Hoping this thread doesn't morph to hopper cars:

There are 5 or 6 70ton hoppers at Blue Heron (coal camp at end of track) at the BSFSRY. They are ex-C&O, painted SRR, and owned by the NPS. They are on exhibit tracks under the restored tipple. They are not available for use.

One trip we lost a brake shoe keeper/pin on the caboose. The shoe stayed put, but the pin was gone. I "borrowed" a pin out of one of the hoppers to take the train back to Stearns. All was fine until about a year later when someone mentioned it to the NPS folks, and sure enough, I had to take a pin back and put it in the hopper under NPS supervision.

Mark -

Sorry about the pin. But like we say at our museum; if you open it, close it and if you take it, put it back! Doesn't always work at our museum either!

Your bringing up 70 ton hoppers is interesting though. If we are looking for 6 authentic vintage hoppers to run some day behind K&T #12 (4501), they don't all have to be 50/55 ton twin bay coal hoppers!

Les

Any updates on the restoration of No.14? The railroad's website does not appear to currently working and seems to be going through a rebuikd of its own. Anyone have any real updates on Wasatch's progress?

The "Turtle Man" video shows the current situation generally. Work is focused on the boiler, installing staybolts and tubes, preparing for a hydrotest. I have not heard if a successful test has occurred yet.

Not really much to update. The locomotive is preatty much in the same shape now as it's shown in the video (which was filmed in June I think). The last actual work done was back in November when the frame and some of the exterior parts were painted. Work seems to have come close to a halt since then.

Safe to say, she won't be metting #630 when she comes through in June.

How do you determine what, if any, work has been accomplished inside the boiler and firebox from that video?

Not taking information from the video. I have a friend who is actively managing the volunteer group that is helping, and information from him as well as photos.

Not from the video, I've been physically helping work on this thing since last May. I'm just saying what you see in the video is more or less what you'd see if you walked through the shop door right now with the exception that some stuff has been painted.

Just wondered.

Has this project stalled?

No.

It hit a speed bump of local politics and bruised egos.

If politics at Big South Fork is a speed bump then I can guarantee you that the suspension is worn out by now. That's a lotta speed bumps.

Not so much IS stalled as WAS stalled. No major work was conducted on the locomotive between November 2013 and August 2014 that amounted to any significant progress. A number of completion dates had been promised and continually missed the biggest of which being she was supposed to premier as part of the 21st Century Steam trip between Lexington and Stearns to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Southern steam program. When it became clear #14 and #4501 weren't going to be ready for this, the trip was cancelled and the end of the season #630 trip between Chattanooga and Onidea replaced it.

I'm not privy to the politics going on down there, so I won't get into that.

However, from last a heard (about a month ago) is that project is supposed to get into swing again with the now proposed completion date of May 2015.

That matches what I have heard, too. In fact, there is continuing work going on inside the boiler and firebox that isn't visible to the visitor just walking around and looking at the exterior.

On the politics part, I've heard from several that whoever owns the locomotive and let the contract for the work almost immediately fell behind in the payment schedule specified in the contract, and that after going unpaid for months, the contractor stopped work.

Reportedly, after much wrangling back and forth, a new contract has been signed that resolved this issue at least, and allows work to resume.

I thought there was a hopper load of state grant money flowing into this. So how did the contractor not get paid? Is there something fishy going on with the tax dollars?