Progress on the D&C railbus

We've made steady progress on the Diamond and Caldor Railbus No. 10 since the first of the year. A crew of about a dozen volunteers has restored the body to its 1953 configuration, prepared the engine for rebuilding and primed most exposed surfaces for painting.

The crew still must complete an impressive list of major projects on the railbus. The El Dorado Western expects to operate the railbus by late spring next year. With the current crew, we fully expect to meet our goals.

This list gives you an idea of the major challenges that face the crew over the next seven to nine months:

• Remove the trucks from the railbus and determine the work needed to rehabilitate them
• Re-build the brake system; this includes renovating the air pots, installing new air lines and replacing the worn out brake shoes
• Re-install the air compressor and air tank and connect them to the brake system
• Install the re-built engine once Doug Youngberg returns it to the museum late next winter
• Finish rebuilding both gasoline tanks
• Build passenger benches and install them inside the railbus

Here are three photographs from our work Saturday:

Ed Cunha uses a sledge hammer to straighted the leading edge of the cab roof. The roof was damaged at the point where the line for the air horn traveled up to the roof. We don't know when or where the roof was damaged. It's been that way as long as anyone can remember.

Mark Bruto (left), Sam Thompson and Keith Berry guide the rear truck out from under the railbus. The crew will renovate the rear truck first before proceeding to the front truck.

Mark demonstrates how to remove a hydraulic jack when it's stuck between the cribbing and link-in-pin coupler on the railbus!