Category: Restoration

April will be a productive month on the #18 with two work parties. The first of which this update covers. It was an extremely productive weekend with perfect weather.

First up was the side rod installation. Although all the brasses were effectively done, we had to make numerous trips across hwy. 395 to our lathe for some final lateral   adjustments and to press the brasses into the rods. To install them we simply greased the rails and used our winch to roll the locomotive in place and then a come-a-long to the wheel spoke pulled the pins into final adjustment. All in all they went on very nicely.

Jarrett and Scott spent most of the weekend on air plumbing. Thanks to their efforts we are about a days work away from putting air to the system and trying out the brakes. Jarrett deserves honorable mention for his work under the cab with the mile of piping crammed into a half mile of space. It looks better than when we found the locomotive and is more user friendly as well.

Meanwhile, Bob and Chris got down and dirty with the electrical system. They drew a schematic and ran most of the wires. Another couple days of work and there will be light.

We are now past the 90% completed mark on the entire restoration. There are really no new areas remaining to work on, just a handful to finish up and some final paint and cosmetics.

Yes we are still here and working on the #18 despite the lack of new material on this website.

Only one rather small on-site work session has occurred in these past months to wrap up some general loose ends with nuts and bolts and washers and such. Since some things have come on and off numerous times we went around to make sure everything that is supposed to be permanently on the locomotive is correctly attached.

Off site we have almost finished up the side rods. With the exception of the main rods, they were transported back to Independence and should go back on the engine in April.

And with the building project LA Department of Water and Power has approved the zoning change at the museum for the building and track. With that approval and the completed geo-survey all is on track to go to the County Planning commission and Board for final plan approvals in April!