In another Thread: [
ngdiscussion.net]
guymonmd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 483's appearance has been much improved since
> 2012. Thanks to all who have worked on preserving
> her.
>
She has been robbed of many of her parts to keep
> other locomotives running over the years. I am
> glad this process has stopped.
> I am also glad she is now being cared for, so she
> will not continue to deteriorate.
I can't understand this sentiment, it seems to be raised a lot of times.
So if a loco is retired due boiler condition or passed a date on a piece of paper, and it has many good parts on it, it should be left as a display piece and maintained as such.
That seems to be the expectation of many.
Likewise the expectation that several inoperable locos cannot be combined to produce one good operating loco simply because there is a different number stamped or painted on it.
No issue is raised when Freightcar parts are swapped, removed or taken to keep other cars running especially when there is an excursion or charter to be run so why only with locomotives?
So since there are only a few locos available to run the railway, the storeroom doesn't have vast stocks of parts on the shelves and no major workshop to support the repair of worn parts, or produce new replacement parts, just what are you going to do to keep these remaining locos running on a day to day basis?
Perhaps you want to cancel trains rather than take a part off the pretty display piece? Imagine how much longer a rebuild would take since the workers are busy putting back parts borrowed or replacing same on a serviceable loco.
That also brings me to another often raised expectation: That of not replacing the removed items with the wornout, broken or damaged parts that were taken to keep another loco in service.
Obviously the C&TS has only sufficient $ available to just keep things running and with limited manpower available, not waste time doing the above extra work all because of an expectation.
Time to accept that Parts are Parts, a Locomotive is just a collection of Parts.
