What I can say is this:

The owner has pretty much removed himself from Facebook, which is where I communicated with him most often. I have not tried to call him, but those of you who do call him regularly, let him know the media would like to talk to him, ASAP!

If the deadline is still on, we have TEN DAYS left to get something done.

A determination is to be made of exactly how rare the 5361 is, as in, of all the preserved Mikes in existence, how many are classified as "Heavy" Mikes?

I think it's fair to say that she is one of the last Heavy Mikes in any service in North America. That alone makes her worthy of preservation and operation.

From what I am told, and have seen, the short line is willing the wheel her out of there and reconnect the track she sits on.

We need verification and documentation that they are still willing to do this, talk with the land owner where she sits that she can stay there once the purchase price is met.

There MAY BE a friendly shortline on which she can operate.

The clock is ticking. She's modern, with a front end throttle, all weather cab, and plenty of power. Let's make it happen, or give it hell trying...

Semi on and off topic, but how does one even buy a vintage locomotive such as this? I mean, does anyone know what the exact process entails? I dont want to kid myself fantasying its as simple as a receipt and a handshake.....

Because I'd hate to find that a magical moneybags buyer shows up but only to be discouraged because they dont have the slightest clue how owning rail equipment works.

RIGHT ON!

Step 1 - The owner has to come out and say something.

Step 2 - Get a mechanical assessment done by a competent and trustworthy person (Al Broadfoot?)

Step 3 - The railfan community mobilizes. Make the report public. Market the tar out of it. Railfan and Railroad? Trains Magazine? Branchline? Let's do interviews, let's publicize it!

Al seems to working the CPR angle which is awesome. Whether it works or not, at least he tried.

Someone asked earlier how the L&A 4-6-0 garnered widespread support but this Mike hasn’t. What no one, at least that I have seen, has done is to come up with an effort folks can get behind. Should have and could have are the scrappers’ best friends. Make a deal, establish respected leadership and I would bet the cost to move her would be quickly raised.

Rob

I don't even think it's that. More like hardly anyone even in the railfan community knows the plight of this locomotive outside of this small forum.

I tried Trains Magazine days ago. No sign of a way to contact them with news through their site. And I'm sure that their outsourced customer service would just reply with "what's a Mikado" if you tried that route, lol. They seem to have Twitter and Facebook accounts, if someone wants to take a crack at the social media route with Kalmbach.

I'm not even sure their forum would be worth bothering with. There's a couple of peculiar anti-railroad/anti preservation individuals that can be very vocal that haunt the place, and I've only seen real staff interact there a couple of times. So I don't see it as a viable way to get it in front of the right eyes so that it can at least get published in the newswire and hopefully be seen by quite a few subscribers (Too late for print to matter, if this deadline is stuck with).

I've got the issue in front of some people including a friend of the owner.

If someone wants to setup a serious effort some real steam people are willing to get behind it. https://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=182681

The real problem with this engine is lack of putting it out there. I get 5361??? No one knows about it. Everyone assumes it's a diesel electric or something.

The newer generations don't know steam. They have never seen one outside of cartoons or something. Diesels are everywhere though.

Robert

The big thing is, the OWNER has to come out and give an interview. He's thrown down the gauntlet, stirred the pot (and generated a response!), now HE and he alone needs to follow through and let everyone know his plight and his wishes. We can build off that.

Now we're getting somewhere.

Good suggestions everyone, let's keep this going.

Let's say, hypothetically, that-

A privately-funded deal is made to purchase the locomotive and "stop the clock" of the torch...

And, the locomotive can stay where it is through the Buffalo winter...

And, a plan for moving it (not on own wheels) is formulated...

NOW, how many of you out there are going to contribute towards the cost of the move? Because that's going to be the big expense here. Most likely around $100K to move it.

And, the operational restoration will cost around $1.5 million or so, a little more if some infrastructure is also provided for.

SO, who is really willing to put their money where their mouth is?

Howard P.

As for the removal.

CPR moved 2816 from Steam Town to Calgary after spending 2 weeks lubricating the locomotive. She moved on her own friction bearing axles in 1998 on CPR to Canada. This is a known fact and not a myth.

Robert

The owner needs to see a check. One that's not printed on latex.

Not promises, not media coverage, but a check.

Howard P.

I'm in, where do I sign?

DITO

Setup a fund raiser to save her and you'll have a lot of donations. Look how many people have viewed the various threads and raised concerns.

Another option to raise money for restoration would be to have limited a addition HO model.

Those guys at Rapido Trains are pretty nice and most likely would help in some way.
Rapido is active in rail preservation. https://www.rapidotrains.com/saving-6133-update/

https://www.rapidotrains.com/edmundston/

Let's not forget that when CPR announced plans to acquire both K1 type 4-8-4 locomotives that it generated international interest in the UK. The UK has a lot better success with rail preservation and has more active steam locomotives than the whole of North America. If you advertise in the UK rail circles they would donate as well.

Robert

I've made contact with a media source in Buffalo. A reporter is going to call Al tomorrow and he has told me he will follow up on the story. If bad 80s movies have taught us anything, a ragtag bunch of malcontents like us can make this happen. Let's get the word out and see if we can save her.

Exactly. Come out, state your intentions, put forth a tender, propose a plan. Create a crowd funded donations forum, BE TRANSPARENT and keep everyone abreast, and this will happen. Simple as that. The legalities can be sorted out, they are not that complicated. There are a lot of people with connections on this forum who can help you.

CP is not the 'magic' solution.

The public is.

We're here to help. 31K people who have viewed this forum agree. Create an ID and tell us what you want, and we'll help you do it. This IS possible, it's too rare of an artifact to scrap.