Stolen from the Altamont Press, news piece about boiler steel from C&TS "train cars" being sent to Sandia Labratories for analysis. Their determination: pretty much standard carbon steel, which most everyone else involved probably knew already:

Lab helping to get train on track

Old trains and new science.

Combine the two and you can revitalize a historic New Mexican landmark, according to state officials.

That's why the state asked Sandia National Laboratories to help it analyze train materials on the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad - so that the railroad could get more trains on the historic 1880 track, and more tourists into northern New Mexico, said Steve Malnar, a state railroad commissioner.

"Those guys have been a big help to us," Malnar said. "There's an awful lot of welding that goes into restoring these old trains. We couldn't do that without knowing what metal we were welding onto. They figured it out for us."

Sandia's work - mostly done in 2004 - will let the railroad introduce a new train on the Cumbres and Toltec when the season opens on May28, he added.

"That's huge in terms of economic impact in that part of the state," Malnar said. "We're anticipating we'll have 45,000 riders this summer and we've already sold 10 percent of that. That's far and away the best sales we've ever had. Last year it was only about half that."

Sandia scientists took metal samples from Cumbres and Toltec rail cars made by Baldwin Locomotives that date back to 1925. The metal is "pretty standard carbon steel," said Ted Borek, a Sandia chemist on the project.

But an analysis of the steel's exact chemical breakdown on Sandia's high-tech instruments was essential before more restored cars could get back on the track, Borek said.

"Carbon steel is a certain flavor of metal," Borek said. "It has iron, chromium and nickel in it, along with a few other things. Once you know that composition you know what you need to weld on it and how to do that. We were able to help the railroad determine that."

The work was done as part of a Sandia and state grant program that lets small businesses receive up to $10,000 in aid from the labs. The analysis and work cost less than that, Borek said, although he didn't have precise figures.

"We actually spend more time in the car and out getting samples than we did running the analysis," he said, laughing. "But seriously, it was just a very pleasurable project for us to be associated with. The thing I find fascinating is those cars predate Sandia by more than 20 years; it's just not something we're used to looking at."

The railroad will have three operational trains this season, which ends in mid-October. In 2003 it only had one train and in 2004 was able to restore a second one that didn't need as much work as the newly restored train, Malnar said.

Jerry Hanks, science and technology adviser for Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, says he put the deal together when he heard about the Sandia assistance program.

"Sandia's presence has been very positive - we think the new train will increase ridership and revenues and that will get the railroad one step closer to sustainability," Hanks said.

He added that Los Alamos National Laboratories has also been a big help in restoring trains - the lab gave the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad about $150,000 worth of its excess machine shop equipment.

The railroad still needs about $30 million worth of work, including about $20 million to improve the track and $10 million to repair trains and bring the stable of locomotives to six from the three it has now, Malnar said.

The Legislature appropriated $1 million in capital outlay for the project this session, and the railroad has applied for a matching grant from the federal Save America's Treasures program, Malnar added.

"Every little bit helps and brings us closer to complete restoration of this historic railroad," Malnar said. "The train is the top economic machine in northern New Mexico. It's a huge boon to hotels and restaurants up here. With a new train this year, things are looking great." - Sue Vorenberg, The Albuquerque Tribune, courtesy Larry W. Grant

I know we'll never quite educate the media in our terminology, but it was pretty annoying to see "train" throughout this article where the wore should have been locomotive. Especially so when they mentioned that the "rail cars" were built by Baldwin LOCOMOTIVE. I'm glad to see that things are being done right, with a proper analyis of the material, and that C&TS has another locomotive in service.

(Adding this a few hours later), the source for much of the information seems to be from the state railroad commissioner. Me suspects that the emphasis here was more on commissioner and less on railroad. A political appointee?