Hi Guys,I expect to type something up with pictures, but I took my son up to Steamtown along with 3 other modeling buddies and their little guys. There were two engines under steam for short 30-45 minute rides, handcar rides, tours galore and the adjacent trolley museum.For $10 bucks ($6 STEA admission, $4 trolley fare) my toddler and I toured all of Steamtown, rode behind the 2-8-2 up to Ridge Row and rode the trolley out the Laurel Line on a 10 mile round trip.Quite a bargain.If you are want to judge Steamtown by the legnth of daily excursions, you'll be dissapointed. But if you want to judge it by overall experience and enjoyment factors, I'd say it is the best it has ever been. I did get to see #1361 and #3713. Not much to report that hasn't been confirmed/refuted/hashed-out here. #26 was getting her tube sheets installed.The "give away" cars are still on the property waiting for homes. We should all be grateful STEA did not make haste in scrapping them. There are great restoration candidates awaiting a good home.Rob

[quote="robertjohndavis"]Hi Guys,I did get to see #1361 and #3713. Not much to report that hasn't been confirmed/refuted/hashed-out here. #26 was getting her tube sheets installed.It was good talking with you, Rob. I just wanted to add that the tube sheet you saw in no. 26 was the old one. The new tube sheet needs some rivets, and is over by one of our Bullard Boring mills. The machinery you saw on 26 was for heat treatment on the boiler which had some welding work done, especially on the front end of the boiler. This was worn too thin. By welding that area, bulking it up, they added stress that had to be reduced. Machinery was gone by the end of the day.A large group from the Horseshoe Curve chapter, NRHS visited, and spent an hour and a half getting the low-down on that loco's repairs.

Ahhh, that makes more sense. See what happens when you try to listen to a tour guide while manning a camera and a 2 year old! ;-)Rob