Hello, some time back on the rypn there were quite afew comments about Shay #1643 at the Heritage museum in Libby,Montana. My wife and my self have been working on it, along with some well qualified volunteers. We have 3 machinists, 5 certified welders, 6 carpenters, 1 cement contractor, 5 heavy equipment operaters and about dozen other folks that have specialized training. Now our first grant monies to restore the shay had strings attached. Could only be spent on the shay, not on the building ,cement or electricity. We take lots of pictures and make drawings of everything on the shay before it is removed. We had to remove the boiler shrouding to have the ultrasound test done on the boiler. Each piece is marked and photographed. We have removed the steamdome lid for internal inspection of the boiler. If we had the money to start with for the building we would have put in the floor first ,along with our 7 ton overhead crane. The railroad crew are very dedicated to restore the shay to running condition. We have a gentleman that is posting our pictures on his website of our progress. Winter time slows things down with, colds and flu, but our fundraising group has snagged a small nestegg to go for repairs on the bolier. The webpage is http://www.gearedsteam.blogspot.com. J-neils shay rebuild sn#1643 chapters 1,2,3. Dave Etienne

Thank you for providing this information and in-sights about your project. I wish you and the Heritage Museum success with the renovation.

So many of the railway museums that exist now started work in the dirt, dust and mud.

Grouse -

You guys are doing a terrific job with number 4. Keep it up!


Les

Link to related thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34404

Keep up the work, just make sure the parts don't walk away. . .

Amen , most of the parts a quite heavy, but the nuts and bolts could sprout little legs. We had a railroad meeting Saturday and the next order of business is wood doors for both end of the enginehouse. Those metal gates don't keep the wind out much. locks only keep honest people out.

Have alittle history about the enginehouse, the shay is parked in. It is the original enginehouse that the Libby Lumber Co. built in 1911 for their logging railroad operation. J.Neils Lumber Co. bought out the Libby Lumber Co. in 1919. It was used by the Shays of the J.Neils Lumber Co. logging operations ,south of Libby, then north accross the Kootenai River up pipe creek. Truck logging superceded locomotives in the woods in the 1930's. Our 'Old 4 Spot' worked as a switch engine on the mill property til 1952 or 1953. When it was retired and put on display by St.Regis Timber Co. Around the 1980's they were going to scrap the enginehouse. One of our volunteers got wind of it ,and was able to get the enginehouse moved to the museum property. They picked it up with a 50 ton logging crane and packed it over there. Some where in the move the front doors were lost, so new doors will be the order come spring to replace the 8' chain link gates.