April 18

With the move complete and most site infrastructure in place, work has resumed on the locomotive.

These past two weeks members have been installing the many components that make up the locomotives braking system.  This may not sound like a significant task, but many of these components are of significant weight.  Weight combined with working in the now smaller area under the locomotive's drivers, makes this a sometimes challenging task.

The new site has brought the restoration into a more prominent view as the locomotive is easily seen from Monterey Highway and Old Tulley Road.  Visitors to the site have been frequent and often surprised about the repairs.

April 25

The fence that will separate the restoration area from the rest of the fairgrounds is in the process of being installed.  Task should be complete this coming week.  The fence line is between 10 and 20 feet east of our site plan, thus giving us a bit more space for parking.

Installation of the locomotive brake system continues.  All levers, beams, brake heads and shoes are now installed.  All but three pieces of the brake safety support components are in place.  We were unable to locate two of the remaining three pieces.  One of these pieces may not have been in place when the restoration effort began.  The missing pieces will be easily formed from 2 1/2" x 1/2" bar stock.

May 9

Removal of the locomotives valves was completed on Saturday.

There were no defects noted to the right side valve and cage assembly. Things were not so good on the left side.  Several significant gouges were observed in the front valve cage.  One of the three damaged areas is circled in the below image.

More information is needed before repairs can begin.  Initial thoughts are to replace the cage.

While one crew was removing valves, other members worked at recovering track ballast from the old site.

Mid May

We are starting to have visitors now that the locomotive is visible from Old Tulley road and, if you look real hard, it can be seen from Monterey Road.  A lady came to the site with her three little children and we issued them little hard hats.  They felt like part of the working crew as they were escorted around the equipment and in the caboose.

The workday crew finished and secured the between-the-container shed. It now contains the fuel and oil as well as the riding mower and racks of equipment.  Temporarily the side rods are stored there while bushings are created.

All the equipment from the old location has been moved to our new location including the turntable and water tank and a property fence now separates us.

The tender and caboose have been moved up close to the locomotive so we almost have a "train".

All the under-the-locomotive brake components have been installed. Two safety bars had to be fabricated.  One other bar needed to be straightened.  It probably was bent in the 1937 wreck and never repaired.

Because of our new, more visible location we now must maintain the area outside our street-side fenced location.  But the good news is that we no longer need to mow the large acreage that is now on the other side of the property fence line.

The steam distribution pistons have been removed.  The pistons appear to be OK but one of the internal cages has a crack that must be evaluated and repaired.