Our work at the Albuquerque Rail Yards

The New Mexico Steam Locomotive & Railroad Historical Society (NMSL&RHS), owners and operators of the fully restored and operational steam locomotive 2926, has been hard at work at the Albuquerque Rail Yards! Working cooperatively with the City of Albuquerque and the WHEELS Museum, NMSL&RHS is moving forward with making the 1914 American Bridge Company turntable operational again in preparation for 2926’s future use. To date, our volunteers have cleaned out the tumbleweeds and much of the accumulated dirt in the turntable pit to allow Next Generation Rail, Kentucky, to evaluate its condition and provide a repair estimate. Albuquerque’s Solid Waste Department provided a rear-loader trash truck and team to assist us with the tumbleweeds (Thank You!), but keeping the tumbleweeds at bay is an ongoing task! Our dedicated team has also repaired and restarted the diesel motor that powers the hydraulic drive system and moved the turntable under its own power. The move had a practical purpose: we needed to align the turntable’s triangular jacking brackets with the reinforced jacking pads in the pit (both can be seen in the tumbleweed image) so that one of the next steps can be accomplished; a detailed inspection of the center bearing. Follow our efforts on Facebook (Facebook/NMSX2926) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/@sf2926) and visit our website (https://2926.us). – John Roberts, President