Back to Work

The work must continue ...

Garrett Augustus returns to the dirty work of running a railroad. After the boiler committee meeting this morning, Agustus returned to his main project, which is cleaning our Plymouth locomotive, Arnold Z.

EDWRF Website Note

While the El Dorado Western Railway Foundation website is being reworked you can still view the old file through the "backdoor." Webmaster George Potter said the old files would remain in place for the time being.

George cautioned, however, that the different pages would be removed as he updates each section of the original EDWRF website.

During reconstruction, the best place to start is the About Us page at http://www.edwrf.org/about_us.htm. Navigation links to the right continue to work. A click on the Home button will take you to the new front page, which currently has no navigation links. Use your back button to return to the version 1 website.

Water Tank Brace Pictures

This blog comes to you in real time ...

Here's the promised photograph of the rear water tank brace to the Diamond & Caldor No. 4 Shay locomotive. You can find Tuesday's blog on the water tank braces here.

Boiler project manager Doug Youngberg said Tuesday that the spacer will be removed once the rivets are installed. He said the appropriate sized spacer may be installed once the water tank settles into the wood deck planks.

The bottom photo shows the bolt as it comes through the frame to the locomotive.

Boiler Committee

This blog comes to you in real time ...

Shortly after 9 a.m. this morning, Garrett Augustus, Doug Youngberg, Sam Thompson and George Potter (left to right in top photo) met as the boiler committee to discuss future repairs to the boiler of the Diamond & Caldor No. 4 Shay locomotive. The oiler tank to the Shay serves as the conference room.

Doug and George also serve as members of the board of directors for the El Dorado Western Railway Foundation. Sam is our lead machinist while Garret brings years experience as a locomotive engineer. Garret periodically fires for the one of the steam locomotives on the Skunk Train. The Skunk runs between Willits, California and Fort Brag on the Pacific Coast.

El Dorado Western Railway Website

George Potter, EDWRF webmaster and board member, has started working on an updated website for the railway. The website hasn't moved -- it can still be found at EDWRF.org.

The extensive database of photos and articles will temporarily be unavailable while George develops new links and layout. Check back frequently, please. For now, we will continue to place up-to-date news items on the blog.

Water Tank Braces

I stopped by the engine house this afternoon after I spotted Doug's truck in the parking lot. Doug and Keith are meeting tonight for a few hours to discuss the placement and riveting of the braces. They plan to do it in the next few months.

Doug showed me the location of each of the four braces. Two are installed on back end of the water tank. The other two braces, which secure the water tank to the locomotive frame, are located inside the cab.

In the photo, the lefthand brace is visible above the grinder. Unfortunately, this is the only photo that I've taken of the water tank. I'll take a few shots of the brace detail this weekend.

The bottom of the "L" on the brace sits about two inches above the deck, just above the rivet line on the tank. Doug said the water tank will settle once the locomotive starts operation. Approximately 20,000 pounds of water and oil (the oil tank sets on top of water tank) and the motion of the Shay will encourage the underside rivets to dig into the wood deck.

Adjourn to Pie

The El Dorado Western Railway Foundation has a tradition.

Regardless of the scope of discussion or extent of disagreement, the board meeting always adjourns to pie. A slice of pie and cup of juice has a way of placing us at ease. It allows us to relax and turn our attention away from the business of running a railroad.

Last Thursday's meeting was my first turn to bring pie. Each board member is scheduled to bring pie once each year. My next scheduled turn is September 7, 2007.

It gave me a rare opportunity to bake a chocolate cream pie for the meeting. Baking the pie brought bake fond memories of baking in the Navy. I first worked as a night-shift baker at Naval Air Station Lemore, California while assigned to Attack Squadron 127. Each night the crew baked about 200 single-and double-crust pies.

The recipe is posted at 'Round the Chuckbox, my personal blog.