Two updates in one here.
2/9/13 Work Session ReportAnother productive work session occurred this week. Joe Monty, Jay Monty, Wesley Heinz, Donovan Gray, and Bill Piche braved the cold and threat of flurries to get some more work in on #7 this past Sunday.
Work this day included setting up and test-driving our new sand blaster, cab work, and more frame painting.
Santa got to his backlog finally, as we found a bunch of new toys in the museum when we arrived in the morning. Chief among them was a tabletop sand blasting cabinet. This will allow us to begin the process of cleaning all of the paint and debris off of every fitting that was in and on #7. Over the next several months, everything from 1/2" gate valves to boiler check valves will get a thorough blasting, cleaning, lapping, and packing, with the added bonus that the parts don't have to "leave the compound" to get done.
For anybody who's never heard of Harbor Freight, their tools can be somewhat....unfinished. This was certainly the case here. The air hose we originally used was too small, and as such was unable to supply the gun adequately. The new hose that we bought specifically to use with the cabinet turned out to be too big for the hole in the cabinet it was meant to go through. Luckily, there was room in the vacuum hose hole as our shop vacs both had undersized hose attachments. After changing the hose the gun wouldn't pick up the blasting medium, so Wes took the hose apart and found casting imperfections in the medium pickup. A quick punch and re-assembly and we were finally off to the races.

Pictured: Jay Monty with a freshly sandblasted boiler check valve and a "slightly" modified cabinet.
Work continued on the cab frames as well. Joe made/welded in shims to bring of some of the posts up to their correct height, and Jay/Wes planned out the location/dimensions for the door and window frames. We plan to re-use as much of the old material that had survived the fire, but the plate glass in all of the existing hardware will need to be replaced with safety/plexi glass. Joe also too the opportunity to tack up some plates inside the half-box frames so that the roof can be bolted on rather than welded on. This will make disassembling the cab for heavy boiler work easier in the future.

Pictured: Joe welds in box frame shims
The process of brushing/painting the frame continued. Bill worked on brushing/priming the top/rear quarter of the frame, as well as the springs, counter-weights, and reverser connecting rod. These will be ready for black paint next time there is a work session. Donovan and Wes continued where they left off the previous work session, coating the primer from the last work session with a fresh coat of black. Nothing looks nicer than a fresh coat of black paint (aside from a functioning locomotive, of course).

Pictured: Freshly primed frame sections and fresh black paint on the support saddle.
There's still plenty of work to be done, but thanks to efforts and donations of viewers like you, we're getting closer and closer with every work session.
Winter Appeal Updatehttp://www.mainenarrowgauge.org/winter-fundraising-campaign/Thanks to the generosity of members and donors like YOU, we raised over $23,000 during our Winter Appeal – nearly 70% of our goal! Contracted boiler work is nearly complete in Boothbay and we are expecting delivery of the boiler to Portland in spring of 2014. Funding is now in place to cover the next 6-12 months of project goals which include:
- Heat treating the boiler at a shop in Pennsylvania to relieve stresses from the weld repairs ($5000)
Purchasing a staybolt tap, tube rollers and other tools needed to complete the remaining boiler work in Portland ($2000) - Re-profiling the tender truck wheel set ($2000)
- Hiring a crane and professional labor to re-mount the boiler onto the locomotive chassis ($2000)
- Purchasing materials to complete the restoration of the cab ($2500)
- Supplies and materials for new boiler jacket and insulation ($1000)
- Fabrication of new “wishbone” steam delivery pipes ($2500)
- Procurement of new piping, fittings, valves and other supplies needed for boiler plumbing ($2500)