Friends,
It is with a heavy heart that I must suspend activity on the restoration of WP locomotive 165.
This is for a number of reasons, chief among them the lack of funds at
this time. As you know, these twice-yearly gatherings have been quite
productive, but also incur a substantial cost to the organization. We
could meet to socialize, and do a few minor things on the engine, but I
do not wish to waste anyone's valuable time and money or the
organizations for all to come up to Portola just for that. Also I really do not want to take another 10 years to finish this project up.
Past
fundraising efforts have been good, but the "big money" never has come
in for us. The current political situation with the Board election is
taking up a great deal of time and cash at the moment. Hopefully when
everything settles down, one way or the other, we can secure the funding
necessary to take the locomotive to completion.
My
personal life is also in flux with family obligations, as well as
getting ready to move back to Northern California next year.
My apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. I appreciate the enormous effort put in by everyone, and I hope that soon we can get things moving again!
All the best,
Chris Allan
