Re: Economics of restoring a locomotive

Dan Markoff Wrote:
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> The one thing that stops a lot of restoration of
> old locomotives is the perceived cost of doing so.
> The talk about the 169 is a prime example. It
> does cost money and lots of it. However, some of
> the figures I have seen thrown about are downright
> huge and from my experience unreasonable.
>
> In restoring Eureka, I took it one component at a
> time and paid for the material as I went along.
> The biggest expense is labor. But I did most of
> that myself. Everything else is comparatively
> reasonable. If skilled volunteer labor is
> available that is the main thing. If donations of
> equipment and material can be had, then that takes
> care of another relatively big item. But, none of
> it is impossible. Gads! if a backyard hon yock
> like me can do it so can others. And they have.
>
> Now if you are lucky to get the project done,(and
> you must really be dedicated to do it) what are
> you going to do with it? Lots of folks think a
> fortune can be made from restoring a historic
> piece. Not so. You have to do the project for
> the love of it. It is like having a boat or an
> airplane. They too are not rational economic
> items. What can be done is to hopefully make
> expenses such as cost of transportation and
> insurance. These historic artifacts are run on a
> very limited basis and therefore are not continual
> revenue makers. However, with videos, and other
> stuff, that can provide some modest revenue.
>
> So if anyone is inclined to restore an historic
> locomotive of modest size, then have at it. It is
> an adventure of a lifetime, a lot of hard work,
> but it can be done. But ya gotta start and not be
> frightened by some of the wild prices thrown
> around. Unless you have cubic bucks, hiring
> someone to do the job will usually kill the
> project before it gets started.
>
> My 2 cents.
>
> Dan Markoff

AMEN!