The Dolbeer steam donkey on display at the Paul Bunyan Forest Camp in Redding, California needs a new boiler!

Originally fabricated about 1892, the donkey worked in the woods until 1917, was recovered and has been operated at various events for the last 40 years. During these public appearances roughly 150,000 students, Boy/Girl scouts and the members of the public have witnessed a key historic piece of equipment operating with live steam. They have been exposed to California’s history, turn of the century innovation, and the evolution of natural resources management technologies. Now, however, the boiler needs complete replacement because the boiler shell has eroded to the point that it cannot be operated safely under pressure.

The Forest Service has put up a $15,000 challenge grant for boiler repairs that are estimated at up to $60,000. The Northern California Society of American Foresters (NCSAF) is soliciting tax-deductible contributions to match the Forest Service's challenge. If the project cannot be funded by Dec. 31, 2017, the funds raised will be available to other established NCSAF educational projects.

For further information or to donate:

http://norcalsaf.org/donate.html

Al Stangenberger
Northern California Society of American Foresters

There seem to be a lot more options for new, replacement boilers than we had in years past. Jonas Stutzman, Lund Machine works, Swanz Restoration (a subcontractor that gets the engineering done), and even David Jowett, who does R stamp repairs that often involve removing the dome and putting a new boiler under it.

Stutzman has even recently completed several brand new, full size replicas of small, Advance steam traction engines. As far as getting new, small boilers built, the traction engine community is making great strides

[url][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4fSArO7pOY/url]

"60K to repair an upright boiler? For that kind of money, you can get a brand new, S stamped boiler built."

Since he said the boiler needs complete replacement, that would seem to be exactly what they are talking about.

I think the astonishment is in that a vertical fire tube boiler as that shown can probably be made new for $30K Traction boilers (locomotive style) are running between $30 and 40K and are a more complicated build than a VFT. Hence the surprise at the pricing.

That said, the agency may not have a large sourcing network and this (to $60K) is the only quote they've received so far.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

$40K for the boiler and $20K for the paperwork and government red tape.

You may think I'm joking, but in reality I'm not. Dealing with a government agency, especially in CA, adds all kind of problems. Let's start with a big one. "Prevailing Wage Rates". Those would probably apply to this job. The cost of living in CA is sky high, so the wages will be as well.

I no longer contract in CA, left there years ago because of all the hassles, but I can tell you that in WA state, if you're building something specific to a project, you pay prevailing wages, even if the work is done off site, the workers will be paid prevailing wage. I presume CA has the same sort of rule. Presumably the boiler shop doesn't have an inventory of stock donkey boilers on the shelf, so all the workers will be covered.

Now if it's a union shop, that's not a big deal, they're probably paying about that or more anyway. But if it's a small non-union operation, that could increase the labor costs a lot.

Obviously you'd need certified welders, and testing and documentation and on an on. That all costs money, lots of it. The contractor has no choice but to pass it along to the client.

Here's a sample of how this all works, one close to a favorite railroad of mine.

A re-purposed two story building/shop was made into a rest stop.

It has 5 toilets and 2 urinals. It does NOT have running water. The toilets are NOT connected to a sewer line. It uses pit toilets that must be pumped out on a regular basis. The town has a water system, and a large and rather under-utilized sewage system is only a few hundred yards away from the rest stop. A building next to the rest stop has water and sewer service, and the main sewer line probably runs right past it on the way to the sewage plant. Despite that, they chose not to use flush toilets to save cost

Speaking of cost, just how much did it cost? Well, the Tacoma News Tribune claims $4.2 Million.

http://mynorthwest.com/76/619192/Heres- ... e-industry

The state refutes that claim, saying the cost was "ONLY" $3.2 million.

http://wsdotblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/n ... -area.html

Want an interesting breakdown of where all the money went? Read the state's page for some insight.

No matter how you slice it, that's at least 1/2 million per crapper. I really need to stop by and use it some day...

Washington State DOT built the restroom and still had to pay $80,000 in taxes? To whom? Themselves?

Yep, to themselves essentially. Certain road projects are exempt, this didn't qualify. Even on the exempt projects, you end up paying "use tax" on the items you purchase for the project, essentially purchasing them as a retail sale and paying sales tax, and then of course that gets included in the contract price.

Wonderful system, isn't it?

I also found this little nugget to be interesting...



$1.1 million to build it. $338K for project inspection and admin. Over 1/3 of the cost of the building for the inspectors. But wait, there's more!



It cost more to figure out where to put it and to design it than it did to build it! Wonder why your state taxes are so high? Now you know.