BodieCalifornia Wrote:
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> If I'm Al Harper and I'm faced with the legitimate
> possibility that one of my coal burning
> locomotives just started a 54,000 acre fire over a
> month ago and it's still only 45% contained at a
> cost of $29,000,000 and counting, you can bet I'm
> going to do all that I can to mitigate my risk.
> If I have a locomotive in the shop that has been
> dead for the better half of a century to be
> rebuilt, how could you not make the change to oil?
> $29,000,000... I'm sure that the railroad cannot
> float that kind of liability. Convert a handful
> of locomotives to oil to show the public that
> you're making a change is the best option. The
> only other option is to shut down the railroad.
> It's not as though it cannot be reversed to run on
> coal again later.
>
> I don't go searching for leaded gasoline for my
> Model A's. They still operate. They don't have
> all original parts. If every Model A owner was
> looking to keep all of them completely original,
> all of them would be stuffed and mounted. Every
> single one. Is that what we're looking for?
> Don't make any changes at all... every single
> locomotive has different/new parts. That's what
> keeps them operable. 493 will have a fire in her
> belly again. Even a few years ago, no one would
> have thought that would happen. Sure it's not
> ideal, but if you want ideal, don't ride the
> privately owned railroad. Head over the hill to
> Chama and ride the state sponsored museum with the
> converted boxcars... wait that's not ideal
> either... what do we do now?
Very true however the state sponsored in Chama doesn't use box cars. If you've not been in the parlor car on the C&T, buy a seat. Excellent ride and equal, if not superior, to the premium cars on the D&S.