Engine 557 Restoration Company
Progress Report February 2021

February 13, 2021 the North Bound passenger was a mixed train, consisting of two SD70MACs followed by baggage, three coaches, FP40 CAB, four covered hoppers of Ammonium Nitrate, several flat loads of building materials and the FRED. The train originated in Anchorage. Just never know what to expect in these mid winter lash-ups.

An Anchorage Daily News article describes Alaska's successes in administering COVID-19 vaccinations. The lead photo is of 94 year old WWII veteran Herbert Worthley receiving his first dose of the vaccine. What the article doesn't say is that Herb has been a friend and supporter of the 557 restoration from the beginning. He is a long retired ARR crewman and may be the only person who can give a first-hand description of operating 557. Herb just recently visited 557 here at the engine house.

David Cowee of Reno, Nevada continued his annual tradition of support for 557 with a generous $500 which was immediately matched with $500 from our challenge grant. David brought us ever closer to being able to close out the grant and see 557 under steam again.

Fred Meyer/Kroger stores reported that in the last quarter, 27 households were signed up with Engine 557 for their Community Rewards Program. $86.94 in donations was directed our way as a result. Just a few clicks on the computer and you too can direct regular donations to benefit 557. Go to www.fredmeyer.com/communityrewards and select “Engine 557 Restoration Company” at “Reenroll or link your Rewards Card now.”

What others say:

Philip Wormald from London England, “Didn’t make my regular Alaska trip last year and I doubt the cruise lines will run much this year so if WP&YR Skagway is shut down, we’ll not make this year either! I made a $100 donation to try and keep you ticking on that great job you doing! I always have such great times on my Alaska trips, so longing to return!” Note: I hosted Phillip on a portion of his 2005 Alaskan trip. His goal in life: “Photograph every active locomotive in the world with a train behind it.” Phillip, here with a Metro train in Fullerton California, is well on his way to doing just that.

Ken Elmore is a long time model railroading friend and has volunteered two days a week here in the 557 Engine House for over 8 years. He walked into the International Office of 557 and handed me a $1000.00 contribution check! Ken is but one of 15 volunteers who not only put blood, sweat and tears forward for Engine 557, they help pay the way for her resurrection.

When we sent a thank you for his donation to Volker Gerisch in Germany, he came back with, “You’re welcome. Your work is outstanding by all accounts. My donation is a drop in the bucket but better than nothing.” Volker, big rivers are just a bunch of drops. Thanks again.

February, March, April and May we have a push on to put the drivers back under 557. This requires a lot of preparation.

For weeks Terry Douglas has been milling rough 873 bronze castings made by Patrick Garley into 8 new shoes to support the driving boxes in the frame. Starting with a 66 pound casting he milled these into custom fitted shoes weighing 50 pounds each.

There are jobs to do between the frames before the drivers are installed. All the lines from the Left side mechanical lubricator must be installed. Each of the 8 lube feeds serves one journal box. These are all being manufactured new from 1/4” brake line tubing, custom fit for each run. A bulkhead has been installed to provide an intermediate connection point near the lubricator. Short hard line connections will then be made after the crosshead is mounted.

Eight lines are bundled together with a 1/2 inch steam heat line in a trough between the frames below the boiler. The fittings are all Pyle National and true to form, the union bonnets and seat are proprietary threads until you get to the union blocks mounted on the frame where they change to an entirely different fitting. Caution, they seem to fit for about three threads and then you will pay dearly if you go beyond the resistance point with a wrench.

The lines terminate at the back of the journal box with a flexible high pressure hose. Paul Dalleska, Mike McKervey, Ken Elmore and Gene Augustine all are working on this installation. Paul Dalleska is installing all new plumbing for the Driving Box lubrication from the Left side lubricator to each of the eight boxes. We needed a cutter for close quarters work to neatly trim the 1/4 ID tubing to accept JIC bulkhead fittings. A call to the local SNAP ON Dealer, Tom Simpson, brought delivery of a new Mini Self Adjust Tube Cutter within the hour. Great service and Tom made it another in-Kind Donation.

Tom Walker, test fit each of the eight newly Babbitted crown brasses to the appropriate axles. The Crown brass settles on the axle covered with bluing. A little wiggle leaves behind the pattern on the axle, and this one looks good!

Each pedestal binder was removed and reconditioned. They were cleaned and non contact areas were painted. The holes where the studs go through are oversize and accumulate dirt and rust which were removed with stainless rotary brushes made for cleaning concrete. At final assembly these will be packed with marine anti-seize. Gene Augustine lead the crew on this exercise.

Glad we have our collection of s-160 drawings. There are five different bolt and stud designs used on the four pair of binders from front to rear. 557 came to us with a mix of original and shop made studs. The top one is original and matches the drawing while the lower was a shop made replacement which was too long and did not have enough threads on the bottom. These are all to be double nutted so we found two of these long studs where they had torched the threads out of the top nut so it would act as a spacer washer. Paul Dalleska recut both the taper thread and 1 1/8 strait end to arrive at the drawing specification. All have been cleaned, treated with anti-seize and are ready for action.

The Gibbs/Keys for the spring hangers were a mixed bag of worn materials. We opted to manufacture new ones from 4140 steel and then have them induction hardened by our friends at MED TEC in Minnesota. Taylor Steel of Flint, Michigan provided the 4140 blanks cut to length. They mailed the 66 pounds of raw stock to Alaska in a USPS priority mail flat rate box for $15.50 during the Christmas rush and it took 28 days instead of the normal 3-4 days.

Laverne Buller had all the gadgets in his home shop to do the set up. In the photo a gibb blank is between centers in his mill and a finished piece is setting on the bench. There are a total of eight short and eight long gibbs. They were finished at the 557 shop on the new belt sander and finally sand blasted. We paid $15.50 for medium flat rate box to mail the 46 pounds to MED-TEC.

Jerry Peters retired as the ARR Master Mechanic after starting out as an electrician apprentice. 557 has received all new state of the art wiring adapted to the original 1940’s appliances where possible. His work on rebuilding our inventory of Pyle National K-240 Dynamos is exemplary. We have three K-240s and all were in different states of repair. Jerry has completed one through testing on air, and one through vibration testing while operating as a motor with 12 volts DC applied to the generator out put lugs. The third will be cleaned and evaluated for repair as a standby unit.

A quick tour of the bench shows the features of the K-240. The turbine wheel fits inside the turbine case on one end. While the Generator end mount is ready to bolt to the case on the opposite end. The rear field frame assembly bolts up next waiting on the Field Coil in the case after being baked and painted. Next the Front field frame assembly is bolted in place. Brushes are then being installed on the commutator. The final support bearing features a unique “oil ring” which just hangs in the case over the shaft and slings oil. Wish it was all that simple but each unit represents over 100 hours of work. We thank Bernie Watts of Backshop Enterprises for his quick service on parts and pieces and his advice on some needed repairs.

As I write this there are seven volunteers hard at work and two new “younger ones” coming in. We all look forward to welcoming visitors back to the 557 Engine House in the future.

Patrick J. Durand
President 557

 

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