Author: Randy Babcock

The last weekend in June was a bit of a different weekend, mostly due to the small memorial celebration held for Larry Peckham, a long time member who passed away in May. Although we took time for the memorial, Larry would have been proud of the amount of work we still managed to accomplish.

The biggest accomplishment on the weekend was the completion of the right side valve and piston. After

months of work, mostly by Marty and Scott, we finished up the work with the installation of the piston and new rings, the brand new cylinder head, and installation of the remaining valve motion.

With things all tightened up we went ahead and installed the cylinder and valve covers as well, not only to get them off the floor, but to help us feel like we’re getting somewhere with this project.

The only things left to complete on the valve motion (other than valve timing) are a couple odds and ends with cotter pins and grease fittings. We also have to remove one shim on the right crosshead shoe, it turned out to be a little tighter than we would like. All things considered its nice to have one more large part of the restoration done.

While the valve work was progressing, we also installed the linkage for both blow down valves. Also accomplished was the installation of the new #3 spring. We would have had all the spring rigging complete but our coil springs did not ship in time for the weekend. We also would have begun rolling flues, but just like the springs, our flue roller did not arrive either.

While the work was going on over in the shade of the tent, Dave, Rick and Ted were over in the 101 degree sun moving junk in the museum yard for pick up. Slowly but surely phase 1 of the museum track plan is starting to be implemented.

Finally, pick up a copy of the first volume of Ed Fleming’s new DVD about the SPNG and the #18 restoration. Ed has done a great job with it and it’s available in our store along with many other great items like the beautiful Jan Rons painting. As always, all of your purchases directly support the restoration and building projects.

Thanks again to everyone that helps and supports us, we’ll see you next time.

Before getting into the May work weekend we are saddened to report  that Larry Peckham, one of our biggest supporters, suddenly passed away on May 1. Aside from his interest in the #18 – which he remembered being put into Dehy park in 1955 – Larry was a big 4 wheel drive enthusiast. He was a lifelong bachelor and had been a resident of Independence for the final 67 years of his life. Aside from being at every work party as our “Safety officer” Larry had contributed over half of the money spent to date on the restoration. Larry’s smile and presence will be greatly missed. Larry was 72 at the time of his passing. A memorial and work party will be held in his honor on June 28th.

As for the work weekend over the 9-10th of May…. During the process of getting the spring rigging laced up, we realized two things that we had missed: The #2-3 springs were completely different from left to right, and the coil springs located behind the #3 driver were also all different sizes.

To remedy this issue we jacked the rear of the locomotive up slightly and removed the coil springs as well as the right rear leaf spring and are having all new made. While the weight is off the engine we also took the time to even up the spring saddles to compensate for the change in crown brass thicknesses. With the new springs installed this should really make the #18 sit and ride nicely.

In addition to the spring work, Scott and Bob spent some time installing the brake rigging and new brake shoes. Both the #1 and #2 brake beams and four shoes are installed and ready for the brake rods and #3 brake beam to go together next time. As far as running gear goes, things are really flying together despite the setback of the coil springs.

Meanwhile up in the smoke box the copper ferrals were all installed and the flues are ready for rolling on the next work days! While we will be taking most of June off we will be hitting the work hard in July and August so stay tuned.