Engine 557 Restoration Company
Progress Report March 2021

If you have been waiting for the 557 March Progress report then you understand our impatience with the late arrival of spring weather. As of April 10th we are still in the grip of a late winter pattern that lasted all through March. Good news and Bad news continues with overnight dusting of snow putting a reflective white blanket on the previous days efforts at thawing. In years past the shop complex was snow free by now. The good news is we are enjoying a full lot of 10 vehicles as 557 volunteers brave the weather commuting 4 days per week.

On March 18th we provided a training tour for the Alaska Railroad tour guide managers. Mia Vajdos, Daniel Fretwell and Nick Havelock supervise 17 student guides on board the summer passenger trains. They got the strait skinny on future plans for the 557 restoration and operations. They were joined by Sean Mesloh, ARR Chief Mechanical Officer and Rusty Pochatko, Manager, Motive Power & Equipment.

Sean, is also a 557 Board Member and he and Rusty took interest in our 26L brake upgrade trial fit. This is a major first step toward PTC implementation. Viewed from the engineer's seat it shows just how little room there is in an S-160 cab. Paul and Tom Walker did the initial fit up.

After our visitors departed, I reflected on the morning and realized that in spite of the cold and snow outside, Spring had arrived. While I was engaged in the tour, no less than 14 volunteers had contributed to a busy and productive day working for Engine 557. In no particular order:
James Keene removed old paint and rust from the 26L brake stand being rebuilt for upgrading under the direction of Paul Dalleska. Mike Bridges was engaged sandblasting some of those same components after fitting new aluminum weather guards, that he had fabricated in his home shop, to the driving box cellars. Ken Elmore closed out the day trimming and fitting replacement 3/16 plate for the 26L stand. Mike McKervey organized a crew to move some major components to storage with the Cat V80 while bringing in parts of the engine truck. Tom Walker was seen removing that same 26L stand after a trial fit in the cab. Jerry Peters put final details on Pyle K240 Dynamos, while waiting for parts from Backshop Enterprises to finish the job. Terry Douglas installed the last of the new bushings in the locomotive brake rigging, where every hole was bushed. Jerry Cunnington with a team installed new bushings and shims in the link motion link.

Doug VanWingerden came in from Big Lake to pick up samples of lubricator bonnets and ferrels to be duplicated in his home shop. David Lucas delivered a wood fixture for lifting driving boxes that he created in his Birchwood shop. RR Mike Gerenday, normally part of the Saturday crew, stopped to follow up on a story for publication. Sean Misloh, as a 557 Board Member is also a Volunteer. I, Patrick Durand, just watched it all happen, gave the tour, processed the mail, made the bank deposits, and locked up at the end of a busy day.

Other regular volunteers on different days of the week are Jeff DeBroeck, Dean Sawyer, Gene Augustine, Ron Dudley, Lynn Willis, Laverne Buller and Dick Morris. These folks work with very little recognition, when you see a 557 hat with a crew name, give them a big THANK YOU!

Good news! We have reached the $50,000 mark on the $50,000 challenge grant which started in late November. Two excellent weeks for donations included $2,150 on Tuesday and $2,640 last week to take us to $50,000 and free the remainder of the matching grant. Thanks go to Jim and Vic Jansen, Dennis and Diane and Dick Morris for funding the challenge. 112 organizations, businesses, and individuals from Alaska, a number of lower 48 states and from as far away as Germany and the UK joined in taking up the challenge to bring a total of $100,000.00 to the bottom line.

Bad news! We were notified that the large grant request from The John H. Emery Rail Heritage Trust was not funded. The Trust had requests for over a million in grants and had applications from a number of organizations they hadn't heard from before. They gave $325,000 in 22 grants to very worthy projects. Their news release can be found here. The good news; They have given us $40,000 in three grants in the past and we intend to try again next year.

557 was encouraged to apply for a $5,000 grant from the Palmer Community Foundation, which was a long shot in the time of Covid. There are many social service organizations with needs that took precedence so we did not make the grade. As 557 comes closer to operation we will reach out again.

Sourcing products to meet 75 year old specifications can be a challenge. There are several places where cotton or wool waste is called for in lubrication reservoirs or cellars. After converting the tender to roller bearings we did not have a huge demand. Finding someone who will sell in small quantities is the second challenge. Jon Zeilinger of Zeilinger Wool Company in Frankenmuth, Minnesota solved both problems. The waste from the wool carding process is collected and sold as “NOILS” for $1.50 per pound. 15 pounds compressed into a 2 foot square box for mailing and should meet our needs for some time.

Who knew? As early as 1998, Engine 557 was the subject of a postage stamp issued by the Republic of Madagascar on the opposite side of the world.

Keith and Barbara Nore came down for the week from North Pole to visit family and Keith spends his days working with us in the 557 shop.

Photos of Volunteer Crews were taken on three days, so here is your chance to meet them:

Wednesday, 4/7/21 taken by Barbara Nore features Left to right; Jerry Peters, Pat Durand, Paul Dalleska, Ron Dudley, Gene Augustine, Keith Nore, Tom Walker, Terry Douglas photo by Barbara Nore.

Thursday 4/8/21
Mike Bridges, Ken Elmore, Keith Nore, Jim Keene, Dave Lucas, Paul Bates, Tom Walker, Pat Durand, Terry Douglas took the photo. 10 volunteers on a mid-week!

Saturday 4/10/21

After a morning crew briefing, the guys moved the pallet shelving used for scaffolding on both Left side and Right side of the locomotive to make room for dry fitting the driving boxes. To preserve the vertical storage space they were able to move the sections to each side of the tender and adjust the shelving so it fit over tool cribs on the left and stock bins on the right.

New shoes for Gypsy are fitted up by Terry as the first step in trail fit of the driving boxes.

The last new bushings for the brake rigging were fitted to a short equalizer. They have all been case hardened as well.

Wind desiccates and blows snow away here in the Valley before it has a chance to melt so by the time we write the official April Report it should gone. We hope.

Patrick J. Durand
President 557

 

Back