Eric Stohl, president of the El Dorado Western, and Dale Mace, a retired welder and millwright, have been re-building and installing the six corner braces to the Shay since mid-February. Only one or two braces had survived since the locomotive was decommissioned in 1953. A few others were cut in half by the renovation crew over the past decade. At least we still had the pieces.
Eric holds the bolt steady today while Dale tightens the inside left rear brace.
These photographs are from the Saturday, March 25, 2006 workday:
To weld the two rods, Dale slowly adds metal to the gap. He says that it makes a much stronger connection. If you weld flat pieces end-to-end, the end result is a very weak connection.
The right-front brace, primed and ready to paint. This is one of the original braces.
Dale shapes the hole that will accept the iron rod.
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