MBTA 1008 and 1013: Can They Be Saved?

There is a page on Facebook that calls themselves the "F40PH Preservation Society", their goal is to try and acquire the last two remaining Original MBTA F40PH locomotives, 1008 and 1013, restore them to operable condition, and eventually give them away to either a scenic railroad or a railroad museum where they could be used to either run excursion trains or simply displayed for the public's viewing. This is all to be done using fundraiser money, and they are planning to have some of their members leave a comment on the public line of the next MBTA Board of Directors meeting requesting that these locomotives be saved from scrap and sold to them instead (which I highly encourage everyone here who would like to see these locomotives saved to do so). As you all may already know, these locomotives are currently sitting in Rochester and are in pretty bad shape, it it because of this and the work that needs to be done to even get the locomotives in the first place that I am asking whether or not it would even be possible to save these locomotives, according to the F40PH Preservation Society, restoring them to be operable again is possible, though it would come at a cost that is unknown.

Here is the facebook page for anyone that wants to know more, if you have any questions, I encourage you to message them: https://www.facebook.com/f40phsoc

What's the scrap value of these locomotives? I'm not getting why it is important that they be preserved; It's not like the Flying Yankee or a dome car or a Pullman car or a steam engine or a Winton or an RDC or a rare diesel design.

Well technically, preserving anything from the past isn't important, but the reason that these being preserved would be good is because there isn't a single F40PH locomotive (that I know of) that is being preserved in the New England area, which may attract some people to whichever scenic railroad or museum that chooses to take them. It would also save one of (if not two of) the MBTA's original F40PH fleet. Along with this, the F40PH is often credited as being the locomotive that saved passenger rail in the United States. All these are reasons why it will be worth it to try and save these locomotives and have them sent to someplace like the Cape Cod Central or North Conway (if they are willing of course).

They would have to repaint them in their own livery as the MBTA liveries are still in use and they are too new to get a legacy B&M paint. MEC style or cranberry dip would look good...

They failed to sell at auction along with all the other F40's. They have been for sale for $30,000 each since then, with no takers. In very bad shape and I wonder if they could even be made roadworthy to leave Rochester.

D

Do the T units have any unique customizations?

They would have to repaint them in their own livery as the MBTA liveries are still in use

No locomotive in the MBTA's current roster bears the "Purple Stripe" scheme that the Screamers and the 2Cs wore before the latter had their first rebuild. So they will probably be allowed to keep their old scheme.

Do the T units have any unique customizations?

I believe the MBTA F40s are unique in that they have no Dynamic Brakes.

MBRP is correct that these units do not have dynamics making them unique. A model which existed in greater abundance is also far more historically significant than a 1 off like a Flying Yankee.

The Flying Yankee is already in the hands of the State of New Hampshire, which plans to open it to tourists for public viewing sometime in the future, i.e. The Flying Yankee isn't going anywhere and its preservation has already been sealed. These two F40s on the other hand have no such luxury and in reality can be scrapped as soon as tomorrow if nobody steps up and tries to get them preserved, which is why the F40PH Preservation Society wants people to call into the next Board of Directors meeting on the 31st and try to either get the state to donate or sell the locomotives to them, where they can then be worked on to be preserved.

They are for sale:
https://ozarkmountainrailcar.com/railEq ... ocomotives
https://ozarkmountainrailcar.com/railEq ... ocomotives

Who owns the units now? because the current plan is to get the state to donate them to the organization trying to save them, but of course that isn't possible if they aren't owned by the MBTA or some other agency run by the state.

As far as I know, they are still owned by the MBTA. Been for sale since the auction ended for the others. Cue the crickets. The photos on Ozarks' webpage are a few years old now, taken when the auction first surfaced. Would suspect they look even worse now. Even if they could get the MBTA to donate one of them, you'd have to spend money to make them road-worthy (if that's possible), pay for the movement (because at some point CSX and Amtrak would have to get involved) and then raise even more funds to make them presentable. Very, very long odds. Just trying to be realistic here...

They can be saved by paying about the scrap value, which is not that expensive for such a big machine. I'd rather energy go to save the PCC trolleys in-service on the Mattapan line and maybe the Green Line Type 7 Kinki cars since they are much more reliable than the handicapped-accessible trolleys. The Mattapan Line could become a tourist destination like the trolleys and cable cars in San Francisco.

I personally can't see an F40 running on a "run of the mill" tourist railroad in New England. Now on something more substantial (ie-20 or 30+ miles each way), then yes... something with more of a "destination" vs a ride. At the same time, I can't think of a railroad museum in New England where an F40 would fit in. There's just not a lot of space at the museums in the region... Danbury is pretty stacked and their collection is quite a hodgepodge... though no F40 has ever run through that crossroads. Thomaston (RMNE) is a very small display area yard and they have a very large assortment of equipment, but their concentration is the ride, vs the museum aspect. The closest suitable place I could think of would be the Railroad Museum of PA. But they also have limited space and have had numerous donations in the recent past, including an AEM-7 and an E60.

I agree, F40s were the diesel of the 1980s (and the 90s, essentially). Unless you're going to get a town to put in a panel track and restore one cosmetically, I just don't know where it would go. Is there room at Lowell (with the B&M steam engine they have there)?

F40's are already represented in museums in CA, NC, and NV, and a few of those are operable or near operable.

They're also represented on tourist railroads like the GCRR and the WMRR.

I don't see anyone bending over backward for these two... those are scrap value prices, and they've been for sale for a while if I recall.