Author: Jeff Taylor

The weekend of April 12th and 13th was to be the weekend for the final push to lower the #18 back onto her driving wheels. By the end of the day on the 12th after a year and a half the #18 was back on her wheels.

There was only about 6″ further to lower the locomotive. Just as before we had to lift, remove cribbing, and then lower and reset the jacks, while in between checking the driver boxes and making adjustments as needed. Shortly after we began lowering we had to re-install the remaining spring rigging for the #3 drivers. Because of tight clearances, and issues with the rear springs and driver boxes this was a difficult job.  After some sweat and hard work we got them in.

At the front end things were a little easier with the pony truck. We removed the cribbing, double checked the alignment of the bolster then lowered the locomotive into the pony truck.

Once down far enough for the frame to clear the bottom of the driver boxes we installed the frame binders, and ran the wedges up. The latter of which will be properly adjusted later. Finally it was all clear to lower her down all the way. Once down we made note of any issues and took some measurements for later reference. It was found that the locomotive was still not sitting quite right and that we will have to build up at least two of the spring saddles to accommodate for the crown brass and axle work.

On Sunday it was decided that it would be best to roll the locomotive as far as possible in hope that she would settle with the drivers and the driver boxes with the frame. While prepping for this move, copper ferrell’s for the tubes were being installed in the front tube sheet.

When we where ready to move, we hooked her up to a jeep with a winch and pulled backwards until the back end was outside the tent. This was the first time she had been outside the tent since 2011. Then we pushed (with man power) her back in. As planned, this did align the locomotive and wheels.

As before THANK YOU to all who came out to help. This was a big step towards completing the restoration. It sure is good to see her on her wheels again.

In other news we now have available for purchase a limited edition 13×19 print of Jan Rons painting of the #18 at our proposed engine house. Details can be found by following the link on the upper right side of the page.

October 26-27 was our latest work session in Independence on SP #18 and the 26th was the night of our 4th Annual Birthday BBQ fundraiser. The fundraiser was a great success, with over 170 folks in attendance from near and far for the evenings dinner and activities.  We took in a total of just over $14,000.00. That included the BBQ, raffle, merchandise and membership sales as well as individual donations. That is the largest amount we have raised to date on one of our dinners. One such donation came from Sara and Bob Bauer who donated $6500 toward the purchase of the air tanks and boiler insulation. They gave the donation in memory of Chard Walker who was a long time station agent at the Summit station on Cajon pass.

As for the restoration, a significant part was started on Saturday.We began the installation of the tubes in the boiler. We installed 65 tubes (one third the total amount) and cut them to length; none of the tubes were permanently rolled into place. Once the first tube is rolled we have one year before the clock starts on the 1472 days of operation, or 15 years before they must be replaced per the FRA form 4, so we will not start rolling until the drivers are back in place.

Other work done included the installation of the throttle valve and linkage, now when the handle in the cab is pulled the valve in the boiler opens. Bob and Gary also worked on the water glass steam valves and made some plumbing adjustments needed to make the second water glass fit properly.

On Sunday while more tubes were being installed I did some body work on the firebox door. The door was pretty beat up and out of shape. It also had several cracks in the sheet metal. I worked the metal a bit and welded some of the cracks. There’s more work to be done but its closer. Compare it to the photo in the last post.

And mean while up in Washington, the drivers are coming along but will be slightly delayed. After completing the work on the first two drivers it was discovered that the #3 driver axle is too small and will require replacement. It has also been determined that one journal crown brass will also require replacement. All together, that means that we probably will not see the drivers completed until the first of the year and they will cost us a bit more than initially estimated. Its all just part of the process required to bring the #18 back to life!