Time certainly has a way of slipping by. It has been over two months since my last posting, not because there hasn't been much happening, rather too much (read: we have been busy).
Our new steam cleaner and its operator, Scott DiMartino have been hard at it cleaning years of road dirt off the frame of No. 3025 and its running gear. Wayne Hebert (assisted at times by Ken Blandina) has begun the 1472 day inspection of the boiler. Thus far, the superheater units have been removed and all of the superheater flues have been cut.
The driving, lead and trailing truck wheels are still in Pennsylvania being re-profiled. We expect them to be ready for shipping to Essex next month.
The lack of wheels has not prevented us from bringing the locomotive into the shop. When we unloaded the locomotive, we placed it on two large steel "H" beams which have "flanges" welded onto their bottom sides.
This afternoon, we oiled the rails ahead of No. 3025, coupled onto it with diesel locomotive No. 0901, and slid No. 3025 (on the "H" beams) into the shop. The whole move took a couple of minutes.
Now that No. 3025 is safely inside the shop, the rebuilding phase of the project can begin.
J.David