It has been a while since an update here. Both F3A's (DL&W 663 and #664 are being readied for the Steamtown excursion season.

#663 had a pipe nipple fail on the engine cooling water piping at the end of last season. This occurred while draining the locomotive and in itself would not be a big deal except the location is very difficult to get to unless you have four foot long arms :-) or take things apart. We had to remove the suction and discharge piping connected to the oil pump in order to make the repairs. The complete job took two people two work sessions but only $6.00 in cost for all the new gaskets. All is good and she is now filled with water. 92 day inspection and front door repairs still need to be completed by the end of June.

B unit - this locomotive has finally been getting some long overdue TLC as it has been the main work project for ARHS volunteers this past winter. It has hibernated inside the Steamtown roundhouse which allowed considerable rust to be removed from the inside and spot priming and painting to take place. All the fabric covered lo-volt control wire was removed and about 4000 ft of new Exane wire pulled thru the main conduits. We were looking to restore the main electrical cabinet relays and other component on a piece-meal basis when we were given a tip that NS had complete F-unit electrical cabinets which were headed for the scrap gondola. These were removed from their Executive F units this past winter as they were upgraded to AC. Thanks to some great contacts and friends and some quick phone calls we obtained the complete cabinet from NS #4275. Since this is a modernized cabinet with a modified layout of components it was decide to reverse what NS had done. We moved ahead with a plan to remove the existing electrical cabinet from the B unit and replace it with the one obtained from NS. This requires work in Steamtown's main shop with the big overhead crane and cutting a hole in the roof. The old cabinet came out on April 25 and it is hoped that the "new" will be installed this coming week. Not sure how many other groups have done this extensive electrical work. The plan is to get all the wiring connected by late summer.

Rich Jahn
ARHS, CMO

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