Current Events
January 7, 2012 - After a few days of nice weather, I was able to get everything
ready and move the enginehouse today. The enginehouse had to be relocated
so that a new, bigger enginehouse can be built in the spring. Earlier this week,
I was able to get the footings in at the new location and lay track up from the
switch up to the new location. Here are a few pictures from today's move:
Before: This is how the enginehouse looked at the start of the day.
Steamer #205 had to be removed and the building unbolted from its footings.
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The enginehouse was then rotated 180 degrees, jacked up and loaded
on flatcar #5121.
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Boxcab #2008 moved the enginehouse up the 1-1/2 % grade in the yard
to its new location. Progress was slow for saftey's sake, but the building
was stable on the flatcar. Clearance between the building and the
switchstands was very tight!
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The enginehouse was jacked up and slid over to its new footings, then
carefully lowered into place. Final adjustments were made on the track
by the door, and steamer #205 was nudged in with Boxcab #2008.
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The old enginehouse site looks a little bare now... but next spring, a
new 3 track enginehouse with transfer table will be built on this site.
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My supervisor gave his approval for my day's work!
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Plans haven't been finalized for the new enginehouse yet, but it will need to
hold at least 3 locomotives. When completed, the old enginehouse will be
used to house one of the diesels. More news next time...
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December 29, 2011 - A belated Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
Finally got the new switch at the Northview Carbarn done! In the last post
(last month!) I had installed the ties for the new switch. Yesterday and today,
I had a couple of nice days to finish it up. Here it is yesterday morning:
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And here is how it looks now:
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OK, that isn't it exactly. I didn't have the switchstand actually connected
to the points in that picture, but it gives you and idea of how it looks.
This is an overall view:
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The next step will be to get footings set for the old enginehouse, move it
to its new position, then connect the track between it and the switch.
I have no idea when that will happen, but I'll post pictures when it does!
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November 26, 2011 - With the completion of #205 this spring, we are presently
a little short on room for the locomotives. Various plans have been sketched
to expand the enginehouse at Northview, but I finally made the decision to
move it so a new, larger enginehouse can be built in its place. The old single
stall enginehouse will be moved just west of the Northview Carbarn, and will
eventually be used to store one of the diesels. In order to do this, a switch has
to be cut in on the south carbarn lead. I have the frog welded up and started
installing the longer ties under the track:
Ties were cut from treated 4x4's. The switchstand & points will be located on
the ties at the bottom of the picture, and the new track will switch to the left.
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This picture shows where the new switch located in relation to the carbarn.
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The Northview Enginehouse... for now. It will move to the left across the
mainline, further down toward the depot. It will also need to be turned
180 degrees! The new enginehouse will have more room for the locomotives.
More news later...
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November 11, 2011 - A little progress on the caboose:
With the cupola awnings in place, I finally got a chance to put the
"Mulehide" roof on. I still need to touch up some paint around the
roofline, but at least the hard part of the job is done.
More news later...
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November 2, 2011 - FALL ON THE N&F RR
The fall colors peaked last week at the N&F, now the leaves are beginning to cover the tracks!
I actually tried to update the site last week, but had a crash while updating this page, so I just gave up for the day! But today I'm having better luck. Not a lot of progress, but a couple of things to report.
First, awnings are started for the caboose's cupola:
I hoped to get the fabric on the roof today, but not only did I not have the materials on hand, I also realized that I never got the awnings built. So, I cut out the sheet metal, put the folded edge on the outside and a bend on the insides, drilled & painted them. I still need to get screws to fasten them down - that's why the steel block is on the roof, holding the awning in place.
Pug wasn't much help:
I've also cleared a spot behind the Enginehouse for an expansion:
I've done some initial surveying, but construction won't start until next year.
Finally, this winter I've decided to spend more time in the house, working on my vintage Marx Wind-Up trains when we have bad weather. I started a page for the Marx Trains at:
http://nfrailroad.com/page27.html
I'll add more to it as I get time! That's all for now...
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October 7, 2011 - Has it really been a month since I updated the website? Not much going on, although we did host a runday back in September for attendees of the Frisco Convention in Springfield. #103 was fired up, but unfortunately the day was hampered by rainy weather. We still had a few hardy souls come by for a train ride, so #103 got to stretch her legs a little bit. I did a little tie replacement and track maintenance in preparation for the day. Also, I have been working on the caboose cupola & roof a little, should have those parts finished sometime soon. I ran #205 with 3 cars for a visiting group yesterday, it was good load coming up Bunker Hill. Probably the biggest project has been hauling home the Zimny 10" gauge train. Built by Joe Zimny in the early '80's, there are two gas engine powered locomotives, 4 cars and a loop of track. It is a little too small to widen out to 12" gauge, but I think it will work fine for 7-1/2" gauge. I'll eventually get the equipment re-gauged and then I'll be able to take it around to some of the other tracks in the area. I'll post more about the train later; I think it will need its own page to do it justice. But for now, here is a picture of the rolling stock loaded on my truck and trailer:
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September 10, 2011 - Not a lot of progress, but I've had some fun the past couple of weeks!
On the 4th of September, I went up to visit my friends at the Wabash, Frisco & Pacific RR.
It was the 50th Anniversary of the WF&P at Glencoe, and they had 3 steamers fired up to pull passengers!
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The next day, I fired up #103 and ran it just for fun.
This picture was taken on the ballast siding at the Redbud Turntable:
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I also worked on the caboose a little bit. I've started cutting out and installing the roof panels, started building the cupola, and built the frame for the removeable portion of the roof:
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A closeup of the cupola so far:
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I've also been doing a little trackwork and tie replacement in my spare time, but no pictures of that...
if you've seen one tie replaced, you've seen them all!
Next weekend is the Frisco Railroad Convention in Springfield, and the N&F is having an open house
on Sunday for any convention attendees that wish to see it. I'm looking forward to the convention!
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August 27, 2011 - More caboose progress. Windows are done, interior finished and painted, started on roof framing, and painted the exterior. Here are a few pictures of the progress:
This is an overall view from the "B" end.
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Side view of the caboose.
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A closeup view of one of the side windows... looking out another window on the other side!
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An overall view from the "A" end, with the Mustang in the background.
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A closer view of the "B" end with an HO scale caboose on the end sill for reference.
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The interior of the caboose with the HO scale model.
More next time...
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August 20, 2011 - Well, a couple of things to report this time around... first, we had some visitors earlier this week, and ran some trains! Doubleheaders, night running, operating session... you name it, we did it. I didn't get very many pictures, but here are a few:
First up, this is the seven car train that we pulled with #103 & #205 double-headed.
Here is a video of the train making its way up Bunker Hill's 3.5% grade:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtlpUcMFspk
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I took this during the operating session. Clayton is engineer, Robby is the conductor, and John is the brakeman.
They are getting ready to make the joint with the tank car.
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Clayton bought the old railtruck from me earlier this year. It had engine problems, so he brought it
with him and we installed a new weedeater engine. You can also see a temp headlight clamped to the
fender for night runs!
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In addition to running trains, I have also been plugging away at the caboose:
The interior framing and panelling is finished, I got the exterior trim cut out and nailed on, started the interior trim, cut out the subfloor and installed it with laminate flooring and started experimenting with step construction. Here is a closeup of the step:
I'll keep working on the caboose, more news later!
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August 6th, 2011 - Besides a small vacation (see yesterday's entry) I have got a little done on the new caboose #56. Here are a few pictures of the progress:
First, I finished welding the frame and painted it. The coupler pocket and plate on the end
are visible on the finished caboose, and will be painted to match the body.
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This is the body under construction. The end sills are in place, cut from native oak.
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This is the interior wall framing. It will be covered by 1/4" plywood.
Once the framing is done, I will cut a piece of 1/2" OSB for the floor
and cover it with a laminate "hardwood" flooring.
More news later!
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August 5th, 2011 - Well, Karin and I took a little trip to Chicago, where we visited the Museum of Science and Industry. I specifically wanted to see the Zephyr - while it isn't known as "The Diesel that Did It" (that honor belongs to the FT) it was THE beginning of the end for steam. Although internal combustion had been on the rails in various forms for many years, it was the Zephyr that introduced Winton's forerunner to the EMD diesel prime mover to the world. Let's begin our short photo tour there, with captions underneath the pictures...
So here is the Burlington's Zephyr in all of it's Shotwelded, Stainless Steel, Winton Diesel glory!
Built in 1934, it set a speed record running from Denver to Chicago (1015.4 miles) in 13 hours, 5 minutes.
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Here is the Zephyr's prime mover: 8 cylinders, 600 HP - the original "Detroit Diesel."
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The Zephyr's very cramped engineer's seat.
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Another speedster at the museum: NYC&HRR 999.
Rebuilt from her former glory, 999 was once timed at 112 mph - a world record at that time.
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Of all the items at the museum, this little switcher was the highlight for me!
I've seen pictures of this engine "back in the day" and didn't realize it still existed.
What a pleasant surprise to turn a corner and see this little gem - and it still appears pretty original!
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July 30, 2011 - Some progress on the caboose project. I bought most of the steel I needed for the frame and have started construction. The basic frame is almost done; I just need to fabricate and weld on the end sills and plates. Once that is done, the steps and handrails will be next. Here are a couple of pictures of the project this far:
This is the bare frame. The steps will attach to the center sill that is sticking out the end.
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Here is the frame sitting on the trucks.
More news later...
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July 16, 2011 - Not a lot of progress to report, just running trains from time to time and working on the Bettendorf truck rebuild. Spring planks are complete, bolsters are done, everything assembled and painted. I am still working on construction drawings for the caboose, but I think I am far enough along to start building the frame. I will need to buy steel sometime soon before I can start construction. Until then, here is a picture of a completed truck that I took today:
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July 3rd, 2011 - Happy Independence Day! I had a little time off this week, so I cleaned up #205 from it's trip up to WF&P, then mowed and trimmed around the railroad. It was hot Thursday afternoon, but I had a little propane left over so I decided to fire up #103. I made a few trips over the railroad and then started switching trains at Northview. As #103 struggled to move #205 back to it's stall, it blew the false valve seat gasket on the right cylinder. I had the same issue some time back on the left cylinder, so it was a simple fix to put in a new gasket with shellac to glue it in place this time. This problem with the gaskets will be completely fixed when #103 is rebuilt next time. Here is a picture of the N&F steam fleet from Thursday, #103 in steam, #205 cold:
It sure is nice to have two steamers alive on the N&F!
Friday I fired up #205 and made several trips for some friends that were visiting. It was a hot day, but #205 ran good except for an odd knock that I could hear from time to time. The knock turned out to be caused by a worn needle bearing race in the left wristpin. It is original to the locomotive; I didn't replace it since they are no longer available. I had machined a new one for the right side, and should have done the same for the left side! No problem, just another small project to do.
I have been working on the Bettendorf trucks for the new caboose. All four axles have been cut and machined, and all eight wheels have been pressed into place. The next step will be to remachine the sideframes to fit the new bigger bolsters and springs. This is how it looks without the bolster, springplanks or springs in place:
More news later...
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June 26, 2011
WF&P Member's Day 6-25-2011
Yesterday, Rick and I ventured up to Member's Day at the Wabash, Frisco & Pacific Railroad at Glencoe, Missouri. Following us up there was #205 and a riding car in a U-haul trailer. #205 is an ex-WF&P locomotive, albeit with a very short operating career up there - in service in 1966, reported out of service in 1967. So after some 40+ years, it was time for #205 to polish the rails at Glencoe again! I only had about a half dozen test runs on the engine since I got it finished, and decided to make new grates at the last minute to help with steaming. Needless to say, I was a little nervous about #205's first visit "up north". Although Member's Day is just that - a time for the members of the association to get together, shoot the breeze, run trains and eat some good food - it is also a kind of informal 12" gauge reunion in the midwest. It is a chance to not only see all of our friends that keep the WF&P up and running through the year, but also to see a lot of friends from all over the place who have come to Glencoe just for the occasion (just like me and Rick). So, there was a lot of people who would be seeing #205 running for the first time, and fortunately it ran without any major problems. So without further ado, here are a few pictures that I took yesterday, with some further commentary:
Rick was kind enough to get up very early so we could leave Marshfield at 3:30 AM. Even with a stop for fuel, breakfast and a bathroom break, we were the first guys on site at around 6:30 AM. With Rick's help, #205, the riding car and all supplies were quickly unloaded and spotted on a turntable track outside the roundhouse. I prepped #205 so it was ready to light off!
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With enough steam to run the blower, #205 was turned and spotted over the ash pit on the turntable lead. A little of Southern Illinois' coal as added to the wood fire, causing #205 to start laying down the first of many black & gray smokescreens of the day!
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With steam up, #205's tender was topped off with water and quickly put to work. Rick and I went out with Clayton and his friend as the first train of the day to clear the track. This includes clearing branches or other obstructions from the track, checking the switches and cleaning out the flangeways of the grade crossings. Clayton did the clearing and I ran #205. The picture above shows our work train stopped somewhere around Bluffs with smoke from the stack, steam feathering from the safety, and Rick in the riding car with Clayton's friend Elena.
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Here is Clayton performing his maintenance of way duties, with #205 chomping at the bit!
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With the first run under our belt, #205 has been turned, serviced and we have picked up WF&P's bay window caboose. Third from the left is Mike Hawkins of C&H fame, it was good to see him and Steve up there. The C&H guys are responsible for furnishing the stack, smokebox door and a lot of Ottaway information for #205, so I was glad that they got to see the finished engine run. Right after this, we made another run up the track, including the first 1000 feet of the new extension. Running up the grade at the extension, #205 was pulling hard enough to make a good draft, zipping along at a fair clip, maintaining boiler pressure just shy of popping off! Not bad for a Briggs boiler. It isn't a real easy engine to fire, but does a decent job once you are familiar with its quirks. She demands draft - either with exhaust under load or blower - a somewhat thick bed of coals, and just enough water. Give her what she wants, and it would zip right up either side of summit, top the grade and lift the pops unless you started injecting water. Ignore her demands and she would get your attention by dropping pressure without mercy!
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After my second run, Clayton took a turn at the throttle. Here we are holding for a meet at Mohan which gave Clayton a chance to stoke up the fire. #205 is making her position known with a truly impressive column of smoke. When we got down to the wye, a storm blew up and started soaking us with a little shower. #205 was slipping like a hog on ice, but Clayton manage to get us back to Glencoe.
With Clayton's run complete, Ian took her for a spin, too. Elliot did the hostler duties at Yeatman wye and Ian took us back to Glencoe. I didn't get any more pictures since the camera was tucked away in the toolbox due to the earlier rain! Harold took her for the last trip of the day, after which I raked out the fire, let her cool off, blew down the boiler and then we loaded everything back up. It was nearly 7 pm by the time we left that evening, 11 when we got back home!
So, #205 made 5 trips total, which would make a little over 10 miles of actual operation. By my ciphering, it burned about 3 buckets of coal which would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 lbs. It drank around half of the tender's water on each trip, so maybe 8 -10 gallons per trip, or 4 - 5 gallons per mile. After the first two trips, I refilled the lubricator which was about half empty. Problems? Well, the handle came loose on the blower valve, and the injectors were both fussy at times... the curse of using lifting injectors! Also, it is very unforgiving of high water in the boiler, and with the light loads on the easy grades it liked a little blower from time to time. When I unloaded it back at the N&F RR, I noticed that the right piston rod had come loose at the crosshead - apparently I didn't have the jam nut tight enough. I readjusted it and tightened the nut, so it should be ok. I still need to clean it up, punch the flues and just give it some TLC, but overall I was very happy with the engine's performance.
Of course, I didn't have the only steamer on the line, but obviously I was focused in on #205. I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the other engines, but I know WF&P #928 and #403 (I think) were also fired up. Other than the midday shower, it was nice weather, we had a great time.
Thanks to the entire crew at the WF&P for hosting another great Member's Day!
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June 22, 2011 - The archbar truck project for flatcar #5121 is now finished. The trucks have been spray painted to dull down the blue springs and shiny sideframes, and the car has been run over the entire railroad to make sure the new trucks track properly. Since the build pictures have been moved to their own page, I am deleting the pictures off this page to save space... so take a look at:
Here is the finished flatcar:
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The old trucks have been disassembled for the rebuild. They originally had 2" wide bolsters, but I am going to make 2-1/2" wide bolsters so I can use the bigger springs on them. That means the sideframes will need to be milled out to fit. No big deal, hopefully I'll get around to that in a couple of weeks. I will also need to make 4 new axles to fit the old WF&P cast iron wheels that will be replacing the original aluminum wheels. Just for fun, here is a sideframe resting on the WF&P wheels:
It ought to make a good looking truck under a Frisco wood caboose!
More news later...
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June 19, 2011 - Archbar trucks are done & installed, except I may spray some flat black paint on the blue springs and sideframes. There is an icon on the Home Page to get to the "Building Archbar Trucks" page, but the link below still works. Take a look!
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June 18, 2011 - The archbar truck project is taking up a lot of space on this page, so I am building a page just dedicated to their construction. I'll get an icon and link to it eventually, but right now you can see it at:
http://nfrailroad.com/page26.html
It has all the construction pictures, in order. Once it is complete, I'll remove all the pictures from this page.
Take a look, hope you like it!
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June 17, 2011 - I've had some time the last couple of days to work on the archbar trucks some more! So continuing with the series, here is the latest on the truck project.
EDIT: These pictures can be seen on the Building Archbar Trucks page at:
http://nfrailroad.com/page26.html - Steps 29 through 49.
MORE NEWS LATER!
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June 15, 2011 - I'm sure some of you are noticing that I haven't done much with the railroad this spring... and you are right! I have had some other things take priority, although I think I'm about to get caught up and do some serious railroading this summer. Just for fun, this is just one of the non-railroad projects that I was working on (the most interesting):
If you looked at this and said, "Gee, it looks like a BMW sidecar rig", you would be right - it does LOOK like a BMW - but is actually a 40 year old Russian copy of a BMW. Anyway, it is running, loaded up and ready to go back to it's rightful owners! If you take a look at the Joe Zimny RIP page, you will see Joe with this bike the day he got it. The bike is for sale, you can contact me through the website if you are interested.
In other news, here is a continuation of the Archbar Truck project. I took pictures today of pressing wheels on the axles. All you need is a 20 ton press:
EDIT: These pictures can be seen on the Building Archbar Trucks page at: http://nfrailroad.com/page26.html - Steps 23 through 48.
I still have two axles to machine and press on the wheels, but after that I will start building the bolsters and springplanks.
More news later....
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June 10, 2011 - If you were to scroll down to March 11, you would see the start of a pair of archbar trucks. To continue the documentation of what it takes to build them, today I took pictures of the process of machining an axle. So, follow along as we look at the steps to make this part!
EDIT: These pictures can be seen on the Building Archbar Trucks page at: http://nfrailroad.com/page26.html - Steps 7 through 22.
After that, we will press the wheels on with the 20 ton press... maybe I'll show that next time!
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June 8, 2011 - If you wonder why I haven't had any updates since May 16, it's because I haven't done much on the railroad since then! I wired up the headlight on #205 and fixed a minor issue with a connecting rod, but other than that I've been at my regular job, working on the house or on another non-train project for a friend. Hopefully, I will get to do some more train stuff soon. Today, I fired up #103 for a couple of visitors, plus Rick came over. Member's Day at the WF&P is coming up soon, so we are planning on taking up #205 for its maiden run up there. Hopefully, we will get some video and pictures of it! This is a short video from today on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLxxXpOHVR4
Plus, a picture of #103 sitting at Northview, ready to run:
More news later!
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May 16, 2011 - Not much progress since last time! However, yesterday I ran #205 for my friends from the Railroad Historical Museum - they are the caretakers for Frisco #4524, a 4-8-4 steamer that is on display in Grant Beach Park in Springfield, MO (http://www.rrhistoricalmuseum.zoomshare.com/). It was cool and cloudy, but overall a fairly nice day for a train ride. We even hooked up a "Photo Freight" so they could take some pictures. #205 ran great; now that the roll pin on the left rocker is fixed, the timing is a lot better. Today, I fired up #205 again and shot some video just for fun. It is on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fXk9MwmAhw
This is a shot of #205 firing up yesterday, with a little black smoke from the stack:
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Here is a picture from today:
More news later!
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May 5th, 2011 - It was a nice day yesterday, so Rick came over and we ran a couple of steamers! I fired up #205 and tried out the Illinois coal... it's some good stuff, no clinkers. One side "benefit" is the smoke that it generates. I didn't get a picture, but heavy firing will produce some amazing smoke! However, with proper attention to the fire, the black smoke can be reduced to an acceptable level. #205 decided to spit out a roll pin and the left cylinder went lame, but that was easily put back in place to finish the run. I did a proper repair today to keep it from happening again.
The other steamer we fired up was Rick's new Accucraft "Ruby" G scale 0-4-0. Unlike #205, Ruby sips just a little water, a bit of oil and burns butane with a perfectly clear stack. Walt lent us some rollers, so we were able to break-in the engine on the front porch. It runs like a sewing machine! The picture below shows Rick and Ruby. You can see a short video of the test run at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23ueAHtJvQU
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May 1, 2011
Not a lot to report this time around, but there are a couple of things that got done.
First, I was able to make a short test run with #205... but got rained out. No pictures, but I do have a video of the run at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT-96fH1x04
Next, I made a trip to Illinois to get coal. This is what 1800 lbs of coal looks like:
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Finally, in between other projects, I did do a little welding on the new archbar trucks:
The picture above shows both the individual parts and a sideframe clamped for welding.
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This is the finished archbar truck sideframe after welding.
I have a couple of other non-railroad projects that need to be finished, but as I have a little time I will continue to work on the archbar trucks. Also, I hope to get started on Phase II of the enginehouse addition sometime this summer. More news later!
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***** April 18, 2011 *****
#205 on the N&F rails for good!
This year, N&F #205 - Ottaway #1014 is 65 years old. It has been out of service for over 40 years, in my possession for the last 7 years, and under restoration for the last 5 years. Today, it made the final trip down from the shop to the railroad! I am glad to finally have this done, or at least done enough to keep on the rails instead of in the shop. If you read yesterday's post, you know that I needed some nice weather to finish up Phase I of the enginehouse addition. Well, today was a lot nicer than I expected, so I managed to finish trimming and painting the little addition on the enginehouse. With that project complete, I loaded up #205 on the trailer and hauled it down to the railroad. Boxcab #2008 did the honors of pushing #205 up the grade to Northview. #86 switched the cars around and moved #103 out of the enginehouse. I did take a minute to pose #103 alongside #205:
#205 was switched into its new home, and poor old #103 was relegated to the carbarn. The enginehouse is mouseproof, while the carbarn is not - so I am trying to protect the "newness" of #205. #103 is slated for a rebuild in the near future, so it will be less of a bother if the mice decide to play on it. Unfortunately, it started to get cloudy and cooler later this afternoon, so I decided against firing up #205 for a run... I was just concerned that it would rain before I got it put away! Anyway, later this summer I will start Phase II of the enginehouse addition project so #103 will once again have a mouseproof home. Final picture for today, the completed addition on the enginehouse for #205:
Oh yes, the Locomotive Roster page has been updated with a new picture of #205, the #205 rebuild page has also been updated, and a couple of pictures are now on the Gallery #2 page.
That's all for now, more news later!
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