Sat 10 Sept,05Big day to day,Found and replaced yet another Bearing/bushing on truck 13 and reassembled another adjusting rod and bell crank, and am now awaiting welding of wear plates and restoration of the break beam for final assembly. Also we found yet 2 more bushings that need replacment, going to make them Wends.This is the end of the truck with the compleated re assembled brakes.http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevin ... full=1This is a side view of the trucks showing the adjusting rods.http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevin ... full=1This is the mounting area where the brake beam undergoing restoration will be mountedhttp://www.railimages.com/galler ... 1Meanwhile, the oilbunker recived cleaning of the last 4x6 foot area where the cribbibg was in the way. also some last blocks of dunnage were cut out and oiled for the reassembly. Needlescaling continues on the tender trucks, and the king pins were sandblasted and painted prior to thier reinstallation. In the office the drawings are now beeing sorted and marked for easier location.Also this was our monthly meeting, among other things brought up was the need for a BNSF saftey class so we can opperate on the Main Line.During Lunch, most of the crew went down to the yard to look at the "Rail Runner" cars that have just been delivered from Canadahttp://www.railimages.com/gallery ... full=1More to come,Gunns

Wends. Sept.14,05"When I was younger I went Spelunking a lot, then I got thicker around the waist and thought I would never use the skills again...."We have Heard that WABCO is going to discontinue making brake cyl caps in the 6" to 18" sizes from our Locomotives time period. So we decided that we need to find the sizes we use and order enough parts to supply us for our future needs. We went to the loco and started to count brake cyls, and sizes... Basicly we have 4 cyls that are 14" and 4 that are 8" on the Loco, and 8 cyls 9" in dia on the tender.3 of the big cyls on the loco are compleatly enclosed by the frame, and our drawings refered us to a WABCo drawing we dont have...Entry into the space under the loco <hence the caveing refrence>http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/ael?full=1one of the 3 enclosed brake cyls,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/aeb?full=1looking forward from the last driver,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/aec?full=1looking out through the driver at a tender truck,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/aed?full=1the firebox truck pivot point,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/aee?full=1a driver brake shoe,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/aef?full=1last driver crank pin from inside the frame,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/aeg?full=1Travis inside,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/aem?full=1we finaly found the recording marks on the cyls "on top" entry to the top of the frame,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/aen?full=1In spite of the fun, hunting for info, we had work to do, the 2 bushings were made and heat treated, pressed in to the beams, and set up or installation.the parts ready to install,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/aeh?full=1the installation location,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/aei?full=1the parts installed,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/aej?full=1th location wehere the belcrank will be installed,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/aek?full=1Note we have not compleatly connected all the parts as we are awaiting welding on the brake shoe beam and the wear plate.In the office cataloging, sorting, and filing of the drawings continues, now that they have all been scaned in to the data base. <side note, we will eventually have all the drawings avalible on a CD ROM >more to come,GunnsDrawbars --- Hard hat for scale

Sat 17Sept05Today we checked the opperation of the spring mounted shock absorbers of truck 4, (one of the tender trucks) of the four only one had been seized and it was freed up with no problems in our 20 ton press.http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevin ... ull=1After that we prepaired for some infastructure additions, we are obtaining another 40' shipping container to store tools and supplys, this will allow more room int the machine shop can, and also in the engine parts storage can. Also we made inprovments to our mobile scaffold, adding metal flooring to the deck and attaching a permanent ladder to the side.http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevin ... ?full=1Our clubmember, Mr Atwell, was here and started in in some of the many welding jobs.this allowed us to install the last bellcrank on truck 13.http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevin ... ?full=1The office crew after a long morning hacking away at the packaged lesson plan project escaped the pffice and started chiping away some of the many layers of paint that were applied during the park years. (in some areas the paint is over 1/8 of an inch thick)http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/aew?full=1Now some additional photos,This is the stack lifterhttp://www.railimages.com/gallery ... full=1this is the dynamohttp://www.railimages.com/gallery ... full=1this is the left side aircompressorhttp://www.railimages.com/ ... full=1Here are the aircompressors on the pilot deckhttp://www.railimages.com/gallery/k ... full=1this is the ATS sensor mount on the trailing truckhttp://www.railimages.com/gallery/ ... full=1here is the power reversehttp://www.railimages.com/galler ... ?full=1and this is the Chassis lube pumphttp://www.railimages.com/gallery/k ... full=1More to come,Gunns

Please don't let the lack of responses to your posts get you down. I for one (and there are likely many others) enjoy seeing your progress on the mightiest of 4-8-4's. It sure looks like a monumental task, but it also looks like you are on the home stretch of the tender. I'm hoping that the engine is only sad looking cosmetically, that everything else is sound. I was sad to hear that the 2912 group decided to do a cosmetic only restoration, but I understand the reasons why. I can't help but think after reading the "wheels" homepage, that things aren't going smoothly, and I wasn't sure if you were an arm's length group from them, or an integrated part. Sure would be nice to have the AT&SF shops to house 2926 in after her restoration is complete, but after typing that I was wondering why you aren't in there now, instead of trying to do an outdoor restoration a la 765?

Thanks,The exterior of the jacket is a result of "Art in the Park" where more paint is allways good and Galvanized steel was pop rivited in place to patch the jacket. Every thing we have looked at seems good with no pitting or damage to the boiler visable. We are lucky to have a dry climate, with normal humidity below 30% (or lower), this tends to dry out the lagging quickly. Early on it was decided that we didnt want to have the complication of "doing" a restoration in the midst of a renovation..... And plans are in the works for permanent facility.Gunns

Yes Please keep your posts coming. Although i don't reply I read each one. Good on you guys for what you are doing........................................Wooly

Wends Sept 21,05To day we worked on the strainer basket that sits in one of the two oil fill ports in the oil bunker. one of the fill baskets is in orignal condition and needed no work except cleaning, but the other had a place where a crowbar or something was forced through the mesh breaking the wires. Repair involves cutting the mesh and folding the wire to make an even and reinforced opening and then riveting a mesh patch over the hole. The hole has been cleaned up and the patch is beeing fabricated.Also we worked on the water outlet valves of the tender, both of the water feed valves were in good condition, with little or no wear on the brass valve (the moving or stopper part of the valve) but with pitting on the cast steel valve body and seat. A tool was fabricated that we are using to grind the valve seat back to the orignal profile, this tool is a grinding wheel that has been formed with a dressing tool to the valve seat profile and put on a mandrel with a centering "plug", much like a router bit. The valve seat is a 45 Deg. angle, running from 3.75 to 4.5 inches. the first (of two) valve body has been ground (and lapped).Also the never ending needle scaling of the tender trucks (prepretory to painting) continues, the size of the surface area of a 8 wheel buckeye truck is amazing.The lesson plan Education package was finalized and edited to day 3 copys will be produced for display at an educators fair at UNM this week the "Box" includes a 85 page manual of lesson plans and information K to 12 with the associated bench marks, two rail history books, the safety coloring book, a 2926 poster, a set of CD roms Showing the history of the 2926 and work to date, and an evaluation form. We have a grant to produce a large number of the "lesson in a box" kits and will have 50 of them at our open house next month.Photos are coming tomrrow, (forgot to Dl the camera)more to come,Gunns

Ok here are the photos,This is the oil fill port strainer ready for a patch,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/afd?full=1This is the tender valve body and valve,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/afc?full=1This is some of the welding on the tender trucks,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/aff?full=1This is the injector water feed connection,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/afg?full=1And here are some of the new steps for the tender,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/afh?full=1More to come,Gunns

Sat. Sept. 24, 05Today we finshed up the valve seats on the water supply valves on the tender. This involved making a new mandrel to mount the grinding wheel on, and reseting the angle on the wheel. Also we patched the strainer basket that was holed during the park years, this is one of two baskets that fit in the two fill openings we have in the oil bunker. The effort to remove the last of the oil glop on the bottom of the oil bunker continues, we have a hand sandblaster thar seem to (finally) be doing the job. I would be easy if we could just turn the tank over (Grin).http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/afi?full=1 We also added enough panel track to allow us to roll the tender trucks back and forth for testing now that work on them is nearing compleation.http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/afj?full=1 Work on the tool boxes, is allmost compleat, with only some latch hooks to be made. This is a photo of the shop area.http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/afk?full=1 And here is a photo of the brake beam that is being repairedhttp://www.railimages.com/galle ... afl?full=1 The dip is an area where the beam was riding in the bracket, and is beeing built up with arc weld metal and ground back to profile.More to come,Gunns

Hi All I'm Back,I just spent 9 days crewing a german balloon, (photo as soon as I get every thing d/l from the little box thing) so I havent forgotten Ya'll I just been flying....at the work site we are preparing for our open house this weekend, so lots of cleaning and putting stuff away, after next Sat and Sun, work begins. Last Sat I got some photos of our "Layout", (BNSF main line to Raton Pass) so I will put them up so you can compaire them to the model work you may be doing. The fiesta went well, I got two flights, both about an hour long, had a great time.more to come,Gunns

Wends 12 oct 05Preprations for the Open House continued, cleaning, site preperation, ec. Also the brake cyl grease has arrived, and the 9 in brake cyls are being cleaned and assembled. One down and 7 to go. more to come,Gunns

Hi all,I'm back after the ABIF and our open house. 15-16 Oct,05This was our open house, well attended with live music, free hot dogs, and lots of looking at the 2926.Here are two of our brake cylinders, the closed one is finshed.http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevin ... fp?full=1A photo from the gate,http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevinevans/afq?full=1Here is the Rail Runner table, not the Ahern models.http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevin ... l=1Another one made 1944.http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevin ... full=1Free Foodhttp://www.railimages.com/gallery/k ... ?full=1The Territorial Brass Bandhttp://www.railimages.com/gallery/k ... ?full=1Our opperating steamerhttp://www.railimages.com/galler ... l=1Rolling postershttp://www.railimages.com/galler ... ?full=1The fuel that keeps us goinghttp://www.railimages.com/gallery/ ... full=1more to come,Gunns

Hi all,Wends. 19 Oct, 05Today we had a saller turnout, mostly cleanup / pickup from the Open House. Howeever we did do some more work on the brake cylinders, Here our CMO is honong a Cylinder.http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevin ... full=1This is a rebuilt piston awaiting reinstallation.http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevin ... full=1this is a stack of pit covers.http://www.railimages.com/gallery/kevin ... full=1Work continues at a steady pace.More to comeGunns (inspecting the bell ringer)