Carson & Colorado Railway

Better late than never with this update. On March 23 and 24 a few of us continued the work on the #18. The big jobs for the weekend were removing the stack to replace the crumbling gasket underneath and sand blasting many miscellaneous large and small items removed from the #18.

It ended up being quite a job to remove the old bolts and lay down the stack. With some heat and persuasion we got them out, then made a new gasket and reinstalled the stack.

The sandblasting was done over at the museum. A large number of things were blasted, including the drivers, steam and sand dome parts, the boiler jacket sheet metal, storage and tool boxes, ect.

As soon as they were blasted they were painted with a primer to protect them. Some interesting dates were found on the drivers and tires. The tires had a date of 2-14-45, and the driver centers had 2-17-1911.

We also lapped most of the remaining valves, leaving about 4 more to go. We also removed and cleaned the firing valve. The burner was removed at this time as well. It was media blasted at Dave’s house and was inspected.

On Sunday we took delivery of the new cylinder head. This new cast iron head will replace the old home made one on the right side of the engine.

Over the weekend of April 13th and 14th, 2013, more progress was made on the #18.The most significant work was done on the left side valve. After days of lapping, the valve was ready for final assembly. Before that could occur, the valve pressure ring had to be shimmed, so that it was “balanced” properly. These valves are know as American style balanced slide valves. After balancing, the port openings were marked on the valve stem. This information is critical when setting the valves or “timing” the engine.

In addition to the full day spent on that project, Travis Wheeler and Bob Holland re-assembled most of the rebuilt spring rigging. Some of the rigging must remain off until the drivers are back in place. Randy Babcock spent time laying out centers for the “tramming” of the shoes and wedges. This is the process of setting the drivers at 90 deg. to the frame as well as the correct distance apart from one another. This task cannot be fully completed until the driver boxes have been machined and the box widths determined.

The final project on the #18 over the weekend was installing the johnson bar reach rod. This included new pins and bushings.

Other than a minor adjustment on the taper for one pin, all went together well.

In addition to the engine work, the Clampers were in town once again to – along with the CCRW – lay more track at Kearsarge. The beautiful weather made it a fun weekend for all. And finally, a special thank you to Doug Mull for once again catering our fare for the weekend. Some of the best meals in the world can be had in the Owens Valley.