It's buried somewhere in this forum, but No 11 is a planned reconstruction of WW&F No 7, an outside frame 2-4-4 Baldwin of 28 tons. We've been working on design and drawing for this project for many years- using the original erecting card, a smattering of BLW component drawings (not many), BLW standard practice books and numerous other locomotive and general design resources. Bernie has been doing a spectacular job on pattern-making for several years now- completing a number plate, bell bracket, lead truck wheel center and now drive wheel centers. Bernie also made the pattern, and had cast, No 10's number plate. Eric Bolton, Vincent LeRow, Steve Smith and I have been doing finish drawings, all by hand on size C paper, as fast as I can kick out design sketches. About 2/3 the drawings are complete, and the locomotive is completely designed (i.e. structurally and dimensionally figured out and sketched) except for boiler and brake rigging. Lately I've been spending some time trying to figure the best way to manufacture equalizers.
No 11 is an enormously fun project to work on, at least for me and I suspect the other guys involved. The board is fully behind it- but no one makes any pretense about the project's priority. No 9 is the priority right now- as promised to the membership for many years. We hope that our infrastructure grows at the rate that the No 11 project progresses, such that 3 locomotives will be appropriate for our desired (typical) 2 train operation someday. Our goals with No 11 at this time, as No 9 progresses, is to keep the project alive and progressing such that when No 9 is done, we're prepared to jump on some exciting parts of the project, which should in turn help with getting folks excited for fundraising. For now that means getting the design and drawings wrapped up, getting some important patterns made (drive wheels and driving cranks), and getting a few juicy tidbits actually built (bell, lead truck wheel, etc).
We're trying to be particularly careful with the project in regards to No 9- we are fully committed and excited about No 9 and don't want No 11 to overshadow those facts. So for now it's a quiet but determined effort- it's not a secret but we're not shouting out loud (yet).
Jason