Engine 557 Restoration Company
Progress Report February 2019

 

February 9, 2019 North bound Saturday passenger train rolled by at 9:40 a.m. in full sun as she passed the 557 Engine house. Compare this with just a month ago on January 3 at the same time of day. Even though the temperature is 8° there is heat in that sun and we anticipate warmer weather to come. On February 21, Terry Douglas photographed the snow fleet as it headed out in anticipation of another snow storm.

Dick Morris, Terry Douglas, Lynn Willis, Gene Augustine and Ken Elmore all organized to man our exhibit and sell 557 merchandise at the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous. The Anchorage winter carnival brings railroaders of all sizes together at the Historic Anchorage Depot for 10 days.

New summer Tour Guides, Dylan West, Kitty Mallars, Mckenner Barley-Parsons and Connor Degner visited the Engine 557 Restoration Project on February 18th. They came to visit 557 on their own initiative to expand their training orientation as new recruits in the Alaska Railroad Tour Guide program. They are all high school students in the Alaska Railroad Tour Guide Program offered by King Technical Career Center in Anchorage. This collaboration between the Alaska Railroad and the Anchorage School District has introduced hundreds of young people to the hospitality industry and opportunities in railroading careers. They will welcome you aboard on your dream trip this summer aboard the Alaska Railroad.

2019 is off to an excellent start for the 557 fund raising efforts. Two major charitable trusts have awarded grants supporting Engine 557 Restoration Company. The first is a strategic planning grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. Since we formed in 2012, our efforts and resources have been directed towards the physical restoration of Engine 557. The Trust’s grant come's at an opportune time in the life of the organization and gives us resources to assess our administrative functions and prepare for the upcoming transition from restoring a locomotive to using the locomotive to conduct passenger operations. The grant will be used for strategic planning, including updating our Business Plan, and to compile a punch list of tactical action items.

The second is the award of $21,000 for continuing restoration work on Engine 557 from the John H. Emery Rail Heritage Trust. The Trust has now made three grants to 557 totaling $40,000. Their press release announcing this years grant recipients show the Engine 557 Restoration Company to be in excellent company. This proves that 557, an all Alaskan organization, is in the same league as other top projects in the national rail preservation community.

Metals Supermarkets of Anchorage has turned into our go to vendor for the odd pieces of bronze, stainless and specialty metals we need for 557. Terry Fisher and his crew go the extra mile to obtain the “odd” stuff we specify.

Some of that odd stuff is A193 B7 CD used for making boiler studs. A new one is being machined on the left and an old one on the right. We will use the taper attachment on our little Atlas lathe to cut the 12 TPI tapered thread shown on the old stud.

After completion of new washout plugs we were left with a collection of plugs for sale. They do make good paperweights with the iron cores. The large 3” washout plugs are still serviceable. If you have interest just drop us an email. Here is a unique view of a corner washout plug from the inside of the firebox. Our last step in rebuilding the firebox will be installing the four bottom corners.

To protect our new bronze washout plugs, Lavern Buller has manufactured a four point 1-7/16” socket with a 1” drive. He also produced a live center with a 3/4” shank for use in a boring head to be offset in the tail stock of the Lodge and Shipley lathe. This allows production of tapered fitted bolts in the lathe without a taper attachment.

Terry Douglas has been boring out the oblong holes worn in the suspension components to receive new case hardened bushings. These hangers and dolphins were originally just drilled 1.75” holes and then fitted with Case Hardened pins. As a result many of the holes grew as the links began to wear. As a fix we are boring the out of round holes to receive new Case Hardened bushings with the 1.75” i.d. required. Wear in places required bushings with a different wall thickness. As needed new pins will be made from 4140 in hopes that in the future we can just replace worn pins.

There are four operating s-160 locomotives in England and a fifth is about to join the ranks. These old war horses have come back to Britain from deployments as far away as China, Poland, and Greece. Each machine has its own unique features after 77 years of service. Engine 557 Restoration Company has enjoyed friendly collaborations with these groups. Peter Best sent us this update note.

Hi All,
Just thought you would like to see 2253 taken yesterday. It was moved by road last week and is about to be hauled up to Grosmont and the running sheds of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway for finishing off and the start of trials in April.
The team is a bit depleted due to one thing and another, but with the help of the NYMR fitters, we should get the loco in steam within the next 6 weeks.
Peter

Congratulations on the fantastic progress made on 2253. Love the colorful display she will make in operation.

For an excellent review of S-160s in service, enter this string in Google for a direct link to some Mooooving YouTube action.

Hope to see you at the 557 Engine House

Patrick J. Durand, President

 

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