Historically, steam has had a 50% availablity ratio. In other words, for every hour you run it, eventually you will spend an hour working on it. Now some of that "hour of maintainance" will be in long term out of service periods such as annual inspections, refluing, major running gear repairs, etc, but this time needs to be calculated into the mix of things. Another bit of wisdom is "for every job, you need 1-1/2 engines" (rounded up to the next whole engine). In a case such as the C&TS, they have a need for 2 engines every day. They need a spare fired up and ready every day. As there are times when an engine is not available for use (boiler washes, etc) means you need 4 serviceable locomotives or risk having service disrupted by engine failures.
SLRG #18 ran 7 days/week last summer. We had scheduled down days for boiler washes and inspections. There were other mechanical issues that caused us to lose about 10 other days. Some of these days were added to regular down time. Of those other days, some could have salvaged by working all night in the dark changing a broken spring, but we decided to jack the engine in daylight.
The secret is constant vigilance and inspection. Fixing little things before that become big things that mess you up.
There are a couple of reasons why class 1's put diesels behind steam power on excursions, one is for "protection" - not only for getting it over the road, but to maintain the schedule. Having to wait 2 hours to repack a hot crown brass not only pisses off the passengers, but messes up the operation of the whole railroad. On the other hand, the SRy/NS ran hundreds of thousands of miles behind steam without diesel "helpers".
In the case of 2248, I worked on her for about a year and a half. The owners when I was there, the Ft. Worth & Western, never commited to the long term needs of the engine. There was never a shop, never the machine tools necessary to properly maintain the locomotive. When the current enginehouse in Grapevine was developed, we made proposals for a machine shop, pits, etc. The RR ignored all of it because they wanted out of the deal because they were not capable of making a profit from it's operation. It's owner used it as publicity and a tax write-off for his own use, it's long term viability was never addressed. Several good people worked for the FWWR's steam program, all grew frustrated and gave up. The final straw was when FWWR leased the passenger operation out to an other operator, who cut salaries and benefits. It hasn't been the same since.
