A question for those in the know:
Somewhere on this board I read that C&S No.9 will require an excess of a million dollars to bring back to top-notch operating condition. Whether this is accurate or not, it seems on par for some locomotive restorations.
What are the major expense factors in a total rebuild of a locomotive?
I am having a hard time grasping a million + bucks being required to do a major restoration.
Is it in tooling? Machining? Casting? High wage labor? All of the above?
Thanks in advance for the response!