Work Session Status Week Ending 05/18/2013

5/26/13

Our Railroad Secretary, Gail Kirby and Chief Mechanical Officer Rick Kirby, were under the weather this past week, so the Webmaster is posting just a quick note to let you all know we’re still making great progress.

A lot of work was done clearing out old Elm trees and brush along side where the tender is normally parked. NMSL&RHS would like to eventually build a structure there to semi-permanently house the locomotive and get everything and everybody out of the weather, as well as enhance security. Funding and plans for such a structure are still TBD, and the preferred final home for 2926 still remains as the ABQ Rail yards. But again, we’re still looking at that “semi-permanent” solution as we push forward with the usual 2926 optimism and can-do attitude.

It’s been a bad drought so far again this year – and all the dust that was stirred-up from the above activity apparently contributed to some folks not feeing so well afterward. It’s been really dry here in ABQ and we’re still suffering from a severe drought in these parts.

Looks like work on the 4 big 14″ main brake cylinders is nearing completion. Once those are on, I expect work on the linkage to the big shoes on the main 80″ driver wheels will commence. Once the engine has brakes and the Cab gets mounted back on, maybe the whole locomotive can be taken over to next year’s National Train Day – we’ll see.

Carlos, one of our welder’s, continues to do a fabulous job fabricating the Steam exhaust plumbing that mounts under the front of the boiler. It was stolen during the July 2012 burglary. It’s an arduous task, since he basically has to mount the assy. on the engine, take measurements, construct the next piece, tack-weld it on, then remove the assembly and do the final 360° worth of welding. Then he repeats the process all over for the next length of pipe or fitting. Meanwhile, the assy. gets heavier and bulkier the whole time. But, at the end of the day, it will be brand-new and perfect.

The burner assembly, responsible for spraying atomized fuel into the fire-box for combustion, got re-installed. Looks like it got all new all-thread rod and nuts, as the original parts were really wasted-away. The important part, the nozzle itself, was made of brass, and they were able to just clean that part up.

How do you eat an Elephant? Once spoon-full at a time! Literally hundreds of Stay-bolts suspend the firebox inside the boiler and all need some TLC of one type or another. Ron T. and crew keep coming up with new gadgets to facilitate the processes of removing old stay-bolts caps, doing inspections, grinding down stay-bolt cap housings that are to be replaced, cleaning threads on salvageable stay-bolt caps and cleaning the copper gasket seats.

That’s it for now and hope to see you at the site this week, and as always . . .
Keep on Steamin’,
Rick Bugge, Webmaster
NMSL&RHS