Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Engine House Addition

The folks in the engine house must have been very good this past year, because Santa Claus dropped off their present a little early!
 
We've documented the construction of the new "Engine House Addition" here - now you can see it in use! We have begun using our beautiful new space even though it isn't quite finished - there are more outlets and LED light fixtures to install. This is the first winter that the Valley Railroad's steam locomotives have enjoyed a decent place to rest after a hard days work.
 
 
There is room inside for two locomotives, each has its own "smoke hood" with an exhaust fan that can be turned on if there is too much smoke or steam. One end of the facility has a nicely lit inspection pit enabling our crews to do a better (and easier) job inspecting and repairing the inner machinery. 
 
Anything that drips off the locomotive eventually finds its way into a 2,500 gallon holding tank which will be pumped out periodicly for proper treatment and/or recycling.
 
We're sure that having this top-notch facility to service and maintain our beautiful steam locomotives will result in more reliable service, faster turn-around for scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, and happier maintenance personnel.  Congratulations to the entire Valley Railroad team for pulling this together!