That's a good question. I wonder if they will or not. Certainly the boiler isn't the reason they pulled it out of service. It's the smoke box "saddle". I heard it worn WAY down? And was starting to wear into the smokebox itself?
The boiler is definetely repareable. It probably needs the work that everything else needs. But since they will have it off, they will probably stick a completely new firebox in it. That would be worth it too, if you're going to pull if off of there. Probably needs new tubes, new tube sheets too. They may theres other work that needs to be done too. Maybe patch the smokebox up if it needs some of that done. 488 had a piece of it's smokebox replaced this winter...
We'll see what goes on with it this summer.
Kevin Bush