another 2-3 decades if this passes up. If there are individuals out there reading this who are interested in discussing creative solutions with the team, whether it be securing the purchase of the locomotive and working things out to ensure PA 59 gets the components it needs, contact the team via the email link (it's a forward-to-team-list email) at http://pa59.org

Here's a link to their fundraiser: http://www.pa59.org/

I still think that if they don't raise the money in time that there are other options. Doyle McCormick picked up a 70s model MLW unit that had rolled over from BC Rail for close to scrap value because they weren't interested in parting it out, they wanted it gone. I'll bet there are units like that around where there are two options: sell it whole to the Texas PA group, or sell it whole to a scrapper for $7k. Not everyone has the patience or time to run a used parts business, and it is unclear that the demand for ALCO prime movers, alternators etc are so great as to make it worthwhile. BNSF has over 1000 locomotives in storage right now, it definitely is a buyer's market. My two cents, worth $0.02