by ApproachMedium
mtuandrew wrote:My prediction:
—RRMPA gets a full set
—another museum gets a full set, but I don’t know which
—a third and fourth museum get a power car and passenger car each
—we all get surprised by some unlikely operator grabbing four sets of cars to use behind diesels, non-tilting
—all the rest go to the tin can factory.
These things will never be behind diesels because of the couplers and nonstandard vestibule connections as well as many many more non standard things with car body ends, HEP, and internal car controls. These cars DO NOT work 100% without the power cars attached at either end. The cost to make any such modifications would most likely far exceed the cars value. Any chance that a museum would want a power car and a single car would need to either take two power cars so it can be moved around or have some kind of turntable so the end with no power car is not a problem. They do not exhibit normal draft gear boxes so swapping the draw heads out with regular couplers cannot happen. Also another problem here is these sets have a complicated braking system that has a parking brake on every car. once air runs out, the parking brakes apply unless its electrically applied from the power cars. With them dead, to get one to move you need to know how to properly release them or you will drag axles.
No good deed goes unpunished.