Two grants in one week

June 2016 has been good for the restoration of the 223. The boiler was removed and the frame moved inside the shop last month. That was a huge step forward, but perhaps the most important thing to happen this year so far was the awarding of two $1,000 grants, one from Union Pacific and the other from the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club. The money of the UP grant will go towards the lining of the tender cistern, and the RMRRC grant is to cast new brass axle bearings for the driving wheels (the original bearings were removed by the D&RGW in 1941 and replaced with wood blocks, which have long since rotted.)

A huge thanks to Union Pacific and the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club!

223 Update, January 16th Worksession: preparation for new work

Preparations are underway to move the running gear into the shop; this required the rearranging of the work area since one half is occupied by the tender and the other half was filled by the pilot, sand dome, and a myriad of disassembled superstructures and parts.

On Saturday, January 16th, the shop was reorganized to clear the space to the left of the tender so that the frame can be moved in once the boiler is pulled off. These pictures were taken by Lee Witten; more can be seen on the 223 Facebook Page. The pilot and other parts were moved to the storage room behind the woodshop in the Trainman's Building.

Cosmetic Restoration of Rio Grande 5371

This project has gotten a good deal of internet attention. There seems to be a strong emotional interest in this locomotive, and with good reason - it was the last unpatched, unpainted D&RGW locomotive to run on former Rio Grande rails. The SD40T-2 number 5371 has gotten a facelift this past year due to the efforts of Derrick and Kerry Klarr, brothers with a long track record of quality volunteer work and private preservation.

Green masking tape marks out the work on the nose stripes; the circular holes were soon after filled by the class lights. October 2015.

With a grant from the National Railway Historical Society, they collected parts to restore the front end of the locomotive to its as-built appearance. This includes class lights and a gyralight. The ditch lights were removed and the nose striping repainted.

Work ended in November 2015 due to snow but will continue in the spring season this year. The snowplow still needs to be replaced and the pilot repainted. Depending on how far the grant can be stretched, or how much is donated, there are tentative (but not sure) plans to repaint the entire locomotive.

Nose painting done, the gyralight was removed for some extra work and was reinstalled in December 2015. From there work stopped due to snow, but will be re-initiated in Spring 2016.

A full article on the project will appear in a future issue of the Rio Grande Modeling & Historical Society's Prospector magazine.

223 Location map

Joshua Bernhard, who is working on a complete history of the 223, created the map posted below, showing the cities where the 223 was documented to have been throughout her life, 1881-present. Click on the image to see it bigger!

The 223 could have served in any of the cities along the D&RGW's narrow gauge system, but this shows the documented dates in which she was seen, assigned to, or visited them.

Be a part of history

Be a part of history! 

The title of this entry was the catch phrase of the old sign that used to announce the 223 restoration project at the Ogden Union Station. The sign succumbed to weather and old age long ago, but the slogan still means the same. Even if you can't come down and offer a hand to the project, here is an opportunity to contribute to the goal of completing the restoration to operation by May 10, 2019.

Yes, that date is real. Our goal is to have the 223 under steam in time for the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. To meet it, though, there is that age-old problem that plagues any volunteer project: finances. But we're not asking for anything big, just what you are willing to offer via crowdfunding on Gofundme.

Within a few days of setting up the fundraiser, we received a contribution from a Mr. Harvey, who has his own little part of history: one of his ancestors was superintendent of the Grant Locomotive Works, the company that built the 223, and he has taken a special interest in this project. You too can take part.

Please look at the page, watch the video, donate, and share!

Two private locomotives on display

About two years ago, Dynamic Rail Preservation was unable to keep their two Amtrak locomotives, F40PHR 231 and SDP40F 644, at a facility in Oregon. An agreement was made with the Union Station Foundation, and the two locomotives were moved and are now on display at the Utah State Railroad Museum. Dynarail (the official nickname of the group) offers restoration services to the museum in return for the storage space; for example, Chris Fussell, one of the founders, recently repainted the nose of Southern Pacific SD45 number 7435 with the assistance of a grant from the National Railway Historical Society. Here are some photos of Dynarail's locomotives on Track 2:

Plans are to repaint both locomotives in their original paint. The 231 had been photographed at the Ogden Union Station when in service, so it has a unique Utah tie that makes it relevant to the museum. More information can be found at Dynarail's website: http://dynarail.org/index.htm

And here are some before-and-after pictures of Mr. Fussell's work on the 7435. The bloody nose is no longer pink:

The Train of Tomorrow

Recently found on Youtube is this promotional film about General Motors' experimental Train of Tomorrow. The Utah State Railroad Museum owns the last remaining car from this train, the Moon Glow observation-lounge (which features prominently in the video), although restoration will be long in coming due to the complicated and expensive nature of the car. However, enjoy these views of what our grandparents thought the future of mass transportation would be like.

October 24th 2015 Worksession

After years of attempts and hours of speculation as to the cause of its immobility, today the boiler was finally separated from the frame. This was a triumph for everyone involved because without the help of a crane, the project would not have been able to move forward otherwise.

The space between smokebox and saddle can be seen here.

Jacks were set up on either side of the boiler, the swing hangers and steam saddle bolts removed, and pressure applied. As the boiler lifted, grease was smeared in the crack to keep it from locking up again and prevent further rusting. The boiler was raised about 1/8 inch, inspected, then dropped again until a proper cradle can be prepared.

Two interesting observations were made due to this: One, of the four swing hangers, not one of them is identical to another. Maynard Morris, a retired nuclear engineer, was baffled at this, observing that "one would think that if you want something this big to move, you'd want everything to be the same size." If they were each made differently to compensate for an imbalance of weight, or simply because of the make-do nature of later shop repairs on the Baldwin branch, is to be determined. Two, the smokebox bottom is completely rusted out and will have to be remade, but that is a simple feat compared to completely construction a tender tank from scratch.

Steve Jones, chapter president, greases the gap between the smokebox and the saddle.

The bubble level shows the movement of the jacks. The jack on the left rose a bit faster than the one on the right, resulting in an imbalance for a few moments.

The 223 with jacks in place. With further preparation the boiler will be moved to the cradle on the right so the running gear can be moved to the shop.

223 update: cab hardware

The project has reached the point where major progress depends on bigger tools. The largest aspect is removing the boiler from the frame to access the running gear - and that requires a crane. However, a cradle for the boiler is already being prepared and the shop rearranged to allow the entrance of the wheels when the time comes.

The stacks of ties to the right of the 223 are the beginnings of the boiler cradle.

The numberplates have been attached to the cab, and all hardware installed; there are only a few finishing touches left, such as the stenciled crew instructions on the doors.

The engineer's seat, which folds down.

Notice the knife switch. The white bar on the lower left holds the front doors open.

There have been big changes with the Utah State Railroad Museum as well, which will require a separate post.

New Life for the Gandy Dancer

For years a bright red handcar was the centerpiece of the Utah State Railroad Museum's maintenance-of-way exhibit. The replica, built in the 1980s for racing events, hadn't been used since the early 1990s, but recently was taken as a traveling exhibit to the Evanston Roundhouse Festival in Evanston, Wyoming. Now it has become the official traveling ambassador for the museum, and with the Golden Spike Chapter helping, has become a new way to experience railroading history. Below are two videos, the top being at the Utah State Railroad Museum and the bottom being at the Evanston event taken by Lee Witten. An inexpensive and removable horn was added for safety, but beyond that improvement it provides a neat representation of railroad travel before the internal combustion engine.

The plan is to not only travel, but to utilize it at special events such as National Train Day (when speeder rides were offered this past year) and during the regular Weber County RAMP-sponsored free museum days. A plan is in place to expand this concept to include the museum's own Fairmont speeders and eventually even one of the smaller locomotives in the collection.

Complications with the smokebox

Last weekend (May 25) the inside of the smokebox was needlescaled to remove the rust.

Unfortunately, because the stack was uncapped during the locomotive's tenure in Liberty Park, the bottom has rusted very badly. Not all the way through, but the smokebox is going to need some major repairs. This is not to be discouraging, however - all other aspects of the project are still on schedule. This issue will have to be taken care of when the boiler is sent to a contractor.

Utah State Railroad Museum Updates & National Train Day

Since Mr. Trentleman has taken over as official blogger for the Utah State Railroad Museum, most updates will be handled by him from now on, so that we can focus on the 223. However, here are some followups on projects mentioned in previous posts here.

In regards to security, both Ogden City and the Union Station Foundation have installed separate camera systems. The Foundation's is tied into the alarm system; the city's feeds into the Ogden Police Department's system. In addition, signs have been posted officially setting the closing time for the rail center. This doesn't secure things quite the same way as a fence, but it definitely decreases the chances of vandalism and theft.

The Union Pacific laundry building has unfortunately been condemned due to asbestos; however, a new garage door has replaced the old chain link gate that let the pigeons and cats inside.

National Train Day was a success, with speeder rides on Track 1 being very popular. Union Pacific brought not one, but two heritage units, and UTA offered a hi-rail truck to display for the event. In addition, there were model train layouts, the 223 shop was open and busy (Thank you everyone who purchased 223 merchandise!), and several exciting restoration projects were announced, which will be covered in their own posts later.

D&RGW 223 Featured in Charles Trentleman's blog

Charles Trentleman, recently retired from the staff of the Ogden Standard-Examiner, has begun writing a blog of his own, called "The Retired Rambler" (after his weekly column he wrote for the nespaper, "The Wasatch Rambler". You can check it out here: http://charlestrentelman.blogspot.com/

Mr. Trentleman has written many articles about the Union Station, Utah State Railroad Museum and the 223 project (which was featured in his blog post Rebuilding History One Bolt at a Time) for the newspaper, and now as a regular volunteer for the museum, is covering the everyday aspects of life in the Junction City's station.

Utah State Railroad Museum - update on security

The ball is rolling now, folks. Recently an agreement between the Union Station Foundation (operators of the USRRM) and Scott Pitman was signed, making Scott the contractor for large restoration projects such as rebuilding the Saltair open cars, or repainting the 1969 Golden Spike Centennial display car in the museum's collection. Scott has extensive experience restoring vintage automobiles, and as a fireman at Golden Spike National Historic Site. One of his first projects was to fix the fence surrounding the Eccles Rail Center. That's right, after months of debate and meetings money was set aside to fix the gaps in the fence to prevent people from sneaking in from the back. The front will be left open, but since it faces Wall Avenue and is well lighted it was decided to leave it alone for the time being.

The good news about this is that there have been no more cases of new broken windows for the past few months! The Golden Spike Chapter finished boarding over the already broken ones, and Scott is currently collecting money to purchase new glass to replace the damaged panes.

To combat the problem of visitors climbing on roofs and walkways and leaving every imaginable unsecured hatch open, Lee Witten produced signs that are attached to the grab irons of the locomotives with u-bolts, which are then locked on the ends to prevent people from just unscrewing them. As far as we've observed these have been effective in keeping most people off of the equipment, although as in any public operation, there are always those who will disobey a sign just for the heck of it...

One of the signs installed on the 833. The cab has been boarded shut, much to the dismay of the professional photographers and tourists (they can't get any hanging-out-the-window shots, but it's a necessary sacrfice). The damaged storm wall is still under repair.

In other news, two separate projects are underway. One, artist Tom Hudson is preparing murals in the Art Deco style to decorate the recently remodeled Browning Theatre in the old Postal Terminal building. The murals will depict UP 833's driving wheels on the storage doors under the stage, and the original GM "Train of Tomorrow" in the archways along the walls, a nod to the Moon Glow, which is in the museum's collection and is the last car from the trainset.
These are the arches so far - he's still working on the ToT artwork.

 The images of the 833 installed under the stage:

 And here's an extra image that is stored inside the restoration shop for the time being. These are combinations of photographs, 3-D renderings and digital painting. Tom worked as a roller coaster designer for many years, designing famous rides in Las Vegas and elsewhere.

Another volunteer is painting replica numberboards for the 5371 in the Rio Grande's "Railroad Roman" font used on the 5371 from the 90s until they were stolen in 2006. As such, both boards have been removed, leaving an interesting view that most people don't see: the bulbs that illuminate them.

Friends of the R&LHS

This year the Golden Spike Chapter/223 Project is listed on the Friends of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society fundraiser, right alongside the Pacific Coast Chapter (archives), Southern California Chapter (Outer Harbor Terminal #2), and Mid South Chapter (Leeds Depot Exhibit). If you are an R&LHS member, please contribute to any number of these great projects and help the R&LHS accomplish its goal in preserving railroad history.

More information about each project can be found here: Friends of the R&LHS So far (as of January 2nd) eight people have donated to the Golden Spike Chapter, which will be very helpful as we move on to some harder and (very) expensive steps in the restoration process, including coating the tender interior and rebuilding the boiler.

As a side note, Happy New Year everybody, and thanks for your support!

223 Update - December 15 2012

The tender is pretty much done, and just awaits painting and interior coating which will be done by contractors. This time it's final. As such, work has been focused on the locomotive.

Several potential boiler contractors have been contacted, among which are Wasatch Railway Contractors in Cheyenne (who has been helpful to the museum in the past) and an Amish fellow who does traction engines but has recently branched out into locomotive boilers. The final pick will be announced when the decision is reached.

The Johnson Bar was primed and reassembled, and since the number 1 request our group gets is for detail pictures, here are some:

 

 

And finally, the uncoupling bar has been installed on the pilot, which just needs paint to make it complete.

Frontrunner South public opening

December 8th was the public opening of Frontrunner South, the extension of Utah's commuter rail system from Salt Lake City to Provo. The route is interesting in that it follows the old D&RGW main line nearly the entire way, and offers glimpses of portions that aren't normally seen by the public, such as the Jordan Narrows (interestingly, the Narrows was originally shared by the D&RGW with the Salt Lake & Utah, the "original" Frontrunner South that ran all the way to Payson). Rides were offered for free from 10 am to 10 pm.

The Golden Spike Chapter took the oppurtunity for a field trip and rode Frontrunner from Ogden to Salt Lake, and from there changed to one of the free trans to Provo. Utah County appeared to be quite excited for the event, as lines in Provo stretched the whole length of the platform and across the parking lot despite the freezing temperatures and light snow. Here are some pictures at the newly constructed Provo Station:

 

223 updates: November 2012

So the mystery is closer to solving. Why won't the 223's wheels turn? It was originally thought that it was because of the bent main rod on the fireman's side, but the pins were pulled and the rod disconnected from the wheels...and they still won't turn. So that rules that possiblity out - there's something deeper that's keeping the axles locked. What it is we don't know yet.

An attempt was made to roll the 223, with the rod disconnected, to remove the rods completely, and nothing happened with the car boot -  other than actually lifting the pony truck from the rail. A pickup was chained to the drawbar pin...and likewise nothing happened. So this is going to be harder than we thought.

On November 24 quite a bit of work was accomplished. In the past few months the piping, brake cylinders and johnson bar were removed, leaving the boiler looking very bare. Maynard reported in the last chapter newsletter that "As fill in for the winter we are working on many of the engine parts.  Some pipes are being replaced with new pipes.  Parts are being removed and cleaned up either by sand blasting or in the solvent tank.  The engine brake pistons have been removed to be cleaned up and refurbished.  One seems to work well but the other is leaking around the piston seal.  Numerous sheet metal pieces have to be made and holes cut into the metal cab floor pieces for pipes and levers.  Sand blasting of the big parts is being done at a commercial shop.  Since I am the one taking the parts in and back, I can verify that they are heavy."

The pieces were sandblasted, and an exclamation of "That's what you see in real restoration shops!" was jokingly directed towards Maynard:

Then they were primed...

With a break to enlighten a visitor on the Cumbres & Toltec, since that is one of the railroads that's been tossed around as a location for the 223 to run.

The coupler cutoff bar has been completed and chained to the pin. The brackets were made by Bob Wachs, who as noted in the previous post (Chapter News) passed away the next day on November 25. He has left behind a legacy in his work on the 223:

Plus, the main airtank hydro tested. We are deciding if we want to reuse it, or build a new tank and encase it inside the original shell.



With work on the tender wrapping up, as can be seen attention is being focused on the locomotive itself. Maynard wrote about what needs to be done to complete the tender:

 

"Coating the inside of the tender tank is a bigger problem than I expected.  There are numerous materials we could use but there is little data as to how well each would perform.  By the end of the year we should have the air tank renovated and the airline piping done.  We won't put the air tank on the tender until spring when the weather is nice.  We need to roll the tender out of the shop and have a crane lift the tank up and onto the rear of the tender water tank.  Along with this we need to install some steel plates on the bottom of the wooden bolster beam.  We can hopefully do both when we have a crane come to the shop.

 

"We received the pipe (3/8 inch and 1 1/4 inch) we had on order.  Getting the 3/8 inch seamless pipe turned out to take more time than expected and it is expensive. Great Western Supply agreed to give us the pipe and fittings at cost, which sure helped.  We pressurized the big tender air tank and it passed our test at 120 psi. The vertical drain pipe was clogged so we had to cut it out.  Will install a new pipe and weld up the 2 inch square hole we had to cut into the tank.  The 2 inch hole made it easier to clean out the rust particles.  The three rusted tension rods will be replaced next Saturday with new 1 1/8 inch steel rods.  Like the tender water tank we plan to coat the inside of the air tank.  Open for suggestions as to what we should use."