I'll add my worthless opinion here especially since no one asked!
In a perfect world we'd want virtually all things with flanged wheels to be fully--but historically correctly--restored to operation using as many original parts as possible. But we're faced with:
1) Limited resources
2) Changing safety standards
3) Lack of original parts meaning that
4) New parts would need to be manufactured, compromising historical integrity and adding cost
5) In many cases (like RGS 20) the original context for the piece is long gone or
6) Like in case of N&W 611 and others, the rail lines they served have significantly changed character.
All of that said, let's look at D&RGW 223. The Class 60/C-16 was so essential to the D&RG/RGS system that literally no other piece of equipment (save perhaps the 3000-series boxcar) is so nearly synonymous with it. The C-19 class was an order of magnitude smaller in number than the C-16 class and yet three survive today and they're all operational. The C-18 class--not original to the D&RG and numbering even fewer than the C-19 class--has two survivors, one operational. Of the nearly 100 C-16s/60s built by Grant and Baldwin, a mere 3 survive today (and for that we're extremely fortunate). Two are lovingly and cosmetically restored and displayed, and one--our subject--is in parts.
I can't help but agree that--especially in light of the recent restoration of the 168 and 1916-era consist on the C&TS--the 223 would be a valuable piece of San Juan Extension history which the C&TS is chartered to preserve. The D&SNG is awesome and amazing in their own right, but as a private for-profit organization with its own corporate identity, it doesn't seem as if the 223 is as good a fit there. That's just my humble and admittedly ignorant opinion. I know nothing of the C&TS' resources, priorities, or long term vision, but if the 223 were to be restored to operation, it seems that the C&TS would be the place.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the CRM. If the 223 were to be restored cosmetically I personally would imagine it at home at the CRM. But given what the CRM does and the fact that they currently have three operational steam locomotives already, the 223 and its diminutive tractive effort would seem to me to probably be less likely to see operation at the CRM...but I would never presume to speak on behalf of the CRM's dedicated staff.
I hope the 223 finds a home where at the very least she can be reassembled. It would be wonderful to have at least one operating example of the C-16 class but that takes resources, space, time, and legal finagling, all of which are well beyond my expertise as a mere railfan.
Your milage may vary.
EDIT: Of course I was remiss in mentioning something that we all know but sometimes forget...restoration to operation involves significant wear-and-tear and parts replacement. Not a reason alone not to do it, but something that must be weighed in the context of preservation. On the one hand we can truly "preserve" something in a static display but on the other hand, people--railfan and non-railfan alike--respond much more enthusiastically to an operating piece than a static display. For a layman born after the transition era, to truly appreciate a steam locomotive in all her glory she really needs to be under steam.
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Dave Vollmer
Rio Grande Southern in HOn3
Colorado Midland in N scale
Colorado Springs, CO
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2020 09:39AM by Dave Vollmer.
