Grand Canyon Limited Preparations

With less than three weeks until the encore performance of the "Grand Canyon Limited", the crew is busy with preparations. With the engine already in good working order and any "bugs" having been worked out on the roundtrip to San Bernardino last weekend, the crew is focused on getting our loaned tool/crew/merchandise car, the Gordon Zimmerman (Gordo for short), ready for the trip.

Yesterday, the crew focused on two tasks. One was organizing the merchandise after the San Bernardino trip and getting it sorted in the Gordo. A nice feature about the Gordo is it has a built in merchandise sales area, constructed by the "Friends of the 4449", that our Sales Manager is excited and anxious to use. The second task was moving the boxes and bins into the car that will be necessary to store the various tools and equipment for the week we are on the road. The steel work bench will be moved in next week.

For safety reasons, a barrier is being fabricated to separate off the "crew/tool" area of the car from the general paying passengers. However all four doors (yes ALL four) of the Gordo will be available for all passengers to use.

We are also excited about all the new merchandise that will be available on this trip for the first time, including limited edition Grand Canyon Limited (GCL) apparell. Once we run out...that is it, so it will be first come first serve regarding the special "GCL" shirts and hats. Of course there will be much, much more to buy as well, so anyone traveling on the train (or stopping by in Barstow or Parker) be sure to stop by the concessions booth or the Gordo to see all we have. Also check out the website www.sbrhs.org for more information on souveniers.

Crew Shelter & Work Area

It has only taken a little over 10 years, but as of last November the 3751 crew has a concrete pad and shelter to work out of. While still needing some work, this area will have a welding table and vise and be where "junior", the electric cart, will be stored. It has overhead lighting for work that needs to be performed overnight as well as air connections for air tools. Electical outlets will eventually be installed as well.

We are all VERY excited about this new area of the compound. This project was seen as a "trial" run to the construction of a cover for the locomotive, for which many of the posts have already been obtained...so stay tuned over the next year or two to hopefully read about that project.

Crew Shelter Progress

For about a year now, we have had the framing material to construct a shelter for the crew to work in order to protect ourselves and the equipment from the elements (particularly from the hot desert summers and autumns of the southwest). Earlier this summer, work finally began on this "permanent" shelter. Several weeks ago the shelter frame was finally errected and fastened to the ground using 3 foot long stakes and 2 weeks ago, the tarp was finally installed to provide the shade.

Today, work began on leveling the ground for the "Redondo Junction Senior Center" (as it has been so named by the more "advanced" members of the crew) so that a form could be constructed and concrete poured. While the actual pouring of concrete is still several weeks away, good progress was made today in leveling the area for the concrete slab. Hopefully, the leveling can be largely completed next week so that we can begin constructing the form, installing the rebar and have the concrete poured and set before the rainy season begins in December.

The leveling effort is however made more difficult by the enormous amount of old railroad equipment being excavated during this process. Thus far we have found piles of century old fire brick, old railroad spikes, large 6-7 inch codder pins and even old pipes that were abandoned long ago. It has also become quite the railroad archeological dig.

The Redondo Junction Senior Center under construction.

Dave checks the level of the grading to ensure it is the proper depth.

Ken and Winston excavating over 100 years of Redondo Junction history.

Preparation for San Bernardino 2011

With only two weeks until the 2011 San Bernardino Railroad Days, the crew is busy prepping the locomotive for the weekend event. On Friday, the FRA inspector was out to oversee the annual hydrostatic test. For this test, the boiler is pressurized to 125% of operating pressure (for 3751 that is 287 p.s.i). The pressure is then dropped and each and every staybolt in the firebox is hammer tested to check for weakness.

Today, a sizeable crew was on hand. The primary assignment was the installation of new sheet metal jacketing to replace some sheets that had unfortunately begun to decay over time from the locomotive sitting out in the elements.



Other assignments included painting the smokebox door (it had been nearly 10 years since it was last painted), installing the portable tool box on top of the tender, blowing out the tubes in the firebox and installing the light-off connections to the firebox.





Next week the crew will be filling in all the telltales in the firebox and performing a number of cosmetic tasks to ensure 3751 looks her best for the event on April 16th and 17th.

Leaf Springs in the Autumn

Several items require attention while the tender is separated from the locomotive. The first item to be addressed is making repairs to the spring beds that support the leaf spring bundles on the front truck of the tender. It was noticed during our last Amtrak inspection that these spring beds have seen some abuse over the years and were looking a little "out of spec".

In order to repair the spring beds however, the leaf springs needed to be removed. To do this the tender was jacked up off of the trucks. Once that was done, the bolster that rests on the springs was jacked up to relieve the pressure on the leaf spring bundles. The spring bundles were then carefully removed. Each bundle weighs in excess of 100 pounds.

Hanger shown with no leaf springs or bed.

Once the spring bundles were removed, the spring bed was slid out from under the truck and taken over to the Amtrak locomotive shop where it was washed using a power washer and then put into the 60 ton press to take the dents and kinks out.

Jim Campbell, Dan Echeto and Bob Kittel

Welding was also performed to strengthen areas of the spring bed that may have weakened when using the 60 ton press.

Dan Echeto welding on the spring bed.

Last was putting the whole thing back together. This was actually more difficult then dismantling the leaf springs since it required having two crew members lift each spring into position, assisted only by pry bars. With eight spring bundles weighing in at over 100 pounds each, this gets to be close to 1,000 pounds of lifting, and the whole thing gets to be repeated next week for the second spring bed under the front tender truck.

Doing the tender dance...

This past Sunday we had a small crew, just right in size, to work on separating the engine from the tender. We did run into a small problem but small problems are expected.

The planned move was to pull the locomotive from the compound onto the turntable, release the car mover and run around to the front of the locomotive and then push the locomotive over a pit track. This is where the problem was encountered. The car mover will not couple to the front of the locomotive because of the pilot. We sat on the table for a half hour when Greg Casford came up with a solution.

The car mover was put back onto the tender and then the entire engine was pulled onto the pit track. The crew, Dave Clark, Jim Campbell and Dan Echeto pulled the two tender drawbar pins. Outside assisting was Winston, Smokey, Greg and Bob. Once we were loose a diesel unit came in and pulled the engine out, across the table and put back into the compound. The tender was then pushed onto the table, spun around and pushed back onto the far end of the pit track. Job done.

The drawbar pins were looked over and it was decided that the main pins on the drawbar will be replaced. These of course are separate from the safety drawbar. The pins on the safety drawbar are in good condition.

This next Saturday the tender box will be jacked up to take the weight from the trucks. Once this is done the elliptical springs can be pulled and then the spring beds. The spring beds will need some heat and press time to get them back into shape. Dave Clark and myself will head up the drawbar pin project. Dan Echeto will lead the effort in truing the spring beds.

All of this Sunday fun took place in 110 degree heat.

Sheet Metal Maintenance

The crew keeps a book of projects that is updated with specific needs that are to be addressed, some with deadlines, others are as we have time. One of those items is to repair the jacketing of the locomotive. Not having a cover over the locomotive has created areas of rust on some of the jacketing of the locomotive, even in dry southern California. This jacketing was custom made by a retired air force sheet metal fabricator during the restoration and is something the crew takes great pride in. This weekend members of the crew began the process of removing the jacketing from the firebox sides that are showing the greatest wear with the intent of repairing (or replacing) the affected sheets.