Join the discussion on the following article:
Amtrak fortifies railroad preservation on eBay
What a great idea!
Some ‘out of the box’ thinking, I’m impressed.
Brilliant! Whoever thought that up should get a cut of the sales!
I rode behind 937 from DC to NYC a couple years ago. I’m glad to see a piece preserved.
Are any locos being donated/sold complete for museums?
Now, if they could only have such great ideas when it came to running their main business function.
Got to admit, I never saw that kind of initiative coming from Amtrak. Maybe there’s still hope!
Selling pieces to private collectors is not preservation.
Is making a couple thousand dollars going to save Amtrak? Rebuild a car? Buy a set of wheels? Maybe a set of brake shoes? Are the costs of the program at least covered by the amount made? The greater good is not served here. Yes, people will argue that one complete locomotive was recently donated to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, but what of the museum’s and historical societies up and down the ‘Corridor’ ? Where they given an opportunity to add a few pieces to their collections so that the local Amtrak story could be told at their location?? Sadly most of those small museum’s and historical societies will not be buying these pieces because they do not have the funds to do so. Private buyers can and often do put their treasures away or they sell or barter them away and the provenance (and the history and story of the item) is lost.
I will have to respectfully disagree with you, Mr. Grabowski. This IS preservation, indeed, albeit in a different form. Let us not forget the ONLY other alternative here, a scrap pile. Whether these pieces are in the hands of a private collector or a public museum, the fact is, they exist. These pieces will circulate throughout the collectors’ market for generations to come, complete with authenticity certificates from Amtrak. How many steam locomotive bells, headlights, builder’s plates, etc. went to scrap and are now a piece of structural steel, or in your car’s bumper? Quite honestly, I tip my hat to Amtrak for catering to the railfan community. I think this is a great idea and hope more railroads will follow Amtrak’s lead. Great job guys. Thank you!
Back in the seventies, I was able to purchase two destination sign boxes from the New York City Transit Exhibit for thirty-five dollars each. Today, they’re worth more.