Working in the Railroad

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Much of the work in the railroad is dusty, tedious and time consuming. Here, Ken Romine cleans rust off of the journal boxes to Arnold Z, our Plymouth locomotive. Ken and his son, Scott, will paint the boxes today.

Eight-year old Logan paints the topside of one of the Railbus trailer trucks.

Weldin' an A-Frame

This blog come to you in real time ...

This week is devoted to support projects and other work. Welder Dale Mace and El Dorado Western Railway president Eric Stohl are building a large A-frame steel storage rack. Lead machinist Sam Thomson and Bill Rodgers are working on the "Rube Goldberg" while Ken and Scott Romine continue cleaning the journal boxes to Arnold. And young Logan is helping where needed.

Dale use a 14-inch chop saw to cut old boiler tubes into section for the A-frame. The tubes were used in the Diamond & Caldor No. 4 Shay last time it was steamed in 1997. We are using them to build the A-frame because they can no longer be used in the boiler.

Dale and Eric use the first frame as the template for the second. They're welding in the engine house, close to the generator.

Color D&C Photos are Back on eBay

The two color photos of the Diamond & Caldor engine house and water tank have returned to eBay.com. They were snapped by J.C. Hammond on February 23, 1953.

The first, shows the D&C No. 4 Shay locomotive taking on water from the engine house water tank. At the time, the No. 4 had been the main yard switcher in Diamond Springs for about 20 years.

The second photo was taken a few feet to the north of the first. The No. 4 is in the barn in its usual spot, in the southern most stall. The Railbus No. 10 is also visible.

Both photographs are reprints and can be purchased for $14.99 each (with $2.50 for shipping). The seller's eBay store can be accessed here. "aRRts aRRchives" specializes in railroad reproductions.

According to the seller, the pictures are "8.5 x 11-inch digital color prints on Hewlett Packard premium plus glossy paper 35mm Kodachrome transparency scanned at high resolution with Nikon Coolscan V."

My copies of the photos arrived the other day. Three copies of each photograph are available for purchase this time.

How Fast Can a Shay Go?

There are two informative conversations occurring over at the Narrow Gauge Discussion Form.

The first answers this comment posed by El Coke last Saturday:

I enjoy all the great photos here of geared engines, especially the rare Climax. I have heard that Climax engines were the slowest, with a top speed of around 10 mph. Shays generally are estimated to have a top speed of 12 mph, but that depends on how they were geared. I was given a ride on WSL#14 on the Loop and the crew demonstrated a top speed of 15 mph to me, and said it had a higher gear ratio than most other Shays. Heislers were supposedly the fastest with a top speed of 20 mph. Any additions or corrections?

A few hours later, asked a question to clarify a rumor he had heard:

Just heard that Ron Trottier and company are doing a study to build new 40-80 ton Shays. Anyone else heard this? Guess we know what the long range power goals of the Loop are now.

These are interesting questions. I've got to go to work for now. Unfortunately, rebuilding a Shay doesn't pay the bills!

Foothill Rails Website Updated

John Barnhill has updated his Foothill Rails website at Railfan.net. He has included a photograph of the Diamond & Caldor engine house and water tank from my personal collection.

I've dated this picture circa 1951 based in the Willies station wagon.

Four Shay locomotives are visible. The No. 4 sits tucked away in its usual stall. I've never seen a photo from the 1940s and 1950s that shows the No. 4 in any stall but the southern one.

The No. 10 is spotted just before the water tank. Two other Shays (likely a combination of Nos. 6, 7 and 8) sit inside the engine house. The Shay to the north of the No. 4 is missing its number plate.

The three Shays inside the engine house are served by the three-way stub switch between the No. 10 and water tank. The road in front of the Willies is an early dirt version of the current Missouri Flat Road. A fifth Shay may be located in stall no. 3 behind the No. 10.

When I purchased this photo, it didn't come with a date or the name of the photographer. The slightly yellowed original picture is a 2-3/8 by 3-1/4-inch snapshot. The photo was glued into an album.

A Whole Lot of Hammerin' Going On

There was a whole lot of hammerin' going on today at the El Dorado Western Railway engine house.

"We called them fittin' tools," said retired welder Dale Mace. The sledge hammer was used at each of his jobs to make things fit.

Dale's career that spanned more than four decades where he worked as a ranch mechanic, armored car fabricator and all-around welder.

Locomotive engineer Garrett Augustus uses a large sledge hammer to forcibly remove a spring hander from Arnold Z, our Plymouth locomotive.

EDWRF President Eric Stohl (not visible) used the forklift to flip this truck. Treasurer Bill Rodgers hammers the chains off of the forks.

J.C. Hammond Color Photos of D&C Shops

I've located two color photos of the Diamond & Caldor engine house and water tank for sale on eBay.com. They were snapped by J.C. Hammond on February 23, 1953 (the day this writer was six months old!).

The first, shows the D&C No. 4 Shay locomotive taking on water from the engine house water tank. At the time, the No. 4 had been the main yard switcher in Diamond Springs for about 20 years.

The second photo was taken a few feet to the north of the first. The No. 4 is in the barn in its usual spot, in the southern most stall. The Railbus No. 10 is also visible.

Both photographs are reprints and can be purchased for $14.99 each (with $2.50 for shipping). The seller's eBay store can be accessed here. "aRRts aRRchives" specializes in railroad reproductions.

According to the seller, the pictures are "8.5 x 11-inch digital color prints on Hewlett Packard premium plus glossy paper 35mm Kodachrome transparency scanned at high resolution with Nikon Coolscan V."

I plan on purchasing the photos shortly after I post this blog. Not to worry. Two copies of each photograph are available for purchase.