Journal boxes on CPLT caboose trucks

Those old trucks in the Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe Caboose No. 2 are coming along:

Work continues ...

It's been over a month since my last post. Since I'm working 40 hours per week again, I miss a most of the mid-week work. Here's a couple photos of out progress.

Lead machinist Sam Thompson continues rebuilding the valves on the Diamond and Caldor No. 4 Shay locomotive. I'll have more to report on the process soon. Sam continues to work most Saturdays at the engine house.

Last week the mid-week crew re-installed the rear truck under the Diamond and Caldor Railbus No. 10. They them removed the front truck in order to begin the rehabilitation process.

Railbus truck

Keith Berry paints one of the yokes on the rear truck of the Diamond and Caldor Railbus No. 10. The crew recently repaired both yokes, which were cracked from operation. Gussets were added to each side of the yoke to strengthen it. The yoke attaches the frame of the truck assembly to the differential.

Railbus rear truck

Work on the rear truck to the Diamond and Caldor Railbus No. 10 is moving along. Since removing the truck in mid-September. Here's the work that the crew has done in the past three weeks:

• Fabricate and install the end-frame T-brace
• Design and install the differential yoke swivel pin brace -- this corrected a problem with unwanted differential movement
• Replaced the rear differential bearing cap and spacer

Progress on the railbus

I stopped by the engine house on Wednesday to view progress on the Diamond and Caldor Railbus No. 4. This was my first visit since I went back to work on October 13.

Ed Cuhna, lead painter for the El Dorado Western Railway, prepped and primed the rear structure on the railbus in the past two weeks. He still needs to paint the inside surfaces, including the ceiling.

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!

Cutting New Plates for the Truck Bolster

Last Saturday, Dale Mace used a compass-like guide to cut center body plates from a sheet of three-quarter-inch steel plate.

"Yea, it takes a while to get something this thick hot," said Dale. In welder's term, "a while" means a minute or two. Dale drills a pilot hole when he needs more persuasion.

I asked Dale to show me how the pieces would work. He took me over to the truck and placed the two plates on the bolster. Dale later drilled a large hole in the center of the plates. The center pin will pass through the hole when the crew assembles the truck.

The center body plates will absorb a lot of energy as the truck rocks. They act as a stabilizers, according to Dale. The bolster apparatus is loose enough to keep the deck fairly level as the car rolls along.

The original bearing to the Diamond & Caldor railbus flat-bed trailer. One ball bearing is visible in the center.

Working in the Railroad

This blog comes to you in real time ...

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.

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.

Truck Assembly to Railbus Trailer

Another blog is real time ...

The first truck assembly to the Railbus trailer is now completely disassembled. Welder Dale Mace and president Eric Stohl removed both wheel sets this morning.

Over the past month, Dale and Eric have taken the truck apart piece by piece. Like so much of our work at the engine house, each Saturday sees another component or two removed.

A piece here, a piece there. Two - three - four Saturdays pass and the project is done.

It's like the Bill Murray and Richard Dryfuss movie, What About Bob.

"Baby steps, get on the elevator ... baby steps get on the elevator ... Ah, I'm on the elevator," said Bob Wiley, Bill Murray's character in the movie.

That's how things operate at the engine house -- with baby steps.