August 24, 2015 The work days continue to be hot here at the restoration site. Volunteers are consuming water by the bottle fulls. This week prep work for the sand dome repair continued as workers began cleaning the areas to be repaired removing pitting and a thick layer of rust. The cab floor was removed […]

August 17, 2015 This past week’s work sessions were much like the last two weeks. Outside of a few projects the tasks are mostly repetitive. Fabricating and installing broken stud bolts, cleaning and painting various parts, replacing air brake lever bushings and flushing lube lines are all ongoing projects. Connecting pipes for the power reverse […]

August 8, 2015 This week the Toy Train Operating Society (TTOS) paid us a visit. Around 40 folks toured the site and ate their box lunches. Workers fabricated a new rod roller and hung the power reverse control rod then connected both ends. Its lubricator was also cleaned and serviced. Using the control handle its […]

August 3, 2015 The never ending job of cleaning parts and painting continued this week. We are however close to the end of that work. The old foot boards have all been laid out and the necessary bolt holes have been identified. The next step will be to transfer these locations to the replacement foot […]

July 28, 2015 There has been a flurry of activity at the restoration site. After examining the sand dome we discovered many areas where the metal had wasted clear through. The damage is mostly confined to the camelback piece of metal in the center area of the dome. A new part will be fabricated and […]

July 13, 2015 Volunteers continued working hard on various projects throughout the week. Broken stud bolts were being removed, replacements fabricated and installed. After a good cleaning of the air reservoir clamps various repairs were required. Inferior welds were ground out and re-welded along with new bolts. Engineer side trailing truck brake parts were being […]

July 7, 2015 We had an abbreviated work week due to the 4th of July holiday. Officially the site was closed for work Saturday, however a few folks wanted to work as usual. Maintenance foot rails were removed from storage, cleaned and painted. Lower firebox insulation retaining rails were also painted. The outer ends of […]

June 29, 2015 This past week we continued to remove and replace various broken stud bolts as well as jacketing support bolts. All the parts associated with the firebox damper have been reconditioned and reinstalled with a newly fabricated damper plate. Superheater hydro support parts are being fabricated in preparation for the future testing of […]

June 22, 2015 Hello all, The last superheater pipe bundle was finished Saturday. Photos were taken then the bundle was racked in the storage container. Parts have been milled for the hydro testing of the bundles and await to be assembled. The commercially provided staybolt blanks have been threaded on both ends. They are now […]

June 15, 2015 Good progress is being done on the air brake linkages. The last shipment of heat treated pins and bushings arrived this past week and are being installed. The heat treatment altered their dimensions by a few thousands of an inch so some final machining has been necessary. All the steam oil lube […]