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Weather and 5 years worth of rain and snow have slowed the building project some but we finally got back to work. Almost the entire weekend was spent at the museum with no major work was performed on the locomotive this time around except for reinstalling the injector.

The focus was to get both sections of building track constructed on the slab and ready to be set in place in the concrete troughs once the water and ice dry up. That goal was entirely achieved! Our secondary projects were to install the grab irons on the boxcar that will ultimately go to Dehy Park and to cut ties to the 6 foot narrow gauge length and plug the old spike holes. Both of those projects were also nearly completed. Aside from a productive weekend we also had beautiful scenery with the mountains covered in snow. When the weather cooperates the new building will go up and the engine and tender can move in!

And its official we will be running the #18 on July 3rd at the Eastern California Museum, so come out and join us.

December – and November –  have brought us actual physical progress towards the #18’s new home. Beginning in November with the grading and dirt work and continuing on with the foundation and concrete work this month. As of December 15th we officially have a foundation and the new building stacked on site and ready to be put up!!

If all goes as planned we will begin erecting the building after the New Year and hope to have it ready by the end of January. Once the building is up, the track panels will be assembled for inside the building and the #18 will move to its new home sometime there after.

Along with the building work, we did wrap up a few loose ends on the engine itself. Some of the completed tasks included, the final assembly and installation of the doors and windows, tightening up some plumbing leaks, installing additional diaphragms in the governor for additional adjustment and manufacturing brackets to secure the electrical conduit. In the coming months we will wrap up the remaining tasks on the engine and tender. Sometime in the first part of 2017 we are also hoping to confirm when we will be operating the #18 next.

Finally, as we approach the end of the year we hope that you will consider us for a year end donation. We have been fortunate in being able to do as much as we have thanks to the tremendous amount of support of all of you. We do however still need a few more things to finish up, most notably ties, spikes, ballast and other rail hardware. We will also need support for the insurance and fuel to operate the #18 in the future. And as always, remember to get a tee shirt or DVD for that perfect Christmas gift. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE for making 2016 such a successful year, and here is to an even better 2017!