I agree the plan has always been to have both mikes in operating condition. The eye opener has been the money and man power it takes to do a proper Form 4. With 1 steam loco it has to be done by the organization every 15 years, with 2 it is every 7 1/2 years, with 3 it is every 5 years. At a cost of years of volunteer labor and budgets near 6 figures per Form 4, we need to get as much for our time and money as possible.
I think the tendancy will now be to run one and have the other "in the wings", alternating for each other. That would save us one Form 4 per each 15 year cycle. I am all for proceeding with the initial work on the 20 but hard dollars and cents will have a say in if and when she is steamed up. As we have discussed here before, we need to consider the high ongoing cost of maintenance and operations of each locomotive as much as the initial cost of restoration.
I know we are not unique in this position, many other organizations are having to be very smart how they allocate their funds and volunteer time to keep afloat.