Nice that u guys trying restore and repaint it. But if gona go this far way not just restore it and 2707 engine both running condition. I know lot of money but your museum actually big and pretty good attraction place draws a lot people and pretty sure plenty big spenders or donors help get money restore both those engines. There’s big market future for them and other engines like 611 profits hugh so I’m sure be same and benefit from it. Let’s put it this way if you rebuild it Operational they will come lol
Nice Thought, but those two engines are unlikely to operate on the museum line if operate at all, Because of Size, Condition, and Necessary Budget for completing such a task. For 2707, Cosmetic Restoration is Guaranteed. Besides, There are already 2 Kahwanna's in the process of being restored for operation. 2789 is getting restored at the Hoosire Valley Railroad (Though its going at a snails pace), and 2716 is on its way to the Kentucky Steam Railway facility, so theres that. As for 975, It too may be unable to run because of its size, and also because IRM doesn't have the resources to service an oil burning steam locomotive (At least not to my knowledge). For operating engines, there will soon be 3 of them; 1630, Shay 5, and UP 428 will all be running in the same year by (Hopefully) 2020. While there are several other potential operational restoration candidates such as T&D 16, CBQ 637, and (Maybe) RI 938, 3 is about as many as the team can handle, it all comes down to Time, Money, and Resources.
On a side note, 428 has been a work in progress ever since the NES came to market. (1985, maybe earlier).
There are several issues with restoring both 2707 and 975 to operating condition. Money is a big issue, seeing as we have no idea what condition they are in and the fact that neither has moved under its own power since 1950-something. The primary one being that they are both too big to run at the museum, both in the sense that they are too heavy for the museum's mainline, and in the sense that there really isn't a need to run an engine that big at the museum when smaller engines like 1630 and 428 can do the job just fine and not be too heavy for the museum's mainline. I'm not even taking into account the amount of difficulty that there is with running mainline excursions, especially now. A cosmetic restoration for 2707 would be very nice to see, and I feel that's well overdue in 2707, but that depends on funding from people like us, visitors, who want to see it be cosmetically restored.