At Wilmington & Western in Delaware our diesel-electric railcar, aka doodlebug, former PRR No. 4662 received heavy repairs to its power truck and traction motors. It took over a year of work by our volunteers and outside contractors to get the work completed and return our Doodlebug to service. The original scope of work was to address wheel wear on the power truck but as the disassembly progressed a number of other problems were discovered. Both the frame and the traction motors received major repairs, the traction motor leads were replaced, and many other smaller items were addressed.

Our former B&O Wagontop boxcar was placed back into service after over a year of hard work. Work included repairs to the metal walls and structure, floor, and interior. The biggest part of the job was the surface preparation to receive the fresh paint. The interior has been fitted with a diesel generator and steam plant to support heating our passenger trains in cold weather. The vintage 1937 boxcar will eventually lettered to match ones pressed into service as express boxcars on B&O passenger trains. It is the only example of a wagontop boxcar rolling in service with any regularity and the only one dressed to represent the 125 of this type used in Railway Express Agency Service.

I am not associated with Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp, but their acquisition of the former L&N railyard in Ravenna, KY is well-deserving of mention here.

After my write-up from the other day, I was told that I of course forgot a restoration project at Steamtown. Bullard Machine Company 0-4-0T no. 2 has come a long way this year, and is still kind of a secret project. Researching the locomotive is leading to tracking down some authentic pieces while the weekend volunteers go forward with some metal fabrication on the cab and other pieces. We are not doing a restoration to operational status, but to the same extent, we are not going to harm the engine so it can never be operational. A little steamer like this does not fit our current plans, but it can possibly fit into future plans for the park.

That is neat to hear! Future plans??

The Illinois Railway Museum Steam Shop returned J. Neils Lumber Co. 3 Truck Shay #5 to steam this October after a nearly 20 year absence. She passed her FRA tests and, while we've a few tweaks to make, she'll be in service next year.


Christian Ellis
IRM Steam Shop

Let's not forget the boys in NM either. They passed the hydro and fired up 2926 this year for the first time in 60 years.

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How about two FP45's returned to service in 2018?? OERM with their top notch restoration of ATSF 108, and IRM outsourcing the replacement 20-645E3, AR10, WBO compressor, and new truck frames for their ATSF 92! Now if we could only get these FP's together somehow. :)

The folks at the Illinois Railway Museum are justifiably proud of the locomotive restorations finished this year, but I just had a friend forward some photos of another 2018 restoration. Will try to post one of those photos here, although I'm not 100% certain how it will show.

Anyway, nice job IRM on the X38!

Les

2018 wasn't the greatest year for progress for the Niagara Railway Museum Inc., but we did get a few things done. As our museum is in the 1950's Canadian National Fort Erie diesel shop, we've had, (and still have) a lot of work to do. The building has been out of use since about 1989 and has been vandalized heavily. We took over the site in mid 2010 and started moving equipment in. Over the years we have done whatever we can to improve the site. The last 2 yrs has seen improvements mostly with the electrical. We aren't tied into anything, we run off a generator, which works, for now. Anyways, in 2018, the majority of our electrical projects we wrapped up, and we enter 2019 with less electrical to deal with, which means we can turn more focus onto our equipment. in 2018 we acquired enough lumber to resheath our 1935 ex-Canadian National Railway wood flanger #56323. We had most of one side stripped off before running into a lot of seriously pissed off hornets and wasps. So that project was put on hold until winter when things are dormant. However, winter hasn't been kind as we are down many of our core members to illness and other issues. As soon as everyone is healthy, we'll get back at it. Other work in 2019 will be the continued window replacement on our 1953 Plymouth MDT40t diesel. We also hope to get a new compressor for it to finally get it in service. Our steam locomotive turns 99yr old in 2019, and we are continuing the cosmetic restoration on her, which includes installing a new rear pilot beam, and either major repairs to the cab, or a new cab altogether. All of this in preparations for her 100th birthday celebration in 2020.

Like many groups, we have a boatload of work to do, and never have enough people or funds to do everything. But we do what we can with what we have, and i'm very proud of what we accomplish. Anyways, that's the basics from our end. Happy New Year everyone, may 2019 be good for you all.

That was more like a 2013 or 2014 restoration. Here're a few videos of it in use in 2015 after it was restored.

https://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2015 ... -snow.html

Dave -

Thanks for the correction. The e-mail note I received said that the photos had just been posted to the CGW Facebook page, so I assumed that the restoration had just been finished this year. Well, it brings up the old warning about "never assume!" My bad!

Les

2018 was a very positive year for Project3713 as we continue to restore Boston & Maine #3713 to operation at the Steamtown National Historic Site.

As many of you know, Project3713 is a formal partnership between the National Park Service and the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Railway Historical Society. Per an agreement signed in 2016, Project3713 is charged with raising $750,000 towards the $1.4 million cost of restoration. To date, $400K has been raised and over $645K of the NPS dollars have been released.

We still need your help to push the fundraising to completion. Three subscription donor levels are available for $1 a day, $10 a week and $100 a month. You can help get #3713 under steam as soon as possible, Please see our website for details on packages and thank you gifts: http://www.project3713.com/join-the-signers-fund/

So far in 2018, your donations and NPS funding have:

Built a new cab, now at Steamtown (Hopkins Manufacturing Company & Technology in Factoryville, PA)

Started building a new firebox (at the Strasburg Rail Road)

Built a new tender cistern and coal bunker (at Oaks Welding & Line Boring in Ashland, PA.)

Tender frame and trucks disassembled for inspection, repair and rebuilding - with updating to roller bearings generously donated by Brimco and Timken (in the Steamtown shop)

Renewed the driving wheels, including a new axle (at the Strasburg Rail Road)

Started full rebuilding of the booster engine (in the Steamtown shop)

Finished all three new safety valves (at the Strasburg Rail Road)

Purchased new pilot wheels and bearings. Axles have been machined, bearings pressed, and test fitted. Will return to Scranton soon (from ORX in Tipton, PA)

Completed a new stoker rack (at the Steamtown shop)

Continued restoration of the Coffin feedwater pump (at Coffin Turbo Pump in Englewood, NJ)

Allowed the continued restoration of numerous small but key components (in the Steamtown shop)

With $350K left to raise, we invite you to join Project3713 on a subscription basis so that more high-quality work can continue as we bring #3713 back to operation.

You can read all the latest news in our most recent newsletter. A PDF download is available at:

http://www.project3713.com/wp-content/u ... ct3713.pdf

Thank you for your support. We wish you and yours a very Happy New Year.

Is there some reason everyone seems to be nudge-nudge-wink-wink ignoring the efforts to save L&A 503 in Port Arthur?

This seems like an 'accomplishment' of the first water in this context, first because (for better or worse) the engine remained unscrapped as a direct and unequivocal result of the preservation effort, and second, because it demonstrated in detail how to run a hurry-up appeal to save something significant. (That it also showed how not to shoot ourselves in the foot by running mouths off is also of value.)

Greetings:

Valley Railroad Co. (DBA-Essex Steam Train & Riverboat) Chief Mechanical Officer Wayne Hebert and his crew accomplished something that some (including ME) thought was not possible: they restored enough equipment for an entire train set which debuted in November as North Pole Express Train 3!

Motive power for the train is 2-8-0 No.97 which had been out of service since 2010. It received a 1472 Service Day Inspection which included: new flues and tubes (installed by Kjell Benner), new superheater units (made by the Strasburg shop), renewal of 1/2 of the door sheet (with the help of Gary Bensman and the facilities of the Illinois Railway Museum as noted in a prior posting), restaying of the crown sheet (threading by Dave Wantz) and other work by VRR staff.

Rolling Stock for the train consist includes four open window coaches built in 1953 for commuter service in Montreal which were purchased through Ozark Mountain Railcar from the Adirondack Railroad and moved to Essex on their own wheels after repairs by Adirondack and VRR crews. The car's exteriors were sanded, repainted, re-lettered and had new diaphragms fabricated and installed. The cars were also leveled and had numerous mechanical components repaired or renewed. The interiors of the cars had major restoration work including re-carpeting the floors and walls and painting. Virtually all the seats required repairs to the swivel mechanisms and upholstery. Many of the seats required new coverings (and sometime total replacement) on the arm rests and and head rests. One car was converted to a 50 seat Parlor Car with the installation of swivel base arm chairs. All the heater covers were removed, cleaned and reinstalled.

Lastly, the train needed a power car to provide electricity for the lighting and HEAT. The ex-Pennsylvania baggage car which had been used by VRR for parts storage was emptied, rusted sections of the body patched and sanded inside and out before being repainted (and renumbered). Two large generators (one purchased from Robert Franzen) were installed in the car. A local electrical contractor did the design and installation of the controls and wiring.

NPE3 was scheduled to make three trips on Friday, Saturday & Sunday. The nominal capacity of the train is 254 riders (coaches have seating for 76 each). Each train was sold to capacity or nearly so.

Wayne and his crew did a really fine job in a very short period of time!

Be well,
J.David