Re: 223 display

Ted miles Wrote:
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> Folks,
>
> I very much doubt that many railroads made a
> deliberate attempt to preserve their steam
> locomotives. Exceptions being the SP and UP.

There were a few additional companies which made at least some effort at conservation (albeit not in operation) like the PRR. However there were others who deliberately cut up as many as they could because they wanted to be associated with the "new hotness" diesels and not with the "old and busted" steam era. Toss in a fair number who were in no financial shape to be giving anything away (hello, ERIE) and it doesn't add up well for preservation. Overall in spite of that I think it turned out alright. While a few specific types might be missing, on balance late-era steam has pretty good representation in preservation and in truth there are more engines out there than the historic community can truly maintain. 19th century technology has much worse representation because most examples from that period did not survive into the postwar "preservation era."