Ross Miller Wrote:
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> I hate to be the one to tell the emperor that he
> has no clothes on but...
>
> The 478 isn't in the mechanical shape some on this
> board think it is. If it were, the D&S would do
> the "necessary minor work" to it and put in back
> into service-plain and simple, especially given
> the costs to restore the 483 into service. The D&S
> didn't just "flip a coin" to pick which K-28
> engine to overhaul. They picked the lesser of two
> money pits (476) pertaining to the potential of
> return on investment with said locomotive's return
> to service.
>
> IIRC, Harper has been burned by the C&TS and its
> Commission twice now, why would he ever entertain
> with the possibility of being burned again? That
> is the question that should be being asked. The
> definition of crazy is doing the same thing over
> and again but expecting different results.
Al is a business man, and will make a trade ONLY IF it would make sense in $'s to him. I have no illusions about the condition of the 78, but it is less of a basket case than the 83 is. In the sweet by and by there would be plenty of money to sink in the 83s restoration, unfortunately we live in the nasty now and now and there isn't. With New Mexico facing a 2/3 BILLION dollar budget shortfall this year alone, and no immediate hope on the horizon of crude oil and natural prices rebounding anytime soon so oil tax revenues fill the state coffers, we can either let the 83 sit and decay another decade or so, or make something happen with the locomotive swap.
The guys who rebuild engines on both the D&S and the CATS have looked over both engines and I am sure ran the costs involved both ways, so all we are doing here is inconveniencing lots of electrons second guessing the experts. With Dick Cowles now on the commission, I am sure the issue will be revisited with another look to see if it makes sense.
"If wishes were horses, then all the beggars could ride" (Old English proverb)
Re: Still More Hot Air . . . 