11/15/2009: The first thing is that Boothbay could not get it done before the end of November. As I wished to have #3 back by early December so we could have the winter to put it back together, I told them not to turn the drivers this year. [Webmaster's note: as part of the lease requirement "Turning the driver wheels, re-arching the springs, and repairing the water tank shall be completed by the Operator no later than December 31, 2013".] On Tuesday [Boothbay] called ... they had found more cracks and pockets in welds when they cut out the rest of the corners. In addition, more bad or broken stay bolts were found. These could not be seen until removal of the firebox corners. [Boothbay] placed calls to The State and Federal inspectors and [the MNGM and SRRL steam program leaders]. [MNGM and SRRL] agreed to the plan put forth by [Boothbay]. The Federal inspector did not wish to make a special trip so he said to do what ever was needed. [The State inspector] decided he needed to come and see the boiler himself. [Boothbay] started cutting into the firebox to find clean metal. Unfortunately they found more cracks and pockets in a longitudinal weld. They also found severe cracking in the stay bolts that they removed. [The State inspector] showed up while they were doing this. He was not happy with the situation. He ordered that all welds that the law covers be x-ray-ed. If they are found to be bad they are to be ground out and re-welded. Also if they could not prove that the stays had good welds all the stay bolts have to be replaced. This is between 200 and 300 stays. So far every weld that they have cut open has failed. It has been decided that the fastest and most economical way to accomplish this is to remove the boiler from the frame and place it on the shop floor. Also all flat sheets and the crown sheet will be cut out and replaced. The reason for this is that all of the stay bolt welds would have to be ground out and filled in. It is faster to install threaded stays and heat treatment is not necessary. The curved sheets will be ground and filled, as it will be faster and cheaper. The crown sheet is marginal so it is safer and smarter to replace it now. ... [Still hope to] have it running by July 4, 2010.
11/22/2009:On Friday [Boothbay] called and said that all of the welds had been x-rayed. All of the welds passed except on the backhead of the boiler. There are six roughly two-inch long bad spots. These can be ground out and re-welded and re-tested. The stay bolts are still all bad. We will still go ahead with cutting out the flat sheets and crown sheets and replacing them to speed things up and save money in the long run. ...
2/5/2010:...recently spoke with ... Boothbay about #3(MNGRR). [They] said progress was good. They have finished with all of the cutting out of bad metal and are preparing the boiler for welding in new metal. They are ordering the metal and building the forms they will need. Later this month they will begin heating and beating the new metal to shape it. ...
3/3/2010:...took a quick trip to Boothbay today. I took over 40 pictures. I deleted some of the worst ones. I apologize for the quality of some. I borrowed a digital camera and I'm not used to it. You will see the bad welds and the extent of the removal of material to fix all of the problems. You will see the new smokebox and the repairs being made to the curved sheets. The large shiny holes are where they have ground out the bad metal to find good. They will weld it back to size them for staybolts. You will see bad staybolts found throughout the boiler. Lastly you will see what a steam engine looks like inside. All of the various hidden parts are exposed for all to see. ...if anyone has access to an accurate lathe or can get a machine shop to donate some labor to turn Flexi-staybolts it will save us money. Flexi-stays cost $100 each. There are $2800 worth needed. Boothbay has the steel to make them and drawings to go by.
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So, where does this leave us? Frankly, with no money at all! The lease agreement with Maine Narrow Gauge Museum calls for us to spend up to $25,000 for the boiler work and another $10,000 for the running gear work. Well, we have deferred the running gear work. The boiler work was originally expected to be a "simple" re-tubing with the asbestos abatement and inspections that come with that. But that scope of boiler work was only estimated at $18,000. As of March 1, 2010, the SR&RL has spent $28,000 and that doesn't include the $2,800 worth of flexi-stays. And the list of "to do" items goes on.