Gentlemen;
This topic has been discussed at length both on the previous Railroad.net and on this current edition. If you scroll down on the topic page you will see a thread titled "LIRR 193 and W-83". For those of you who haven't seen these previous threads here is some information:
The Steamtown Foundation aquired 193 in the late 80's from it's previous owners who left it at the Black River and Western for 20 years without any attempt at preservation or conservation. The exterior pictures look bad, but the interior is worse. I was in the unit in the late 80's. NOTHING is left, every gauge, knob, lever and yes, the builder's plate, is missing. None of this is Steamtown's fault. If Steamtown hadn't aquired 193 when they did, it would more than likely not be here today.
Contrary to what some people seem to think, 193 will never run again for many reasons. Parts will be impossible to find and fabrication of new ones will be very costly. Plus, it sits on original archbar trucks with wooden bolsters. The best that could be hoped for is a cosmetic restoration to it's 1940's appearence because that's when the original wooden tender was replaced with an ex-PRR tender.
Why is it in Steamtown's collection? Well, they may be dumb, but they're not stupid. They recognize the fact that 193 is the ONLY exisistng rotary plow from a railroad east of the Mississippi. However, Steamtown has no plans to restore or display 193.
There is no question that this is the most significant piece of LIRR equipment in existence. I for one, agree that it should be returned to the Island. The chances are very good that Steamtown would let 193 go. But, until a restoration plan and money can be put together by one of the established groups here on the Island, the safest place for 193 is at Steamtown.
Don't strain your brain, paint a train.....
