While COVID-19 has been a problem over the past 18 months, the Colfax Railroad Museum has found ways to move ahead on a number of projects. We received $45K funding from IMLS in September of 2019 to catalog and update the infrastructure for our library/archive. To date, we have cataloged all the track plans for the Soo Line for the state of Wisconsin and the existing technical drawings for the Northwestern Motor Company. In addition, we are working on cataloging our library according to Library of Congress standards and already have almost 2000 books loaded, along with 250 videos. We plan on completing the balance of the 500 videos and 3000 softbacks and periodicals this winter with the help of interns from UW-Eau Claire, We are approximately half way through cataloging our ETT's, PTT's, maps, calendars, menus and other ephemera. Our plan is to eventually have the entire collection catalog viewable online.
On the hardware front, we have finished the library/archive upgrade with a heat pump system to handle environmental issues, installed a new plumbing system, and are progressing on the renovations for the events center and the model railroad club. We received a donation of a major, commercially built HO layout that will be the basis for the new club as soon as we complete a new exterior 2nd floor entrance to the club area that is required for fire safety.
We have opened our new 7.5" gauge train operation for visitors and welcome visiting power. We operate with a 50' minimum radius and have approximately 600' of mainline.
Our rolling stock restoration work has included partially residing and reroofing our MN&S wooden caboose #018 and we have started the cosmetic restoration of the Coronet Phosphate Porter 2-6-2T #5. We are looking for photos of a typical Porter cab to determine what's missing, what it looks like (Don Lind had some parts lying around that might be what's missing) and if anyone has any cab parts for sale. We really need the inspection port that was on the engineer's side of the smokebox. All we have there right now is the hole and the associated bolt holes. I will try to post some photos tomorrow of the Porter.

Great news, Herb!
Glad to hear you're making such fine progress.......mld

Unless I miss my guess, I don't think there should be any inspection port on the engineer's side of the smokebox on your Porter engine. If you can post a foto of the opening in question, maybe I can help figure out what the deal is.

There is a website for the "Chiggin", a Porter saddletanker restored by Stathi Papas, which has quite a few pictures of the cab that might be useful to you. I don't know the URL, but maybe the ever helpful RyPN members can provide it. Try searching "Santa Cruz Portland Cement".

Best of luck with your Porter #5 restoration.

The website for Santa Cruz Portland Cement Co. #2 ("The Chiggen") is:

http://www.scpc2.com/

If you go to the "Media" tab on the home page and then click on "Photos", you'll find four photo galleries, of which the "Restoration Photos" are the most numerous and detailed.

Here are the current shots of the Porter. The port I'm referring to is the hole about one foot back from the smokebox front

My guess is that the hole you asked about is for a cleanout plug. If you look under the smokebox, there is a large tube coming straight out the bottom, and venting below the pilot deck. During normal operation sand accumulates in the smokebox when the fireman sands his boiler tubes to remove soot. Most of it goes out the stack, but some piles up on the firebrick, and some settles in the smokebox. Whenever a routine boilerwash is done, somebody opens the smokebox front and cleans this out, but this job could have been done on your engine by pulling that plug out and sticking a hose in there, then washing the sand out the bottom.

You can weld up a replica for the casting that was probably used there, or if you want to get fancy 3DP a replica - I thing metal work for a one-off is much easier than programming, your mileage may vary. Or, weld in a plate, smooth it out and paint it if you can't make or find a replacement. Good hunting.

In the book "THE MAINE TWO-FOOTERS" by Linwood Moody, in a picture preceeding page 117, it shows an engineman standing on the steam chest of SR&RL Locomotive #24, on the fireman's side, with a long rod (probably a poker) extending into just such a hole on the side of the smokebox near the front. The caption says "...Only one engine, the 10, had a Hall-Slater self clearing front end. All the others had to be blown clean at the end of each trip. The cloud of steam to the 24's left is loaded with the cinders she'd gathered during her last, long mile up from Farmington that day."

Photos and drawings of #24 show cleanout holes on both sides of the smokebox.

Out of curiosity, I tried to find more about Hall-Slater self clearing front ends, but was unsuccessful.

Herb, I was going to mention that those cleanout hatches were a whole lot more common on coal burners than oil burners. We know that Audrey was delivered as an oil burner, but I'm thinking that before 1913 maybe Coronet used coal for locomotive fuel. So far I have found out very little about the Coronet Phosphate industrial railroad, if anybody knows anything, I would guess that the three people with Coronet locomotives to fix up would all be interested.

Does anyone have an example that we could use to have a new one cast? We have a foundry nearby that is willing to work with small projects like this if there is something available to make a pattern from.

Must be for the same diameter as your smokebox. This may limit your possible options.