Current status photo of whats basically become the South's version of the PRR 1361 money pit.

This is the Union Railroad #77, a 1944 ALCO product. A 90 ton 0-6-0 the engine operated a few years in Pennsylvania until sold to the Morehead & North Fork Railroad of Clearfield, KY where it became their #14. In the 1960's the locomotive was sold again to an amusement park called "Tombstone Junction" in Cumberland Falls, KY where the engine operated until 1992 under it's original number 77. The amusement park then burned to the ground and the engine was auctioned off to a local collector who donated it to a local historical society. It was then moved to the Big South Fork Scenic Railway in Stearns, KY.

So far this engine has been under restoration on and off since 2004 and so far has had nearly 1.5 MILLION dollars dumped into it by the state of Kentucky and private donations. This is as far as it has gotten due to chronic mismanagement on the part of the Big South Fork Scenic Railway and the historical society that owns the engine.

I myself helped install new tubes into the boiler a couple of years ago and then progress on the engine petered out again out of bad project management. Supposedly the boiler has been recently hydrotested but I don't know if that actually ever happened.