Category: Restoration

The weather wasn’t ideal the first weekend, and the second weekend was cold and beautiful, and all together it made for a great variety of conditions and photos. Hundreds of happy folks came to visit, photo and ride #18. Below are some great photos from Max Laue, thanks Max for sharing!

One of the highlights was moving #9 around the yard. It was by far the longest journey the locomotive had taken since 1960. Seeing the #9 and #18 nose to nose was a fun sight. Late on the final Sunday afternoon, #18 took sister #9 on a couple full trips up and back while #9 received ample lubrication. #9 will spend some time near the turntable while the track that has long held the display train is replaced.

To sum it up, it was a fun event that took a lot of work to pull off. A HUGE special thanks needs to go out to all the volunteers from both organizations who worked to pull it all off efficiently and safely! Thank You! Now hopefully Laws can get that extra bit of track finished up for the next time #18 visits.

Clear your calendars and get your tickets for the #18’s first visit to Laws in five years! The Slim Princess Sisters in History 140th Anniversary.

To get prepared for #18’s road trip to Laws, we had a very productive work weekend at the end of January. #18, had some valve packing issues worked on (although not, as of yet, successfully), had the firing valve improved, the fireman’s injector worked on, and was steamed up to check generally everything out. #18 also made its first every trip down the recently completed Klusmire extension near the museum building. It was a beautiful winter weekend in the shadows of the snowy Sierras!

In addition to work on #18, we really made some headway on boxcar #1C’s restoration. Thanks to all of you, we were able to raise over $12,000 dollars before the end of the year to match our grant. Thank You! If you didn’t get a chance to donate, you still can, and your donations will continue to make a difference. To donate click here.

And if that’s not enough, Gary Johnson worked on, and Bobby Babcock hauled, our 1925ish Model TT truck back to the city where the Long Beach Model T club will get it up and running. This TT truck is special in that it worked out at Natural Soda Products in Keeler for its entire working existence.