We lost the last NYCS Hudsons in the late '50s, and have never been able to fix that sad event. Why? 1) NO commitment 2) NO communication 3) NO clarity 4) NO vision 5) NO focus 6) NO action, and a few more. And people wonder why there's no effort !
As I have stated many times previously, unlike the UK, here in the U.S. there is/are no "big dollar" individuals that give a rat's *** about steam locomotives! Plus, the UK is not over-run with ambulance chasing liability attorneys, as is the case here in the U.S., which allows the railways systems over there to operate a LOT of privately owned steam locomotives on trips with paying passengers.
Plus, with the general public, railroads are not held with the same regard in the U.S. as they are in Britain.
And, by the way, the American Freedom Train and Golden Spike Centennial used existing, available equipment, not something built from scratch. If the organizers would have told the donors they'd have to build the locomotives from scratch, the money would've dried up real quick.
As I recall, the initial AFT proposal called for two de-streamlined N&W J's. I wonder where they would have gotten the other one from...
Rusty
