"Rachel" to Texas

This is a bizarre piece of news today; Gaylord Entertainment DONATED Rachel to a town in Texas calling it 'the best home possible' in short. It seems pretty bizarre that they'd take her back from Doe River Gorge; only to let her rot, and then donate!
But there is some good news; 'Rachel' it appears the new owners plan to build a railroad for 'Rachel' in Grapevine. Probaby a good move for Gaylord since their new hotel, where 'Rachel' was slated to be a static display, is also in Grapevine; easy fix...have a railroad to bring in tourists, but not have to build and pay for it. This will be interesting.
Note that the locomotive was 'Sitting at Opryland since 1970'; no mention of its years of operation at an amusement park that the company destroyed for supposedly little reasoning, or that it was operated on a reconstruction of a historic narrow gauge railroad that took extremely good care of her!
Here's the article below:
> GRAPEVINE - So, the Dallas Cowboys didn't choose Grapevine.
>
> Let's see a defensive tackle pull carloads of passengers and still
have the energy to give a cheerful whistle. Rachel the train, the newest
addition to Grapevine's train fleet, can do all that and more.
>
> Gaylord Entertainment, the parent company of Gaylord Texan Resort &
Convention Center on Lake Grapevine, donated and unveiled the steam engine
Tuesday. The locomotive, which has been sitting at Gaylord Opryland in
Nashville since 1970, was intended to reside at the Texan.
>
> But the hotel ran out of room.
>
> "It didn't take long for us to realize that Grapevine would be the
right home for Rachel," Gaylord Chief Executive Officer Colin Reed told a
crowd at the unveiling ceremony Tuesday.
>
> The train is smaller than Engine No. 2248, affectionately known as
Puffy, so it cannot run on the Tarantula train tracks. Rachel, worth roughly
$200,000, and decorated in red and gold, could travel between Grapevine
Mills mall and the Texan, or maybe near downtown Grapevine, said Mayor
William Tate.
>
> Wherever she goes, the city will have to lay the tracks. The train
could go down the middle of a street or a median -- like a trolley -- or
city officials could purchase land for the tracks. City officials are
weighing their options.
>
> Grapevine is building up quite a train fleet. In June 2003,
Grapevine officials purchased Old 771, a former Southern Pacific engine,
after a three-year search. The train is not yet running. Grapevine officials
also plan to look for rail cars for Rachel.
>
> "When opportunities come around, we are very willing to enlarge our
train family," said Michael Woody, Grapevine's communications director.
>
> Rachel is in working condition, but needs some minor outside work
before hitting any tracks. Named after the wife of former President Andrew
Jackson, Rachel originally hauled coal for the Stine Coal Co. and later, the
Southern Clay Co. Mines.