I just received this email from our gift shop manager:

"Would it be possible for you to post something regarding a delay in the arrival of the special edition “Reunion of Steam” 611/475 boxcars?

Long story short… factory (in China of course) had a fire damaging many of the vendor’s molds & tooling therefore causing delays with many productions, including ours. Latest info I have is that arrival should now be mid-September. Yes, I am REALLY sweating this one out!

As we had initially anticipated delivery at the end of July, we are beginning to receive phone calls from preorder customers regarding the status of their preorder.

Anyway, maybe we could head off some of the calls if we get something out there in your social media outlets. You can be as vague or as descriptive as you like, but please be gentle – this could turn into a huge problem. The vendor is already well aware of how upset I am & the urgency of having them here by the time our event begins."

Kelly Anderson- How’s the 475’s 1472 coming along?

Break out the "DON'T ASK WHEN!!!" chalk/paintstick..... <:-D

475 will be done sometime between now and September 21st...
Kelly, do you know the date that 611 will start her trek up? Will it leave August 18th after the Fireup on the 17th? I am setting a goal to try and chase it up to Strasburg once it reaches the PA/MD boarder...

She's going together. All of the firebox work is done.

The tubes are in and rolled.

And the new right rear driving wheel center has been painted and the wheel set installed.

Yes.

Don't even bother, that's all you are going to get.

Thanks for the pictures Kelly. Always fascinating to see the engines in various stages of rebuilds.

Looking forward to the event.. boxcars or no boxcars! :)

NS has formally invoked the 'cone of silence' on the move, fearing too many trespassers, chasers, etc.

Which means that the railfan network will still broadcast it, but it won't come from here, not Strasburg, so don't expect Kelly to be the source, or more accurately, the leak.

Just show up at Strasburg when it's actually there and running. Oh, and bring money to support the cause.

Yes sir! I will ask no questions and do as you say sir!

Perhaps a silly question, but this photo causes me to ask, how does one get the drivers aligned when you ready to install the rods?

Thanks in advance.

Bob

One cannot "sneak" a 400 ton J out onto the railroad without someone seeing it. Of course it could leave dead-in-tow, rods off, but at some point someone will see it pass, and then everyone within a couple of hundred miles who cares and can get away will be off to the races. But that number will be greatly limited by the last minute nature of knowing about the move, which is really the best NS could hope for. Keeps the more dangerous "daisy pickers" away. Hopefully those who do find out and go out are the fans who know railroad etiquette and how to be safe.

Rumor on the street is that Scott Lindsay and his team have fabricated some lightweight panels to attach to the sides of the boiler & tender that will make the 611 appear to be just another auto rack car and thus move without notice???

Could be true !!

Ross Rowland

Back in the day, you could make such a move and only someone who happened to be standing aside the tracks would know about it.
I grew up along the SCL in North Florida and once, there was a special unannounced move of S&A 750 for the Southern Steam program through the area. Nobody knew about it except fans who lived near enough the tacks to hear it go by and only one managed to catch up to it that I was ever aware of (without camera as he had to actually run to the car and take off west bound in pursuit).
These days, you could send the Bat Signal to the world right away and people would be all along the right of way to see it.

Ross, is that how you move the 614 around when needed? ;)

What you are describing is called "quartering." Some links below may help out.

http://www.wwfry.org/pics/SteamLocomotiveQuartering.pdf

This is not as good a video as I would have liked--I wish more was shown as to how the tools and other devices were used--but this slide show for a live steam model shows this fellow's approach. The main difference in a small model like this and the real thing is the size of parts, tools, and the amount of hydraulic force you use to press drivers onto axles and crank pins into the wheels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXGRVPkbyyQ

This is for press fit only. While this was often used, drive wheels and axles were also "keyed." This was having slot in the wheel and a matching slot in the axle, into which was inserted a key to maintain the alignment. If you look at the drivers on the 475 in the photo, you can see the keys between the wheel hubs and the axles. Various forms and shapes of keys and their slots (called "key ways") make them resistant to working out.