Restoration work on L&N 2132 starts this week

Restoration and repairs of L&N 2132 will start this week.

Restoration work on the L&N 2132 steam locomotive, along with its tender and caboose, will begin later this week and is scheduled to be completed in May.

A the regular monthly meeting of the Corbin Tourism Commission Tuesday, Tourism Director Maggy Kriebel told the commissioners that Wasatch Railroad Group officials plan to do the work on each of the three pieces simultaneously.

“There is a lot of metal fabricating work to be done,” Kriebel said explaining that when the first bills are presented for work done, it may not appear much has actually been completed.

“The biggest part of the transition will take place the last two weeks when final assembly is taking place and the painting is being done,” Kriebel added.

Kriebel said with each invoice, Wasatch officials would provide pictures documenting the work done.

Kriebel said the goal is not only to restore the pieces but also to preserve them.

“We will not only have her looking great, but we are saving a relic,” Kriebel said.

Kriebel also revisited with the commissioners, the process used to select Wasatch Railroad Contractors to perform the restoration work.

Instead of sealed bids, Kriebel sent out requests for proposal to eight companies that have experience in restoring historic steam locomotives and rolling stock.

“I did research and due diligence in selecting the companies that were contacted,” Kriebel said.

Kriebel provided information from onvia.com, a business resources website, detailing when and how a request for proposal process may be used in lieu of advertising the project for bid.

“Government agencies typically issue a request for proposals when the award will be based on price,” the information states, noting sealed bids are typically used to procure high-cost items with easily definable characteristics.

The RFP process calls for the submitted proposals to be reviewed and those deemed competitive enough to continue into the negotiation process.

Wasatch’s was the only RFP that met all of the requirements.