There's actually numerous small regional freight railways, again. They're hungry for gear and bodging together all sorts of antiques to make stuff run, I gather.

The private collectors of rail stock still exist, but they're getting less common.

The weight is actually easy to deal with: you put the car on a section of rail. This spreads the load over a wide area just as happens when they're in use.

> Locomotive engine must be disabled per a state grant funding agreement.

What a dumb requirement. It's like the cash-for-clunkers program requiring the engines to be destroyed.

The service life of a locomotive is effectively infinite - even after their useful freight days are done, they usually get refitted and sent to the developing world, or converted into a fixed power generator.

Crash into a nuclear waste container, of course https://blog.railwaymuseum.org.uk/operation-smash-hit/

With enough land and disposable income you could build a 1:1 scale model railroad.

Playgrounds. To instill an early desire for engineers. They went electric.