January 22, 2018 This week workers separated the locomotive from the tender so the drawbars could be loaded Saturday for an annealing trip to Farmington, NM. Elsewhere on site more small bore control piping was installed and air brake instruments were undergoing testing. The never-ending job of pipe and equipment bracket fabricating is ongoing. Our […]

January 2, 2018 As the New Year begins I was reminiscing about all the many accomplishments our crew has performed and the remarkable milestones achieved over the last year. Many of our supporters who watch our progress weekly remember these reports at the time they were reported. For those rail fans this abbreviated list will […]

December 2, 2017 I haven’t written a report in a while. I came down with an awful cold and was away from the site for about three weeks. Then my wife, Madam Secretary, caught it from me. Both of us are back on the job now. Brake hanger pins and bushings have been fabricated and […]

November 14, 2017 As of November 7th we took ownership of ex-Santa Fe baggage car RPCX 3939. The 3939 was the original car number while the reporting mark is not. That mark will be changed in due time. Current plans are for it to have ​the heavy work done in Ohio such as the trucks […]

November 8, 2017 I missed two work sessions in October so I may miss some work activities. I went out to Ohio to meet with the owner of our future tool car. While there I met the mechanic who will be performing the initial work on the car prior to its trip to Albuquerque. The […]

October 17, 2017 This past week we were able to stop the leak on the main steam valve on the turret. It was hoisted into place atop the locomotive. The four saturated steam pipes from the steam dome to the turret were also lifted up. They will be permanently installed this week. Small bore piping […]

October 9, 2017 New small bore piping is being bent and installed for the stack lifter and sander check valves. These pipes were under the jacketing and had wasted away. Two MU jumper boxes were installed along with the MU cable which was threaded down through its conduit. Work on the fuel line began Saturday […]

October 5, 2017 It has been awhile since I’ve provided a TW3 report. Since this last report Madame Secretary and I took a couple weeks which should have been some R & R, but was intermingled with several calamities. Upon our return the open house preparations began along with the open house itself and work […]

September 4, 2017 This week preparations are being made to reinstall the blast pipe after it was moved out of the way. A bore scope camera was used to look into the steam cylinder passages to the blast pipe. Several rocks were seen and removed from them. An old rag was also found in one […]

August 28, 2017 Last week we removed the blast pipe for cleaning and inspection. None of the nuts were, to say the least, cooperating as they were subjected to the blue torch wrench for removal. If that wasn’t bad enough all the special shaped bolts were rust frozen in place. Hammers were used to unseat […]