After reading these posts, I'll add...
I attended the meeting on February 9th. The Morris County Transportation Director came into the meeting room and took us all by surprise with his anti-4039 stance. Frank Reilly, who as Chris noted, retired at the end of August 2004. He told me at his retirement party that he would still be working with the county as a consultant, and that he wanted to remain involved with various projects, i.e. Lackawanna Cutoff, etc, as well as 4039. His absence at the February meeting was a bit strange to me.
Are the people at Morris County DOT corrupt ? Probably not, but the events of the past show that there is very little interest in this project. Where did that attitude come from ? The lower level employees, as well as Reilly's replacement cannot be held to blame. However, if Reilly had any idea that there was trouble coming from his superior, maybe he could have alerted us at the Museum to try and correct the situation.
While there ARE other county-related projects that are of larger concern, that is no excuse to let this one die. THIS is OUR project. We've worked very hard in the past to purchase the locomotive, sweated and toiled over it to get it from Whippany to Honesdale, PA in 1995-'96 and have continually worked to raise additional funding. We have also LOST funding, due to lack of progress. Hardly a week goes by without some prior contributer calling, e-mailing or writing to us, asking about the progress of the engine rebuild. And we have to tell them that there is no news. We had a large commitment of funds that were eventually withdrawn because this project went nowhere. Is it any wonder why we at the Museum may be a little miffed ?
This locomotive is a switcher...not a big fancy road engine. It is not superheated, has no modern, high-tech appliances to rebuild or upgrade. The grant money is not our only source of income set aside for the rehab, but yes, it IS the major chunk. To lose these dollars now because someone does not agree with the historic preservation merits of TEA-21 is unacceptable.
BTW, I was named as a possible project manager at the meeting. If the county wants one of their own general funded employees as the PM, that is fine.
Three and a half years is too long to get a project moving. The engine could have been restored in that amount of time.
Steve Hepler
President, Whippany Railway Museum