Rebuilding engines relates to need. As for the D&S, in the recent past, Al Harper told our Durango-Silverton advisory committee that he had a surplus of operable engines as related to operational needs as well as plenty of passenger equipment, so no new cars or locomotive rebuilds were in the works. The D&S has seen a decline in ridership since 2002, initially as a result of the forest fire that year and now because of the economy, and maybe fares being perceived as being too high. There were several covered gons that never saw service this past summer as an indication of how far the number of people riding the trains has slid. Despite the increase in revenues, there are fewer feet on the street in both Durango and Silverton. We now have the Tall Timber car (s) arriving in Silverton empty every day and shorter trains are generally run. Unless there is substantial improvement in numbers that relates to the need for more locomotives and cars, and the history of "problems" with the 497 on the Silverton branch, I don't see any compelling reason why money would be invested in the 490s on our end of the railroad.
I have grown to like seeing the 493 here in town as it slowly deteriorates though the original premise of a railyard museum has not been fulfilled. Except for that brief flurry of "historic preservation" the railyard museum represented, though in reality it was a means to clean cars out of the Durango yards, and the cosmetic restoration of the Needleton water tank, there has not been much I can see in the way of real historic preservation taking place on the D&S other than maintaining equipment used in the daily trains. The conceptual drawings for the convention center proposed by the D&S show a locomotive on display at the entrance to the hotel, so there is some sort of plan for one of the D&S owned 490s.