I’d seen the pics from 2004, but nothing more recent, until today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DoAlYR1pwo It’s not really fair to blame the poor locals for this. The bureaucrats in Buenos Aires, who care only for those things that they can make themselves a fast dollar on, are ultimately to blame. In better days
http://www.martynbane.co.uk/modernsteam/ldp/argentina/arg.htm
Back in 2003 I had planned to donate something (about $50) to the international restoration fund for this locomotive… But by the time I had a little extra money to spare, they had stopped accepting donations – due to the obstructionist attitudes and actions of the politicos in Argentina, and the much accelerated stripping of the locomotive - which far outpaced their fund-raising capabilities. Beyond being simply a “shame”, the government inaction on this and other historic items, from pre-Columbian art to more modern innovations. should probably be viewed as a crime against the heritage of the people of Argentina.
Yes, many there are simply too poor to care. Yet. And many folks in the 1st world nations only care about, “How much dya want for it?”
L.D. Porta was a hero to those of us in the steam industry. Working on a shortline that ran steam passenger excursions, I had put together a proposal to get state & Federal grants to bring Porta to NY to oversee the restoration & rebuilding of a 4-6-0 ten-wheeler (the railroad’s second and store-unservicable engine). My goal was to have the engine rebuilt to such an extreme that it would be cost effective to use the re-engineered ten-wheeler for the local freight service, rather than the outdated and underpowered 44-ton GE centercabs.
Talk about the shock when three days after completing the proposal documents I learned of Porta’s passing.
Jason… for some reason, I could just see a resurrected (and standard gauged) “Argentina” leading the stable of your 21st Century Freedom Central. You need to start looking for an 8 coupled drive (and maybe some model rocket parts?) 
Actualy Mik, my corporate OCS engine is a superpower 2-6-4. I LOVE the berkshire design, but want to use the NYC J3a Dreyfus streamlining, and didn’t think it would stretch out to a 4-coupled very well. And a hudson has WAY to little tractive effort to be justified on my road… I demand both speed AND pulling ability.
I intend to have a couple ACE-3000’s, hopefully a 2-6-6-6 Allegheny… or two, and several liquid hydrogen burning “diesels”.