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Hartwell plan to restore Central of Georgia 2-8-0 ends
Sad situation. It would have been nice to see it operate, however even more important to see it saved in proper condition.
Everyone wants to restore it, but no one wants to pay for it. Pity, but this one may be too far gone to save.
never say never when you see the state of what came out of Barry scrap yard in South Wales UK some of them were deemed mission impossibles LMS Jubilee Galatea was one shes now on the main line hope some money can be found to restore 509 in the future from Charles Coleman England
A shame, but predictable as so few well-meaning organizations have the financial resources to tackle such a project. As someone else has noted, she may now be too far gone to save. The City of Jacksonville faces a similar problem with ACL 4-6-2 #1504, which is sitting outside in that Florida weather and when I saw her just a month ago was in deplorable condition.
Why can’t a group or individual that gives, leases or whatever a locomotive for resoration require a bond from the people stating they will restore it? If the funds are available before the tear down begins then the liklyhood it will be completed is positive. This would probably require advance fund raising and the funds placed where they were not available untill the restoratin would start. There has to be some way to stop this tear it down, llet it rot stuff. A good example is the K4 in Altoona. All torn apart no go.
This sounds sadly similar to the fate of ex-SRR 722. Hopefully the ole gal can be protected from the coming winter weather until some kind of decision can be made as to what to do with her. Mr. Kolbenschlag’s thoughts on requiring a Bond on such projects as this seems to me to make good sense!
Charles Coleman cites the remarkable restorations that have been rescued from Barry scrapyard, and let us not forget the dozen or more NEW build locomotives currently under construction in the UK. But there is a fundamental difference between UK and US preservation, as Clarence Jones so rightly observes, in the US everyone wants to restore it, but no one wants to pay for it whereas in the UK we know that if we want it restrored we, the enthusiasts, are the only ones who will pay.
I once took a party of US railfans round the UK. At the Severn Valley we were surrounded by SEVEN locomotives in steam (not a special event) and one of the party, who’d thought he’d died and gone to heaven, said we were so lucky to have a government that paid for all this. I nearly choked before pointing out that it was all financed either from fares or investment by enthusiasts through non-tradable shareholdings. He couldn’t get his head around why anyone would buy shares in a company that could not be traded or pay a dividend - the “dividend” of seeing a project come to fuitition was beyond his comprehension.
Sadly, that is all too often the case and why US preservation will lag behind until US railfans put their own hands in their pockets and then get them dirty - don’t expect someone else to then complain when they don’t!
Mike Walker, England.
Currently the NCTM is working with the Fire Up 611 restoration project. You may want to call them to put it on the list for restoration. If not there has got to be a group willing to restore him locally once it is moved to the roundhouse. Wish you luck and so sorry the first group. They weren’t the answer, underbidding of the restoration costs. These projects need a dedicated group not weekend warriors.