The Anchorage Fur Rendezvous closed out on March 5th and our display at the Historic Anchorage Depot ended a successful run. Both the Rendezvous Sprint sled dog races and the start of the 1000 mile Iditarod sled dog race did not have enough snow in Anchorage. The Alaska Railroad loaded 7 side dumps in the Fairbanks yard and sent it south to Anchorage to provide a backup source of snow to be laid down on 4th avenue. Read the coverage here.

March saw a continuation of our snowless winter and mild temperatures so work on warm days moved outside. After painting the bottom of the upside down fuel bunker it was time to roll it over right side up. The 721 loader and our cat forklift teamed up to get the job done without incident. With the fuel bunker right side up the final outfitting began. There are two lever operated plug valves in the bottom of the bunker. On the left is the water drain that is flush with the floor and is normally closed. The emergency fuel shut off valve is normally open but spring loaded and connected to a pull cord that extends into the cab and down to the head height at the left corner of the cab. Connections for the air bubbler and the steam coil heater termination are at the front right in the photo. We finally got the bunker into final paint and things look gooooood.

557 has a unique low profile sand dome. Terry Douglas and Ron Dudley began work on the sand dome scraping and then needle scaling before finally sand blasting the dome. After painting the inside of the dome (it never had paint before) the epoxy primer and final black coat was applied to the sand dome and hatch covers.

The Antique Power Club of Alaska came for a tour of the 557 shops the evening of March 10th. Some 45 members enjoyed the update as these folks are always engaged by things mechanical, tractors, hit and miss etc. We could in good faith tell them that ours was bigger than theirs!

The Fuel Oil Bunker rests on wood sleepers on top of the water bottom section of the tender. Mark Stearns of Alaska Wood Moulding Company, came through again with custom milled white oak cut to our specifications. Volunteer David Lucus then took them to his home shop, routed out clearance for the rivet patterns and gave them two coats of oil based spar varnish.

Dave also did the calculations for the volume of the fuel bunker in relation to the depth of the bunker. Then he made up dip sticks with proper calibrations.

Another added feature will be a 54 inch long stainless steel cased sight glass for the water tank. We purchased a commercial gauge which came with a piece of light weight aluminum channel as a case and ABS plastic hardware fixtures. It did have proper stainless steel fasteners. Machinist Lavern Buller then fabricated a replacement case from stainless square tube and replacing the ABS parts with stainless fabrications to fit. Now we have a proper stainless sight gauge.

Pat Durand and Casey Durand, his son and former maintenance worker on the Alaska Wilderness equipment, took three days for a trip to Moses Lake. There they meet with Steve Rimple of Moses Lake Steel and Vic Jansen regarding a condition assessment on four pieces of equipment in storage there. If Engine 557 Restoration Company can find a new home for these pieces the proceeds of a sale will be donated to the organization. The gem of the collection is former SP&S / BN Business Car 99 on Timken bearings, last in service in 1970. In addition there is a locomotive tender with oil bunker in decent dry condition on friction bearings, which was former Copper River and Northwestern until 1938 and then used behind Alaska Railroad rotary #3. Two BN cabooses, one complete and one with interior stripped out, complete the collection. If you have interest in these items, drop us an e-mail.

Ron Dudley is an all around hand in the shop, here welding up a fixture to be used in raising the tender tank. Would you guess he retired after flying 25K hours in bush Alaska.

Ron assists Rod Hansen as he continues excellent work welding fire box sheets together. His years of experience as a welder for ENSTAR, our local gas company, show in the quality of his work.

Dean Sawyer and CMO Jeff Debroeck used a pilot tool to locate sleeves on the back head for some of the 480 flexible stay bolts to be installed in the firebox.

Ken Elmore is doing final clean up on the original cab floor after extra holes were welded shut. After sand blasting it is in preparation for paint. There are a lot individual jobs being coordinated in hopes that final assembly can be done step by step.

Safety chains have been installed on the tender. The brackets extend through the drawbar receiver with a 90° hook on the end and are secured by 1.25" bolts.

Major work continued inside the tender as hot rivets were installed in two replacement baffles. The new hand rails are riveted in place along with the water hatch hinges. Jim Keene kept up with the rivet crew by cutting rivets to length as needed.

We are thankful to the Usibelli Foundation for their recent contribution, one of several they have given since early in the restoration. We also appreciate the supply of "Usibelli Coal" hard licorice that they provided to give out at the Alaska State Fair and Fur Rendezvous. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, 557 and her sister 550 class locomotives were regular visitors to the Usibelli mine.

Visitors included Mike and Mark Crowley of Shawmut, Montana. Gabe Armstrong of Eagle River came by to check out the shop as a potential new Volunteer. By the way our volunteers have now invested over 40,000 hours with Gypsy.

When in the area drop by for a visit with 557 and the crew. Please consider a donation at this time. The project will only move forward as fast as the money comes in. We still need to raise about $430,000 to see the project through. We hope to see steam in 2018. Mark your calendar for May 7, 2016 for the Alaska Railroad Open House at the Historic Anchorage Depot. We will have a 557 exhibit with Fine Railroad Art, superheater sections, pins and patches for sale.

Patrick J. Durand, President

Click here for some of the ways you can help out.

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

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