Tim,
I hope your doing the job right will get you credit with the rest of the preserved railway community, but I doubt if it will matter much for CHS. They still have Urich doing more work for them!
Did you try and talk to Karl Plaisted or Dennis Daugherty about the condition of the 1203 before you bid on overhauling it? I think the 1203 was out of service before any of the current Huckleberry crew were on the scene. The fact that they bought a 55 ton steel mill special, which required building a new cab and installing an air brake system, rather than repair the 1203 should have told you something. That they traded the 1203 to you for a pair of car jacks might have been another clue!
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The engine looked pretty worn out when it arrived from Plaster City. I don't think the Huck put much into it either and sitting out behind the shops for 15 more years certainly didn't help.