Santa Fe switchers headed to Frisco with donation deal

Comments TRN
1

Join the discussion on the following article:

Santa Fe switchers headed to Frisco with donation deal

2

Is the Baldwin switcher the so-called “Beep” retrofitted with an EMD engine/generator package in the 1960’s?

3

What about ATSF 5021 and 2925, isn’t it “important they go to a place where they’ll be cared for”? Which, to be clear, would probably be different from the place where they currently reside…

4

Baldwin DS 4-4-1000 2260 is not the EMD reengined VO1000 known as the Beep, it is all Baldwin. The Beep was saved by the BNSF some years later, and is on display at Barstow, California.

5

Mr. Hoffman from Arkansas (and numerous others who have been ignorantly derogatory on this topic) couldn’t be more wrong about whether CSRM in Sacramento “cares” for their AT&SF Northern 2925 and Texas-type 5021. As a former collections management staffer there, I can positively attest how much the museum cares for these extraordinary steam locomotives.

  1. Both were extensively and carefully decontaminated of asbestos and in the process the artifact boiler jacketing, all plumbing and appliances on the boilers and backheads were number-tagged and removed to a secure artifacts warehouse.

  2. Following the removals of valuables and appliances, both engines were cleaned and their chassis lubricated; the bared boiler shells were properly vented and/or sealed as required and painted with rust-resistant primer.

  3. Because this preparatory work coincided with the Federally-enforced breakup of the SPSF Corporation, the California State Railroad Museum temporarily lost the hopes of having any future Technology Museum. The two Santa Fe steam locomotives thus had to be stored outdoors. Why? Because they are too gigantic to fit inside the SP Sacramento Shops, which until very recently have not been available to CSRM. That has changed, but the two still cannot fit either on the shops transfer table, nor on the old turntable, nor can they traverse some of the older shops-related trackage due to their excessive weight and rigid-wheelbase.

Too many critics continually fail to take into account the challenges CSRM has had to face since its earliest years. The State Parks System and state government continually lost track of the museum’s original growth goals and requisite needs for capital funding, despite the museum nudging all the while to keep things as positive as possible. The museum staff had and still has an enormous agenda and deep concern for its collections, and has rationally spun off those items that were brought into the fold, oftentimes against its wis

6

Mr. Bunker,

As a former “collections management staffer” there, you may or may not deserve praise for the preservation work that was undertaken decades ago, but you certainly share some responsibility for allowing what would be the signature pieces of almost any other collection to sit unprotected and unattended for years - accessible to only the most nefarious members of the public.

You’re free to call me ignorant and derogatory, but the fact is that you and people like you had better get used to people like me complaining about this, hopefully it becomes a growing trend. Here’s how I see it:

  1. Santa Fe took excellent care of the locomotives until they couldn’t, then they donated them to an organization that they thought would do the same. Great.

  2. CSRM couldn’t immediately house them, so they undertook preservation and weatherization work. Good.

  3. Because of the type of issues that all railroad museums have, CSRM found that the locomotives needed to continue to be stored for a while. Fine.

  4. almost 30 years passed and nothing has been done. WHAT?

7

Gentlemen, please take a deep breath, and step away from the vitriol, hyperbole, and gross characterizations. It’s obvious you are both passionate about this subject, as are we all.