Being the manager of the Climax CN 1551 project, please allow me chime in on the bolt subject.

Climax put the truck side frame bolt heads on the bottom for a good reason: this aids in the changing out a truck shaft (pinion shaft to Shay fans). In order to remove a Climax truck shaft, the upper truck bolster must be removed, which entails first removing the top bar of both truck side frames. By putting the long truck frame bolts in from the bottom, the removal of the top bars is simple, just take off the double nuts, pick up offending bar, and throw it to the side! To keep the bolts from dropping, simply block wooden plank firmly up under the bolts prior to removing the nuts.

Assembling a Climax side frame with the bolt heads on the bottom is not difficult: place the bottom arch on its side, and slip in the bolts. Flip arch upright on a plank situated as in above paragraph. If the blocking is correct height, the side frame at this time can be slipped under the journal boxes, already on their axles. Place the coil springs on the JB's, following with the JB pedestals, and main archbar. By this time it starts to look like a truck, and my point is made.

This is my first posting on this board within memory, and thanks for the interest in the Climax 1551 project. We have been working on this old girl a LONG time, and we feel really good when things drop together like they did for us this past weekend.

What I see in those photos looks great! The pix themselves look like something from the Climax works' shop floor. What I see is amazing, considering how tired and worn the engine was before the people at the Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association started work.

May I extend congratulations on the progress made so far by this volunteer group.

Home page for the MSR&LHA; be sure to check out the photo galleries, in particular the Climax restoration photos and the historic Cass operations, both of the road in its last days as a logger, and in its early days as a heritage road. There is also a very interesting and colorful set of rosters for the road and its predecessors, largely compiled by the late Phil Bagdon:

http://www.msrlha.org/

Hello Grady Smith!! It's about time you made it into the 21st Century (dragging and kicking)!!

Let me apologize in advance for the thread drift, but since there are 2 people iwho might be in the know on this topic... Do either of you know the disposition of the Graham County Shay 1926? This was the "parts Shay" brought in a couple years ago from PA. I did not see it last summer, but everything was moved off the old deadline at that time. I'm hoping it was shoved down the river line and not destroyed. The conductor on our train thought that it was not in as good of condition as they had hoped and was going to be scrapped. IIRC, there was an idea to reboiler the ex-Meadow River 7 with 1926's boiler. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Mike Stillwell
Buena Vista, VA.

Don't want to derail this thread too far:

I saw the #1926 boiler on engine frame at Cass a year or so ago. Looked rough, but who knows? I didn't seen other #1926 parts, but they may have been there.

Everyone needs to remind themselves of something before speculating on anything at Cass (or other places) about "upcoming" restorations. I don't know what decisions are being made by anyone, so please don't consider me to be "in the know".

Cass has 6 operable locomotives (#2 under heavy repair now). Attendance/Ridership has been light in early June on some runs, and revenue isn't as high as it could be. Cass has plenty of locomotives for their operation, without restoring anything else. Cass struggles each year to obtain suitable budget from the State of WV for operations. I highly doubt in our present economy that WV (or any state) is in a position to allocate funding for restoration of anything that is not in imminent danger of collapse (structures, operating rolling stock, etc).

That said, it is the MSR&LHA that has bubbled to the surface to help restore "projects". The skidder, camp cars, Camp #1, and now the Climax are being tackled by this non-profit, volunteer group.

In addition to Meadow River #7, there are the Brimstone and Agnew shays on the property, which although in much need, are in better condition and more complete than #7. If ANY of these locomotives do get restored, by WHOMEVER can tackle them, I'm sure existing mechanical condition will play a huge part in making a decision which one will be worked on.

While all of us want to see #7 and anything/everything else up and running, there are many criteria in making decisions concerning such.

Thanks Mark - I won't hold you to any promises! I have no expectation of any kind of restoration of 1926. I expect it to supply truck parts and engine parts, as it is a later built Shay (#3299) and has the parts that would be usable by most of the other members of the Cass fleet. Putting on my day-dreamer-foamer-hat, it would be nice to see the remains in Spencer with sister 1925, but that ain't gonna happen.
We'll up there to ride in a couple weeks. I was concerned that things had been kinda quiet for them, from talking to friends who have been to ride earlier this year, but I guess that's everywhere right now.

Mike Stillwell
Buena Vista, VA.

1926's boiler and frame is on a flat car, on the deadline track north of town. It's water tank's frame and other associated truck parts, are behind the car shop, in the junk piles. Not much of the locomotive was left after it's parts went with the 1925 to Spencer...

No cab, no coal bunker, no water tank. Tires were welded onto the wheels, from what I can recall.

It's really not a locomotive anymore...it's a gathering of parts. Plans were to use the boiler for #7...whether that's a possibility due to condition, I am not in a position to say.

Agnew #3 was mentioned by Mark. It is currently in the main shop, and is getting a cosmetic restoration, and will be placed on display at the Cass Depot. Whatever it looks like when it comes out, will be much better than the smokebox-less, rusty machine that it was before.

Shop tours are offered by park personal for free. If you come to Cass, take a tour, and you can take a look at everything going on, including the Climax restoration, Agnew #3's cosmetic restoration, #2's Form 4 work, and everything else that goes on down there. Last time I took a tour, one of the guides gave me the scoop on what's going on, and I got to talk to some of the shop crew about progress.

As mentioned before, this year they have 5 operational locomotives, and 2 under restoration. Pretty damn impressive, all things considered.

Thanks for the information. 1926's cab is on 1925. It was put on after 1925 ran away and wrecked in the gorge in '68. 1925's old bent cab is on SN 2147 in Townsend, TN at the Little River RR Muesum. 2147 was one of the display Shays at Graham County RR.

Mike Stillwell
Buena Vista, VA

With the bolt orientation, I almost wonder if Shay installed them thread up to protect them when the locomotive decided to chase a squirrel. As the tracks were not always put down flat, level and straight, how often did they jump track?

With the bolts thread up, the rail, ties, rocks, etc..., would just glance off the heads, but would bend or shear the bolt if the threads faced down. Then as mentioned it makes it easier to repair/maintain the power assemblies.

Rich C.

Think one of the members active in this restoration posted some very nice photos of some of the machine work being done in house. Very detailed work those familar with machine tools could identify with and appreciate. Am not on the practicalmachinist.com/antique machines forum much anymore and do not have time to hunt down some of the links. Think Andy Frizt..... was the person who posted these photos if I recall. Appears to be a first class rebuild/restoration. Some very talented machinists/mechanics at work on this project.

Cass is top 10 of my bucket list, along with Nevada Northern and Cumbres Toltec and...............

Cheers, John.

Looks like beautiful work.
I realize that projects like this normally (and rightfully) get a ''DON'T ASK'' tag about when they will be finished,
but I'll ask anyway:
(1) is there any idea of a target date (year) when this locomotive might be finished?
(2) will that mean there could be occasions where all 3 types of geared engines are in steam and running at Cass on the same day(s)?
Thanks for any replies.

Has anyone heard any news about the progress with the climax? I can tell that this is quite a thorough restoration, and I can bet that the climax will run wonderfully after she's finished. I just want to see if anyone knows what is happening with her restoration.

Until my computer crashed last June, I was following this rebuild pretty closely. As of last summer, the boiler had been sent to a contractor for its FRA compliant rebuild. The frame and running gear were together enough (summer, 2014) to be dragged around the yard. The steam engine (cylinders, pistons, etc) were next on the agenda to be complete when the boiler returned. I used to have a link to the website, but have been unable to find it again.

Anyone out there willing to share the link?

For the best updates, see their facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Moun ... 4909463372

J.R.

Grady Smith is getting old and forgetful.....especially when it comes to computer passwords for RYPN. (Hi Grady!) He is aware of this update request, but until then...........

Generally:
1) The boiler has been finished and is in the main Cass shop, and ready to be installed.
2) The tender tank is ready to be installed on the tender frame.
3) The boiler saddle has been attached to the loco frame in preparation to mount the boiler.
4) An attempt to mount the left cylinder failed due to some misaligned studs. It was discovered that the original construction had misaligned studs, so the properly aligned studs have to be misaligned/bent. Clear as mud?
5) The engine and tender frame/trucks assembly is ready to be moved to the main Cass shop for tender tank placement, and probably boiler placement at the same time? (Right Grady?)
6) Grady will not forget his RYPN password again, ever.