Re: 08-08-08 Working on the OB Pile Driver

Jerry:

I understand what you are saying and it would not be unusual to break something in normal use. I think what I was trying to say is that just because it is old doesn't mean that it isn't still capable of performing it's intended function. There is a tendency to think of these old but restored items as somehow fragile and I don't think that is true.

As evidence I offer witnessing 315 start her freight train out of Cresco siding, working against some very rusty rails on 4%, on July 9th of this year. Absolutely nothing 'fragile' about that particular restoration or, IMHO, most other restored equipment.

Goose 5 is another classic example. Just like on the RGS, when she's used she sometimes breaks something. So she's fixed and back out on the line again, just like it was in regular service on the Southern. That is a properly operating historic restoration!

As was said in another thread in which we participated over these last several days, you use it and when it breaks you fix it and you use it again. That is how an historic restoration should be used - in operation.