It's probably apropos that this news would come on Friday the 13th: the K4s#1361 restoration project is reportedly dead.
According to a very reliable source, as of next Friday (July 20) the project is shut down and all paid people will be laid off. Two factors have been mentioned: 1) Funding has been cut off and bills have not been paid, and 2) According to an engineering report, the firebox doesn't and *never did*conform to specifications (!). In a way, is that testament to how well these engines were maintained over their long lives...and maybe how 'forgiving' the specs. may have been? Who would have suspected she and her sisters had had a 'congenital defect', as she sat triumphantly up on The Curve all those decades, after all those millions of miles of service?Reportedly, the parts will be placed in secure storage. There is now an almost-new tender, nearly complete, with no engine to pull it...
Awful glad I made the effort to go and photograph her when she actually ran!!!!
PRR 1361 arriving Bellefonte, PA 10-25-1987
PRR 1361 at Gladfelters, PA 8-27-1988
PRR 1361 highballing through Julian, PA 10-25-1987
PRR 1361 street-running in York, PA 8-27-1988