Just wondering, but did the SY locomotives come equipped with stokers or are they hand bombed? Also, did the Chinese use full penitration welds or fillets on the stays. I am also curious as to what damage was from the fire and what rebuilding was just due to use...do you all know what the mileage was on the engine?

BTW the engine looks outstanding.

Hopefully J. David will fill in the details on the fire damage. The 2 "Americanized" SY class (3 if you count 1698M) were built with full penetration welds on the staybolts. All SYs are hand fired to the best of my knowledge and are extremely easy to fire they steam like you won't believe....at least that was the case 20 years ago.

Quickly:
All Class SY "M" (Mieguo=America) series had boilers that were "equivalent" to ASME as per the requirements of the State of Connecticut under who's jurisdiction we were under at the time we ordered our 1st SY (SY1647M). Production SYs have fillet welded staybolts etc.
No SYs were stoker equipped, although when we were trying to sell one to Western Maryland Scenic in the '90s, Tangshan quoted us on a stoker equipped locomotive.
With the exception of the cab (which was pretty much totalled), the fire damage was quite superficial (see one of the photos earlier in this thread or on "The Enginehouse" blog. Paint and oil weren't even burned off the lubricators which are mounted on top of the running boards. All that we reused from the original cab was the roof.
I think the greatest effect of the fire was on the Cornell Family. They were devestated by it and I think that is what made them decide to call it quits.
J.David
PS: Les, we don't have a New Haven caboose. JDC

J.David,

Thanks for sharing so much information on the project. I hope to get up your way to see her in action.

J. David -

I was looking at the photo of number 3025 when it suddenly hit me that she reminded me of the "little" 2-8-2's that used to run on the Illinois Central's now-abandoned rail line up to Madison, Wisconsin. There were two of them as I recall; numbers 3969 and maybe 3962. I remember that David P. Morgan featured them in one of his "steam in twilight" series in TRAINS Magazine. These engines came from a small fleet that was on the roster of a railroad down in the deep South someplace, and I think that they were quite a bit smaller than the "regular" Mikes that frequented the IC's steam roster. I don't know for sure, but I think that 3025 may be smaller than the New Haven's roster of 2-8-2's.

Thanks for the news that Valley doesn't have a genuine NYNH&H caboose. You may have to try to do something about that, now that New Haven 3025 is on line.

Les

Great job to the shop crew on the Valley RR for a job well done.. The 3025 looks gorgeous. I have never paid attention to this before, but at least in the most recent photo of the 3025, I find the boiler really resembles a Russian decapod. Once again, great work and it is good to see the locomotive revived after the Knox Kane & Kinzua fire several years ago.

I got a shot of 3025 out testing this afternoon, with J. David at the throttle:



Lee

Thank you, Lee. Very nice!

Stephen

Congratulations to the VRR crew and hats off to David leading the work. The quality of the work speaks for itself.

I myself had a personal window into the work on No. 3025; I worked on it a few days myself. This is historic for me since it was the first time I have ever work on real railroad equipment.

I showed up my first day and within five minutes I was in the firebox mapping it for ultra sound!

Other work was removing the rear equalizer bars using big hammers and man those things were heavy. David showed me just how much wear there was on the front pivot point that would need to be built up to spec.

The following are pictures I took of the work.

Wheel of fire:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=329045

The cab:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=357530

The wheels:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=321473

The smoke box:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=321469

I also did needle scaling on the tender deck, and cleaning the bell hanger.

I looking forward to seeing no. 3025 and being able to say "I worked on that locomotive."

She looks great. I was worried about the locomotive after the fire as I hadn't heard of anyone looking at her before the auction, and being new, there isn't any historical 'pull' that so often helps in preservation.

Too early to ask about applying some temporary red paint and "SY58" number plates for a photo charter someday? :-) [ducking for cover]

Nick

Again, great job! I've got to plan plans to head east to see her now!

Ryan

Here's a shot of the 3025 crossing Rte 153 at the south end of the Essex Yard on the afternoon of Friday, November 18th. A small group of photogs were fortunate to get a few snaps in good light as the crew was about to put her away. A very handsome engine indeed!

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 729&nseq=4

Clearly, the shop crew is still working on adjustments and fixes to various systems and appliances, so actual running time has so far been quite limited and only in the yard. I suspect that the pace will pick up this week as the railroad's schedule of "Santa Special" and "North Pole Express" Trains expands on the day after Thanksgiving, and that schedule appears to be based on having two locomotives available as they did last year with 97 running. When 3025 makes her debut alongside 40, it should be quite a show in Essex.

/Kevin

Well, the fans were out today (Tuesday 11/22):



3025 was being prepped to go to the wye in Old Saybrook to be turned. Valley engines traditionally face north, which puts the engineer on the platform side at Essex and Deep River. That traditionally permits much better viewing of the summertime scenery for the cab crew.

Howard P.
Ice on 3, CT

Three of us in that group shot by Howard are employees, as well as fans.

Here's a link to some photos shot of 3025's being tested and then turned at
Old Saybrook:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33786891@N ... 043437277/

Enjoy,
Lee