Re: 481 in 1981, difficulty of rebuild

As Mike pointed out, 481 became a parts source for the 470's in the 1970's. I spent an afternoon in 1975 watching 481's front tender truck get transplanted one piece at a time to one of the 470's.
Dispite being stripped of its jewelry, the 481 had all the big parts still on it, and the boiler had never been fired up. I recall the lagging came off, everything was inspected, and re-assembled. They started working on in June and it was out the door in July or August. If I remember 497 wasn't that much tougher to get back together either.
As far as the D&S goes, my guess on the toughest restoration would have been 482 as it was really stripped and worn out. 480 would be a close second. It had been a parts source in Alamosa for a while.
On the C&TS, 463 would win the prize for the most involved restoration, with 489 a rather distant second place.