Carson & Colorado Railway

Our volunteers came from near and far for what turned out to be one of our largest work weekends in a while. A solid group of 25 folks was on hand and we were able to make progress in numerous directions.

Work on the locomotive included COT&S of the brake valves, machining of two new injector half nuts, general cleaning and detailing, and finally steaming up of the locomotive to offer some training time.

With one crew on the locomotive, another crew was making sawdust on boxcar 1C. Progress was substantial and including doing all the joinery on the upper sills and reassembling them, a significant step that has brought structure back to the car and will allow for the siding to go on in the near future. Also accomplished was the opening up and framing in of the second end doorway. This end had been filled in at some point late in the cars service life but would have been a functional doorway during its MOW tool car days.

In addition to the railroad equipment work, we had crews on three other projects including repainting the Dehy Park boxcar, which had been long on our list of to-do’s as the sun had made the south facing side paint peal and fade.

Another very noticeable project was clearing of the museum grounds around the engine house. No good walking path existed between the museum and the train, so at the request of the museum staff we cleared away some old chain link fence, a non historic shed, and some other debris in addition to relocating the Bell mill grinding stone and some wagon parts. Now there is a wide patch directly between the two buildings and it looks great!

And lastly, we spent Sunday afternoon in the museum holding our annual rules and safety class. Overall it was a great weekend and lots of fun. And as always, we thank everyone for attending and supporting us. Our next work days will be in March and our public steam up and fundraiser dinner will be April 12th. Hope to see every out in Independence soon!

Despite some tardiness in creating this post, our group of volunteers has not be slow in the work they have been doing to get #18 back up and running. Over the past few months reassembly work has been under way, along with the annual inspection and hydro test performed for the FRA. In addition to the staybolt cap inspection and routine annual work, numerous improvements have been made. New brass water leg nipples and nuts were machined and cast, the blow down valves were fully overhauled, injectors gone through, grease cakes were repacked, some new washout plugs were machined and a number of other items were addressed. Greg Johnson even delivered parts by air mail to Independence!

By the middle of October everything was about back together. A final couple days of reassembly on #18 allowed for it to be steamed up to check things out and do the final annual inspections.

A perfect Sunday in Independence with ideal fall weather was the stage to test out #18. This was the first time #18 had been under steam since spring 2023. A huge shout out to all of our volunteers for getting our locomotive back up and in service. Videos from the weekend can be found on the Carson and Colorado Youtube channel here.

In addition to the work, and testing, of #18, things continued on the boxcar project. Focus was on disassembling the last bit of the roof sills and carlines, installing new nailing boards where needed, filling holes, and removing the remaining siding. With the roof entirely apart we began the process of joining the new upper sills. These beams are now ready and will be the focus of our next work party. Once assembled back on the car, the roof can be reassembled and siding hung.

And lastly, aside from the work on the equipment itself, we have been working with the folks at the museum to begin improving the interpretive experience and better connect the museum itself with the train barn. The first steps in this process included installing two outdoor signs along with an engine house sign that officially designates it the Larry Peckham engine house. Larry was a life long Independence resident and one of our biggest contributors.

Our next goals will be to work with the museum to create a walking path from the museum building to the train barn, and re arrange some of the outdoor exhibits to help better interpret the story of Inyo County. As always we couldn’t do it without your support and as much as ever we ask for your continued support!