One last note-money

Thank you for the kind words, Pat. One last thing-and it is important- it's all about the money. Fund raising was very difficult at first. Typically, nobody in our group really knew where to find funds. I took it upon myself to look, and I found a gracious California donor who gave us a total of $70K. This completed the tender, and purchased several major appliances. As I predicted, donor sources that ignored us suddenly took intertest when they saw the quality of our work on the tender. We were blessed by George Neideraurer coming on board, and he wrote the grants. The much-maligned CHS ended up as the best source for grant funding, donating the majority of the funding needed to complete the project.
It is unfortunate, but no volunteer group can complete a project this big relying on membership dues. "Money angels" have to be sought. No one source can be relied upon, and even public funds have to be matched by private donations. I am good at beating a dead horse, but expect fund sources to dry up, and new ones have to be sought. Once a steam engine is finished, it will have to earn money in order to pay the approximate $20-25K in annual repair.
I cannot emphasize more that having a skilled grant writer is crucial to fund-raising. The 169 project in Alamosa also completed repairs on the tender, then ran out of funds and the project went moribund. This also happened with other Colorado projects. It also helps to have a good, hard-working group of volunteers.