San Francisco Trains

Thanks to our friends at the Niles Canyon Railway for passing along rare State Belt Railroad Blue Flags! From one collection to another, here they are on the State Belt 4 boiler for display. They are cotton cloth, about 18" square, QUITE dirty from years of use. They are attached to the wooden handles with evenly spaced brads. The hooks on the handles look to be about the spacing of steps on a box car. We may find out more, let us know if you have any more insight.

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Despite being a cold windy day at Bayshore, we made a hella pile of chips milling out the spring pockets on a drive box. Thats a 1.5" indexable carbide cutter running slower (about 800 rpm) than its rated speed because its plowing thru weld. The worn out pockets were built up/filled in back at CSRM in SAC. Now that we have our own milling machine at Bayshore the work can be completed onsite. #BayshoreLocomotivePlant #BrisbaneCA

Makin' chips! Running a 1/4" x3" test cut on the Van Norman mill and making sure the generator can keep up. No problems! Genny running at 40% load with the mill spindle turning 50 rpm feed 3/8" per minute. Bayshore shops live.

Several people have asked about our hours of operation. FB does not have a box to select "by appointment only". The State Belt #4 is available for viewing and touching, please message us and we will find time to show you our work. The roundhouse interior is not part of the tour, that is privately owned and fenced off pending resolution of a development agreement with the city of Brisbane.

Tools...tools that will allow us to continue repairs right at bayshore! Donations of machine tools, a customized 40' container and moving costs all came together after a rainy winter that held up almost all work. The Van Norman #26 mill is seen here in its new home after being donated by a gentleman in Burlingame. Not seen but also in the container are a Smiths shaper, South Bend 18" swing lathe (11 feet long!) and a beautiful antique but 100% functional drill press. After the container delivery we painted the interior white and used LED shop light. All worthy of a proper locomotive repair plant at former SP shops Bayshore, Brisbane CA

Putting the #4 running gear back into order has been a long process. Every aspect of those three axles and the interface with with frame had a variance and keeping track of it all was daunting. A version of the system with all its flaws was done in solid works. These are screen shots from the program. What you can't see here is each parts dimension is exactly replicated in the model. The actual dia. of each axle, the actual fit of the tire on the wheel center, the hub liner thickness, the newly turned journal height in the box. The final pieces to be fitted are the shoes and wedges which are the bronze colored pieces. We left a couple of items out so you can see them. Those pieces will determine the final alignment of the driving wheels.

Volunteers Kyle and Tom made a platform around the steam dome to allow safe access when climbing into the boiler. The silver uprights and cross arms are unistrut and give a safe hold on the way in and out. That can be removed with three nuts and the tent goes back over for the winter. We also wired up four fans to circulate air inside while working. Evan is inside where scale needs to be removed for further examination.

Thanks to all who attended the event and took time to learn about our steam engine restoration and the Bayshore Roundhouse. Special thanks to our cooks, donations of food and new barbecue grill. To our supporter Abbey Party Rents for chairs, tables and canopies; and to Universal Paragon Company for the use of this space where the State Belt #4 Restoration continues.

105 years ago today, the State Belt #4 was approaching San Francisco, possibly already loaded onto the barge that would take it across the bay from Richmond, CA to arrive July 27, 1911. To commemorate this event we're having casual barbecue and fund raiser this Sunday, July 31st, from 1PM to 4 PM. Space is LIMITED at our Bayshore site in Brisbane, CA $25, please RSVP by Thursday to info (at) verreos (dotcom) or message this site.

Here are some pictures from the locomotive drive box repairs we are doing in Sacramento. Currently 5 of the 6 boxes --which are the wheel bearings and side to side side thrust bearings--are mostly machined to the finale dimension. Big shout out to the California State RR Museum for letting us use the machine tools at the shop to accomplish this work.

Big Steps: We have purchased the Vulcan engine from our friends at the the Golden Gate Railroad Museum....finally. After several years of planning, purchasing insurance policies to carry liability and a unanimous vote in favor by the Board, we completed the deal on March 17, 2016. The DONATE button on our website is active....please make a contribution to help fund our machinists expenses in April. More details on that project soon!

The Vulcan's boiler is getting a repaint since the last coat never cured properly. We used a high temp boiler paint but that needed to reach 200 degrees to cure. (Next time: read the fine print). Hoping to get some years of protection with this. Main boiler course looks pretty good as you can see.