Another year of work has started!

Feb 3 workday:
We started building up the worn area on the Radius Bar Cross Tie. The area over the years has been worn it was decided to have us build it back up with weld. We are half way done with the build up and should be able to finish that next time up. Once the welding is complete we will mill it smooth. ... Also there were cracks in the corners of the bracket that we v-grooved. Once we re-install it to the engine we will weld that v-groove up.

The lower bracket for the Radius Bar Cross Tie has been made for stock. We used 1" steel for the plate and then cut 3"X4" stock to make the spacers to have room to attach the radius arm to the bracket. We still have to bore the large 3" hole thru the center once the main bracket is finished. We drilled the attaching holes for the bolts. We will do a final reaming of the holes once can put the upper and lower brackets together to get a good alignment for the new bolts.

Front driver springs we made from old ones on the scrap dock are ready to be shipped out to the vendors for final assembly. They have been sandblasted. The plan right now is to ship them out and have the straps made and the slots cut on the ends.
We have cut the stock for new pins for the equalizer bar, radius arm, and bolts for radius bar cross tie. The radius bar cross tie bolts are tapered and will be make from new stock. Plan is to make all of these in the few months on the lathe.

Check out our Facebook for pics.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... 3629534133

March 17 workday---The build up is complete on the cross tie! Next time up we will mill that baby! We sandblasted the Petticoat pipe and it's now ready to installed in the smokebox.
The smokebox cover was installed and we installed the bottom and top bolts. We have several more to put in but we have to ream the holes in the smokebox ring to make everything fit.
Work continues on the parts for pilot truck.

Some of you might be wondering why we are just reaming the holes in the smokebox, The bottom of the ring is shot. So we are just going to document the corrosion in the historical documents. No reason to replace the ring unless we are going get her in operational order. The smokebox is in rough shade and IMO would need to be replaced anyway for operations. The smokebox isn't matching up to the cover and we have opinions on this.

Above photo taken this morning, March 14 of 565 in the roundhouse. She looks completely different with the faceplate on. If you remember, since last summer, the headlight sat inside the smokebox. The light is on the floor now.

In the distance of the roundhouse is Erie Business Car no. 3.

What's going on with Erie #3? It's not usually in the roundhouse.

The smokebox cover is on! We finished attaching it yesterday! Dan and his classmates delivered the parts for the pilot truck also! The parts look great and we are one step closer to making her a 2-6-0 again.

We had our first weekend workday on May 15! Len and his gang were there and we had 5 folks there. We completely finished installation of the smokebox cover. All the bolts are installed and we attached the flag brackets. The marker light brackets need to be drilled to fit. The grab rail is done also.

--We installed the exhaust nozzle to the cylinder. We installed Heli-coils due to the heavy corrosion. The exhaust nozzle bolt holes are damaged so we are going to document it in the records and call it good for now.
--The exhaust muffler is sitting in the smokebox and just needs to be bolted on.
--The smokebox lift pipe needs a strap made for it to connect it to the smoke stack.
--The steam pipes are completely connected to the cylinders. Yeah nice big bolts! 7/8" in diameter bolts
--Scaffolding has been installed behind the cab so we can start removing the wood from the cab. Pictures have been done of the current condition for the report. We are going to send out a sample to make sure we use the right wood. Plus I want to have our plan approved for cab restoration for the NPS. I have to get approval before we start replacing any metal or wood. We are trying to get ahead on this while we are waiting on parts to made for the pilot.
--We have a plan in place to make the center pin for the pilot. Should be done in the next few months.

Saturday June 11, 2011 Len and the gang were up this weekend.

--The Marker lamp holders back on the smoke box. Holes were reamed to fit.

--Sandblasting continues on more parts.

--Started to strip the cab of wood. We came across a lot of coal soot up in there. We removed all the top wooden strips up the vent in the roof and 7 strips on the Engineer side of the roof.

Just a foot note, I don't know if you have seen it, but Classic Trains Magazine has a special issue out titled "In Search of Steam," which features three shots of 565 in it's ex-DLW days.

Some updated photos sent to me by Jim in the restoration crew.
These are the photos from their workday on Saturday June 11th.

First board comes off of the firemen side of the roof.


We found Red paint under the firemen recording report holder


After wood was removed from the Firemen side of the roof


Part that was sand blasted


Part of the valve gear.


Marker Lamp Holders installed


Reaming out bolt hole for marker lamp holder


Locomotive Shop worker John helps us out.


What the roof of the cab looks like with out wood lining.




Len Shaner shows us the cab side with out wood lining.


Len pulls the first nail of the day, this is on the Engineer side.


Matt taking parts over to be sand blasted


Len Shaner gets reading to remove wood from the Engineer Side.

And some of my own from around the same time, early June...

This is the smoke box end, with the petticoat resting inside. The door was open while other things were worked on.

And my close up of the marker lamp holder.

One of the neat things about this project is it is taking place right in front of the visitor's eyes. you could plant yourself on the walkway of the roundhouse and just watch them keep at it.

The ARHS / Tri-State crews are working on the Lackawanna F3s on the South turntable lead next to the visitor center, and the Reading Co. Tech / Philadelphia crews are working on the Reading FP7s in an area viewable from the Technology Museum balcony.

Lackawanna RailFest 2011 report on Project 565... For the second year straight, the headlight was lit for the Fest. This time the headlight was sitting on wooden blocks with the smoke box cover now back on. We now have a project sign on location. Each year our RailFest display gets better. We are looking forward to the day when DL&W 565 will be outside on display for all to see as a centerpiece for RailFest.
Here are some phot's from the event.

These photos were taken by crew member Jim K.
The first display you saw as you entered the working part of the round house was our lead wheel on the wheel jack.













Len Shaner tightening nuts on our valve covers.

Close up view on the project sign

It was nice to see the wheel jack installed and "in use." I rescued that jack from the St. Thomas, ONT, CSX roundhouse in 1986, along with four flatcars and a boxcar full of backshop machine tools. It was buried underneath wooden planking parked on its release track, not immediately obvious to the eye that it was even there. I recall paying a couple of bucks (loonies?) to the payloader operator that was scrapping GP-7's to fish it out and load it.

Steve Z.

This is why I come here. Thanks, Steve!

Stephen

I can't get over how much work you are doing on her, and what I am seeing looks first-class.

OK, it's more than a bit of dreaming, and someone will say it's asking too much, but I have to inquire--how much extra from what you are doing would it take to get her to run? So much of what you do now looks like what would also be done for an operational engine. I realize operation is not in the cards for now, but it looks to me like you are laying a foundation for that should the opportunity arise.

And for that, I must heartily say, "Thank you!"

J3a-614, She is one worn out engine. As we put things back on her we find more and more things just worn out. The list is getting long and we have to document everything we find. The smoke box alone is in bad shape. The ring that holds the front cover on is shot down at the bottom and we are missing the whole table that goes in there. The running gear would need to be completly re-built. Plus what we are still missing: Ashpan--Scrapped at the restaurant when Mr Cistro owned her, the air tank reservior missing. The boiler has never been ultrasounded, as far as I know, but I have been told the bottom is pitted and would mostly likely require extensive work to repair.

The tender chassis is another area that concerns us. We started looking at that and it's bad. Stuff is rotted away and would require an extensive repair.

You are correct with the foundation part. It's part of the charter, that is we have to document everything so if they, NPS, decide to make her operational they have a good base to start with. Good thing I'm used to doing detailed reports for the USAF, cause I spend alot of time typing.