Author: Randy Babcock

Things are going back together on our #18! The first of June saw a group gather to continue the reassembly process and take care of a handful of other menial, yet important chores.

Along with locomotive work, some important housekeeping was undertaken that required moving our track implements into storage boxcar 15. Lastly, while no work was done on boxcar 1C this weekend in Independence, the doors are coming along nicely and will be ready to return in the very near future.

As always, we appreciate everyone’s support as we couldn’t do it without you. And for a reminder of how far we have come, take a look at the following pictures of #18 taken 43 years ago, 23 year ago, and 3 years ago; what a ride of a project its been!

March and April have been a little slow but not stagnant. A few exciting things have happened and are moving along. First off, #18 is once again a pressure vessel and has been successfully hydro tested, we will have our scheduled inspection with the FRA in the near future and soon thereafter finish putting the old gal back together. If all goes as planned we are hoping to schedule a little something later this year, so stay tuned!

Speaking of tuning in, Carola has been hard at work keeping content on our Youtube channel. You can check it out here. She is regularly adding new stuff so please subscribe and get the notifications.

As for the boxcar project, its slowly moving along with work happening on the doors and end wall header. These are being restored, not replaced, using a combination of new and old materials. Most of this work is going on at our Colorado annex and will be shipped west in the near future.

And lastly we are happy to announce that through a generous donation we will be purchasing two outdoor signs for placement near the museum building at end of track and next to the engine house. These signs are the same style you see at the National Parks and designed to last. One sign will touch on the history of railroading in Inyo County while the second sign will tell about the #18 specifically. These signs are the first step in what we hope to be many in the future where we will be working with our partners at the Eastern California Museum to better tell the story of the Carson and Colorado and Southern Pacific Railroads in the region. Your contributions are always welcome and appreciated.