The February, 2022 status report is posted at http://www.557.alaskarails.org/restore/ ... index.html.

Volunteer Terry Douglas , Board Member John Combs, and President and Project Manager Patrick Durand pose in front of 557 shortly after she was fully lowered onto her wheels and before the lifting I-beams and jacks were removed.

The March status report is posted at https://www.alaskarails.org/pix/former- ... index.html.

After a bit of delay to do some fine tuning on the pedestal binders, the wheels are in place and all of the jacks and blocking have been removed.

A photo taken today shows Mason, our youngest and newest volunteer trying out the engineer's seat. He joined the 557 volunteer crew just after he turned 18, the minimum age that our insurance allowed. This photo shows the first time the locomotive was mated to a tender since it left Moses Lake. It is being measured for interconnecting hoses fit and the exact length of the replacement draw bar.

Another photo from yesterday.

The latest 557 status report is posted at https://www.alaskarails.org/pix/former- ... index.html

The latest monthly status report has been posted at https://www.alaskarails.org/pix/former- ... index.html

Jeff Debroeck watches as Brice Douglas bores the pin holes in the new drawbar.

A replacement draw bar was required as the tender that was behind 557 in Moses Lake was a misfit that was 30 years older than the locomotive and the draw bar was the wrong length. The original tender is believed to have been retained for MOW service when 557 was sent south to the scrap yard.

The new drawbar was nondestructive inspected thanks to a contribution of services by one of our many business supporters.

The most recent status report is posted at https://www.alaskarails.org/pix/former- ... index.html

Conversion to the upgraded brake valve is nearing completion. Paul Dalleska gets credit of the pipe work and making everything fit.

I didn't know Paul was working with you - you are in excellent hands.

We have been very fortunate that we have been able to contract with him as a part-time consultant for almost four years.

Bill O'Leary, Alaska Railroad Corporation President and CEO, Clark Hopp, Chief Operating Officer, and Dale Wade, Vice President for Marketing and Customer Service were welcomed for a visit to the 557 Engine House the end of last week.

Pictured are 557 consultant Paul Dalleska, O'Leary, Engine 557 President and Project Manager Patrick Durand, Hopp, and Wade. Behind the camera was Christy Terry, ARRC Director of External Affairs.

The Alaska Railroad Corporation has been a supporter of the Engine 557 Restoration Company and the return of Alaska Railroad #557 to operation since the project's inception.

The July status report is posted at https://www.alaskarails.org/pix/former- ... index.html

It's surprising that just when a need arises, the solution walks through the door. Last month a new visitor took the Engine House tour. When we learned he was a sheet metal craftsman we asked, and he agreed to help with fabricating the new jacket and other sheet metal parts. In the photo, Project Manager Patrick Durand does a trial fitting and measures for the door in the side of the newly made cylinder jacket.

Your link is saying "page not found", I believe this is the correct link: http://www.alaskarails.org/pix/former-l ... index.html

Thanks. got it fixed.

Three dismantled S160's for sale at Ruddington (Great Central Railway North) England.
Ray.

Too bad the freight would be so high.

On August 18, 2012, Engine 557 entered a former lumber yard millwork shop which was soon to be renamed "The Engine House." Ten long years later the transformation comes ever closer to completion.