Southern Pacific 2479 Steam Locomotive

Hundreds of restoration photos may be found on: https://www.flickr.com//134/collections/72157653014637193/

A child's view of the 2479. Only work was protecting the wood parts of the cab while it sits on the ground.

This week's view is the interior of the cab.

Last Saturday - Nov. 28 - we spent largely practicing hammering staybolts. At first, the rig we had was unstable, and a lot of time was spent reassembling either the test plate or the rivet gun, but as the day wore on we managed to improve the stability, learned how accidentally trigger the rivet gun, and event developed a method of supporting the bucking bar so that we didn't have to hold its 70 lb weight.We're not there yet, but we've largely stopped beating up the plate around the bolt, and have begun to develop some skill at keeping the gun aimed where we want it. Of the three of us taking turns at the practice, young Kyle seemed to have the least trouble getting it right. ajr And the Saturday before Art cut some holes in the cab floor plate. Se the sparks in the picture below.

Over the next month, a projected 50,000 cars are expected to drive past CTRC’s railroad display at History Park. The vehicles occupants will be enjoying the first Christmas in the Park drive thru event. Here is how the display will look.

Before and after images of the OSH boxcar. Amazing work by CTRC volunteers and contractors.

The crew was about as big as it gets: Both Murchison brothers, Kyle, Tom JB and myself. Tom worked on drilling holes in the cab floorplate, Kyle was helping Tom, Denis was sorting a lot of books we got from HSJ through Ken Middlebrook, Larry was seen trying to get picture of what was going on, JB finished the hole for the bad staybolt ( he had previously welded it, but Saturday he enlarged the hole with a die grinder until the staybolt reamer-tap will go into it far enough ...that the threads are just beginning to engage on the inside of the firebox) and I wandered about at various tasks. I did get holes drilled for the shims for the front floor bracket under the cab, and helped JB with testing the Wiggins fork lift alternator. It has been charging at too high a voltage for a long time. The only saving grace is that it seldom runs very long at one time. So JB decided to run some tests on the alternator to see if it or its regulator was faulty. We eventually concluded that it was the alternator, but later I recanted, thinking that the regulator is at fault. We have so little information about the vehicle, and it has been so brutalized in its 40 year history, that every little thing is just about start from scratch; plus the fact that we only diddle with it until it works, then abandon it until the next problem. According to JB, once upon a time it suffered an engine fire, which was patched the same way. -ajr Attached are a picture of Tom wrestling a mag drill and John testing a stay-bolt tap.

Last Saturday (9-12-20) we used a hole saw and an extension shaft to get the mag base drill to the hole next to the boiler to cut that hole to mount the cab. We removed the bracket that needs to be notched on the left side. I took it home to make the notch, so we will drill that hole next week. JB finished welding the staybolt hole in the wrapper sheet on the right side. The next step is to ream and tap the hole for a new stay bolt. We also have yet to fish the old bolt out... of the mud ring. Much of the day went in to working on the forklift, as it lost power to the ignition switch (again). We discovered a lot of corrosion in the in-line fuse holder coming from the battery connection at the solenoid to the panel. We cleaned it up, but we only had a 25 amp fuse, which blew right away. This may be the root cause of intermittent starting trouble with the machine going back a few years. Denis says he made good progress organizing the collection of magazines and books in the trailer. -ajr See more

The OSH boxcar painter is old school. After making a paper template of the logo, he perforated the lines and the chalked the holes leaving a faint outline. Afterwards, he hand painted the logo. No vinyl here!

Last Saturday, 9-5-20, was very hot (max. 104F in the shade at my house), so we didn't plan to stay past noon. We did get the large work table moved around to the left side of the locomotive so we can use it as a platform to straighten and re-bend the cab end of the smokebox blower line. This table has the tube bender mounted to it and this side of the locomotive is where the tube is. John Blaine got started on welding up the hole for the staybolt being replaced.... Tom drilled holes in the cab deck plate, using the mag-based drill motor, (See photo) for mounting the cab and for mounting the blowdown valve operating lever. Larry spent the morning string-trimming weeds on the property and Denis worked on the library in the AIR CONDITIIONED trailer-office. We had visitors from Hollister. We can't yet drill two holes for mounting the cab. One on each side of the cab, because of interferences with the brackets that support the cab floor plate. On the right side, the hole nearest the boiler is so close to the support bracket that hits it before it lines up with the punch mark. On the left side, the one hole we made in the angle for the front cab wall comes right to the edge of the floor bracket on that side. We will probably remove the bracket on the left side and carve a notch in it to clear the hole we need before drilling the hole. On the right side, I want to either try a hole saw on a smaller motor, or perhaps an extension on the mag base drill driving the hole saw. (or both. A 1/4" hole with a hand drill, then the saw on an extension in the mag drill.) So, everybody left just after noon except JB, who wanted to stay for "just one more pass' welding the hole. From the pictures he sent me, he did more than one pass after the rest of us left. Don't know how he does it, wrapped up in leathers and helmet, welding in that heat. My car said 94F when I left the site. -ajr

Some trimming and painting makes all the difference. Compare an image from last week with one taken a few minutes ago. And the green paint to be done soon!

Last Saturday - the 29th - everyone was present. We installed the front window adjustment mechanism in the cab, tapped the empty staybolt hole and inserted a telltale staybolt with a probe to indicate where the hole in the wrapper sheet should have a hole left for reaming, and JB was going to start welding the hole just after he moved the torpedo welder back into its previous place, only to find the forklift wouldn't start. The rest of his day went into replacing the starter.... Failing to find the proper unit in several parts stores, he found that the emergency generator we have has the identical starter, so the forklift now has the generator's starter on it. The welder got moved, as the last act of the day. Meanwhile, Tom and I fashioned a mount for the Hossfeld bender, and mounted it to the big table. We are now in a position to tackle the rear end of the smoke box blower line, which needs both straightening and bending to fit properly. Kyle painted the pallet for the metal stairway. Larry and Denis worked on piping identification. Last week, we had to move all the tubing they had laid out and segregated after JB found someone apparently casing the pile for theft. We carted it into the passenger cars, unfortunately creating a new mess in them.

Saturday saw a crew of five: Tom, JB, Larry, Denis and myself. We finished removing the staybolt that needs replacing before we can try filling the boiler with water. Tom laid out the bolt holes for mounting the front wall of the cab on the right side, Larry and Denis worked on segregating the piping and tubing into groups for which location information exists, and for which it doesn't. Tubing without and location information far out numbers those with information. We install...ed the front window frames in the cab. (See images.) Because of the proximity of the window frame mounting screws to the cab corner angle a spacer was required. Larry laid out some tape lines on the backhead to indicate where the holes in the jacket panels will be located. (See image.) Also there is an image of the tubing laid out in two groups of known and unknow locations. Denis lost his head to the panoramic stitching program. ajr All in all a reasonably productive day.

We have received an additional $30,000 grant for work on the locomotive. Work proceeds slowly on two paths: one is the re-installation of the cab, and the other is filling the boiler to do a preliminary hydrostatic test on it. We drilled and fitted a mounting new angle for the back wall of the cab. Next step is to mount it, set the cab in place, and mark the floor holes in the base of the angle for drilling. Since the angle is bolted in place on the cab, it can then be remov...ed to drill the mounting holes. WE also began to remove the staybolt that is drilled into the water space, blowing it out of the wrapper sheet. We found that that bolt had a bushing in it. The wrapper sheet was tapped 1-1/4" - 12, and the bushing screwed into it and set, probably with a tapered punch (there is a form of Prosser for expanding tubes that uses a similar scheme), then the bushing was reamed and tapped for the 1" staybolt. Current thinking is that we will weld up the hole and re-ream it. We haven't attacked the inside yet. I made three hollow staybolts last week. One of these , and possibly two, will be cut up to facilitate practice at dealing with staybolts (hammering, tapping, welding up holes, etc.) we received the donation of a quadruplex brake gauge from Thomas Dill in Oregon? The gauge is complete except for the cover glass.

Last week, we started looking at the idea of modifying a portable ladder we have to replace the failing wooden stairway. We cut the top end rails out, and noted that the side rails needed stiffening to be comfortable. During the week, I made plates to stiffen the handrails and a pallet for the ladder to sit on, and Saturday we set it up, made some modifications, and tried it out. It is yet unclear whether it will indeed substitute for the wooden stairway, as it is a ladder, ...not stairs. However, we'll give it a try, and see how it goes. We also looked at the cab end of the blower pipe, which needs to be installed while the cab is off. It needs both straightening at the cab end, and bending to get it around a handrail stanchion and to align it with the next forward pipe section. I'm thinking of setting up the Hossfeld bender to assist with the straightening and bending. This isn't the only thing we're going to have to bend, it's just the first. We've gotten away with bending pipes in place so far, because it is a copper line, and fairly soft. However, our previous attempts were relatively small bends over a long length. This time, it's more bend in a shorter length. It was a hot day, and I was frankly tired after my labors earlier in the week, so we knocked off after lunch.

Today we trimmed an angle for a new mount for the rear right wall of the cab. We also made a little progress on holes in the front wall, etc, for mounting and for reach rods to the turret. We are making some good progress with the cab, and should be in a position to reinstall it in another month or so. We did some clean up in the south end of the yard, and looked at some alternatives for replacing the rapidly deteriorating stairway we use. We looked at modifying the steel stairway we have to serve the purpose, and it looks like it will work.

Last Saturday (7-4-2020) we removed the cab so we can make holes in it and under it. Earlier this week, I drilled six of the eight mounting holes in the deck under the right side of the cab, The other two holes are in one way or another problematic due to interference with mounting angles on the rear support for the deck. That leaves the holes for the left side of the cab, and some mounting holes for equipment in the cab, and in the front wall of the cab itself. -ajr... This morning (7-11-2020) we reviewed our position and made plans for cutting holes in the cab and finishing the holes we need in the cab area deck plate. We moved the cab over to the rocky drive area to get it away from flammable material, and in the process made it accessible to the forklift so we don't have to use a crane to it about. We also started to fabricate a new mounting angle for the right back wall of the cab. It seems there are two holes in the deck plate for that angle but the first one we fabricated had a notch cut in it to clear the side mounting angle, making it too short to use that hole. Trying to drill another hole in the deck plate runs into a we will wind up drilling basically a notch in the angle under the deck plate, so we adopted plan B, which is to trim the side mounting angle so we don't need to notch the one for the back. (There is an image below but I don't know how to edit it with text ED) We spent some time fitting the front window frames into the cab, and Figuring out how we are going to make the bolts work. The front corner angles were replaced, but they weren't trimmed to permit the window frame mounting screws to land nuts against the cab wall Instead, half the nut will come against the corner angle right at its edge, and we'll just bend (or break) the bolts. We are planning to use a piece of 1/4"strap to in effect make the angle wider to provide a place for the nuts to land. (I should have taken a picture. ED) There seems to be some movement to get a shelter for the locomotive, according to Mike Kotowski who came by to talk to us. We've only been asking for a shelter for the locomotive for 38 years now, so we are not holding our breath, but this is more movement than we've seen before. -ajr We have started a process of building new stairs up to the locomotive.

Maybe we'll get the go-ahead to continue working on the 2479. It's not as if there is a huge bunch of people to work around. Attached is still another image of the 2479 on the bridge.

Nothing happening at the locomotive. The CTRC board meeting will be moved to the 18th of June. Attached is a scene of the locomotive on a truss bridge.

It's May first and, for a couple of months, nothing is happening at any of the CTRC locomotive areas other than occasional site maintenance. So, I thought I would add a picture of the 2479 at the Santa Paula depot.

The 2479 on a truss bridge.