Unseasonably warm weather continued into February 2015. Ron Dudley took advantage and crawled under the tender water tank to complete about 300 ultrasound measurements of the tank bottom. The 3/16 inch plate steel bottom was found to be in very good shape. The major job facing the volunteers is cleaning the recesses of the water bottom and baffled areas of the tank.. To that end the plasma cutter was used to cut access windows for cleaning and seal coating of the otherwise inaccessible areas of the water tank.

Preparation of the exterior firebox backhead,wrapper and throat sheets continues in anticipation of installing the interior firebox. New everlasting blow down valves are on order to replace the old Okadee valves that were beyond economical repair.

Six old washout plug holes for the removed arch tubes have been closed and an additional stay bolt will be installed in place of each former plug location. A boss for a second water sight gauge has been added as the original installation had both sight gauges connected to a common boss on the backhead, a configuration that is no longer permitted by the FRA.

Ron Dudley and Mike McKerrvey trial fit the cast iron ball joint seals for the cylinder steam delivery pipes to determine the size of replacement bolts. The ball joint seats require careful preparation of mating surfaces and, machining them back to specification to match the original blue prints.

Speaking of blue prints. At inception of the project we had three elevation drawings with sections. It was generally accepted that there just were no drawings available. All 2120 s-S160 locomotives were shipped with a full set of prints in the tender along with spares, tools for running repairs, and consumables such as lamp oil, Journal oil, and Cylinder Oil. The tools even included a No. 5 scoop shovel and a government specification broom!

E557RC Secretary Treasurer, Dick Morris, took up the challenge and started the search which turned up a variety of disorganized, drawings in various formats, ranging in quality from OK to unreadable. In an international cooperative effort, several museums and individuals provided drawings to be added to the collection. Drawings from Alco, Baldwin and Lima have been reviewed and the best properties copy of each drawing has been combined into a master index set of over 800 drawings, three indexes, 400 pages of technical notes and other data. The indexed collection is now available on a two DVD set.

Dick is constantly updating the S-160 Drawing set and we have shared copies with organizations which have contributed drawings and funds towards the collection. E557RC makes the two DVD set available as a premium for a $1000.00 donation to the Engine 557 Restoration Company. So far four restoration organizations and ROCO, an Austrian model manufacturer, have obtained the drawing set. Dick is treating these as informal subscriptions. As major additions and updates are made, he sends off the updated disks to those folks who have contributed to the effort.

Small jobs such as production of replacement jacket banding brackets done by Ken Elmore are accomplished every day. Cleaning and painting the air strainer components or the mechanical lubricators are the accomplishments that keep volunteers involved. These jobs are as important in the final product as the commercial work accomplished by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum Shops on the four driver sets. The driver cradles are loaded and waiting shipment via Alaska West Express (http://www.lynden.com/awe/).

The Alaska business community continues to step up with in-kind contributions. While costing air tools for doing the rivet work on firebox and mud ring, the gift of four large air hammers came our way. CMO Jeff Debroeck called on Jackovich Industrial & Construction Supply (http://www.mfcpinc.com/mfcp-jackovich) and they were in the middle of an inventory adjustment and made the donation along with 15 gallons of lubriplate grease.

For the third year in a row during the last week of February, 557 was the guests of the Military Society of Railroad Modelers represented at the Great Alaska Train Show. Held in the Historic Anchorage Depot, it is as an official event of the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous winter carnival. Jim Keene, Ken Morton and Pat Durand manned the table and Several volunteers took shifts at the event including Jerry Peters. As Anchorage residents, Ken Morton and Dick Morris finished up each day’s shift to account for sales and donations. James Keene and Pat Durand both made the trek in from the Job site in Wasilla to assist. Although it wasn’t a major fund raiser, the combination of small donations, sponsorships of flues and tubes, merchandise sales (including custom engraved historic flue sections), sales of Extra 557 Returning prints, and raffle tickets for a private excursion to Seward on the Denali business car, all provided a welcome infusion to the bank account. In addition, our presence each year has resulted in several valuable contacts and builds a sense of ownership in the community. We are developing quite the following in the four to 12-year-old population. With some encouragement, maybe some of them will be the ones to take up the torch the next time 557 comes due for an overhaul.

Fund raising continues on many fronts. We are grateful for the substantial grants and donations supporting the 557 restoration, major in-kind donations of goods and services, and over 15,000 hours invested by our volunteers. However, additional funds are needed before we realize the dream of seeing 557 pulling a passenger train for the first time in 55 years.

The $10,000 grant from the Matanuska Electric Association Charitable Trust has been received. We owe thanks to the MEA members who "Round Up" their utility bills to the next dollar with the combined contributions going to charities in the MEA service area. A welcome surprise in the first days of Rondy was the offer by an anonymous donor to match up to $5,000 in donations. The challenge was taken up by the 557 supporters who visited Rondy. Your donations at this time will be matched up to the total of $5000.00.

Patrick Durand, President

Make all donations to: Engine 557 Restoration Company at the above address.
An Alaskan 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Corporation, EIN 46-2663256

Or donate on line here: