Saw today that Wilmington & Western #58 has returned to steam after a 4 year rebuild which included many, MANY things that I'm sure Tommy can share in further detail, but like 98, 58 is tagging along a brand new tender tank. The old 110 year old tank had exhausted it's life.

Ironically #58 was taken out of service the immediately after Veterans Day in 2013, fittingly, today 58 pulled the train into Greenbank Station for their Veterans Day ceremony.

#58 is officially "The Veterans Locomotive". 58 was built in 1907 for the Altlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic.

#58 will lead their Santa Claus trains starting in a few weeks.

Today, 58 was on live display at Greenbank. 8408 led the regular trips today (afaik).

The First State is steaming once again!

Congratulations to the volunteer shop staff and mechanical staff for a job well done. They continue to perform great tasks of preservation.

An interesting bit of trivia concerning #58's rebuilding. The steel tires that were heated and fitted to the drivers were AMTRAK GG1 tires rendered surplus when the GG1's were all retired. As I recall, they had to be machined a little, but remember the PRR electrics were built during the steam era when large wheels were common.

GG1s had 57" drivers which are clearly into the range of steam locomotive sizes. I think that is pretty cool to be able to repurpose those tires.

By the way, the number 58 is a good one for steam locomotives. Just sayin! :)

Looking forward to seeing her in steam next year.

It was very nice to see No. 58 rolling into Greenbank Station. A lot of hard work went into getting her this far. Many volunteers and our small paid staff did a lot to get here there. The amount of work amazing. Not only is there the physical work by the guys swinging hammers, but the coordination, planning, getting quotes from vendors, and finding the money.

The tires on engine No. 58 were indeed intended for a GG-1. In the early 1980s Amtrak sent over a set of 6 tires from their former PRR Wilmington Shops which was the home base for the fleet of the famous GG-1 locomotives. We sat on the tires for ~35 years until No. 58 needed tires. They had to be both bored and turned which wasn't cheap, however doing so was about 50% of the cost of purchasing new tires. Here is a short video of the tire removal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1EpBFebrfo

The new tender tank was built by Curry Rail Services of Hollidaysburg, PA. They are the folks who built the cab for the planned PRR T-1 in the works.

Here is a video of her arrival on Veteran's Day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3X_o4pFZUQ

No. 58 did make a shakedown run after the scheduled passenger trains on Veteran's Day. I was not on the train nor do I know specifics but there is a punch list of items before she will be pronounced ready for service. I'm scheduled to be fireman on 11/26. Come buy a ticket and help support real live steam.

Looks nice. Welded firebox stays?

And here's the five-minute video - enjoy!

https://youtu.be/ryvpL_zm_hs

No. There are no welded stays on No. 58.

Good to hear. 00:46 in this video makes it appear otherwise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3X_o4pFZUQ
Must be poorer resolution in the video that I would have suspected.