Fall Newsletter at the Printers this Week

The fall issue of The Dispatcher, the official newsletter of El Dorado Western Railway Foundation, is now on museum director Mary Cory's desk. Mary will had it off to the printer Monday or Tuesday.

The third issue for 2006 should be in the mail by the end of the week.

The Dispatcher is a benefit of membership in the railway foundation. A copy of the quarterly is mailed to each member's house each January, April, July and October.

To join our effort to renovate the Diamond & Caldor No. 4 Shay locomotive and to build and operate an El Dorado County Logging and Railroad Museum, send $35 (check or money order) for individual membership to:

EDWRF
PO Box 3517
Diamond Springs, CA 95619

Family membership costs $60, corporate $100 and life membership is $500 for individual or family and $1,000 for a business. Annual membership runs from January to December.

Won't you please join our effort for the 2007 renovation season and help us celebrate the 100th anniversary of the D&C No. 4 Shay?

Technorati Tags: Shay locomotive, steam locomotive, Diamond & Caldor, logging railroad, trains, railfan, narrow gauge

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.

Designing the Valve Shaper "On the Fly"

This blog comes in real time ...

Bill Rodgers (left) and Sam Thompson discuss the drive mechanism for the shaper head to Sam's "Rube Goldburg" valve shaping tool. This morning they cut the handle off of a ratchet gear wrench. They'll use the wrench to turn the screw that'll advance one of the shaping mechanisms. The discussion around the piece that will advance the wrench head.

About 10:30 this morning I asked Sam how the piece would work. He said he could best show me in the machine shop. As we walked, Sam asked, "You know how a shaper works?" I struggled for words. I have a basic idea, but am always afraid that I'll get it wrong.

"It's the same idea in the machine shop," Sam responded. He explained how how a ram travels back and forth, shaving a thin layer of metal off with each pass. I understood. You can see the wrench head that Sam placed on the nut in the lower right corner of the photo (red arrow). Sam and Bill are now designing the mechanism that will advance the nut and screw to the right.

Update on D&C No. 4 Shay Model

The Shay model is currently selling for $366 with two days remaining on the auction. Eight bidders have left 15 total bids so far. I'm not certain that the locomotive will top the $700 opening bid from last June.

Wood Burning Late Model D&C No. 4 on eBay

Another Diamond & Caldor No. 4 Shay locomotive has appeared on eBay.com. The wood-burning Shay sports Sunbeam headlight just forward of a diamond stack.

The last time this model surfaced on eBay, it didn't sell. The starting bid in June was $700.

It's currently running at $280. Eight bidders have already tried. The auction runs through October 22. It closes at 6:47 p.m. Pacific Time.

Read my comments from last spring here. As I noted in my June 9 blog, this model locomotive isn't the piece for you if you're looking for authenticity.

Rube Goldberg Update

Real time from inside the machine shop ...

Lead machinist Sam Thompson continued working on his "Rube Goldberg" valve shaping machine all morning after the boiler meeting.

A few minutes ago I asked him how the project was going. "Oh, I'm scratching my head," responded Sam. I didn't ask the nature of his dilemma. I'm confident he'll work it out.

Treasure and board member Bill Rodgers was helping Sam earlier this today. Bill has since left for a retirement job with one of the Apple Hill growers.

Railbus Trailer J-Box Guides

Another blog as the crew works ...

EDWRF welder Dale Mace welds angle iron guides adjacent to one of the Railbus trailer journal boxes. Railway president Eric Stohl said the guides prevent the journal boxes from twisting the wrong way.

The guides only allow up and down motion, according to Eric. Eric and Dale are the primary crew members on the trailer project. EDWRF vice president Keith Berry has been priming and preparing metal surfaces for paining. He is going to use an oil-based pain from Ace Hardware. The color closest to the original is named Royal Red by Ace.

The journal box before Dale installed guides. You can see the damage to the slots as the original journal boxes were allowed to twist from side to side and side up and down. The damage is visible at the base of the rusted spacers.