Re: 463, 464

Michael,

Perhaps you are new to the board and do not know some of the history here. First of all, the 464 is a coal burner; it was only an oil burner briefly during its tenure at Knott's Berry Farm. Also, when "restored" for Knott's, to make things easier for California boiler inspection, the front and rear tube sheets were replaced, taking out all of the superheater flues. 464 is fine for the relatively flat Huckleberry, but would now be a relative dog on Cumbres Pass.

Also, unlike its last 10 years on the Rio Grande, and its short tenure at Knott's, several 100's of thousands of dollars have been invested in a complete and utter overhaul of the 464 by the Genesee County Parks Dept. in Michigan. This included new driver tires, pins and bushings, a whole new tender shell, and a new cab. It is presently in the first 200 days of its 1472 day Federal boiler ticket, while the only other operable steam locomotive at the Huckleberry is in its last 50 days. In order to be good stewards of the citizens of Genesee County's tax dollars, they are going to stretch that last 50 days out over the next four-five years to cover boiler washes and unexpected outages of 464.

The Parks department does not have any particular loyalty to the preservation of the railroads in Colorado; they are, of course, concerned about providing for and operating a good, safe, steam powered operation at their park in Michigan. And they have been historically thoughtful enough; with the encouragement of Marty Knox, Mike Allen, and some others; to allow the 464 to be painted in its historical paint scheme (with the blessing of the UPRR).

In any conceivable scenario where the 464 would be sent to Colorado, the question would be "What is in it for Genesee County?" Anything short of two freshly (and properly) rebuilt locomotives with clean 1472 day tickets and at least the capacity of HRR #2 would not even cut it. And a certain govermental body in Colorado cannot come up with two locos of equal stature for its own operations up along I-70.

Come out to Michigan, we certainly can use the visitors. There you can ride an authentic D&RGW locomotive pulling two Chili Line coaches and the only regulaly operating RGS coach in the world. They are almost always at the front of the train against the locomotive. And you can watch a steam powered sawmill, a steam powered cider press, and see water driven corn ground.

Steve Zuiderveen