Engine 557 Restoration Company
Progress Report August 2024

Only Alaskans know the significance of the last blooms on the Fireweed fading. Fall is already here along with the rain. The Alaska State Fair is underway through Labor Day. The rail heritage of Palmer was celebrated with a topiary garden featuring a train load of Alaskan wildlife caricatures. Engineer Wolf, Bear, Muskox, Walrus, Moose, and Conductor Puffin bringing up the rear.

Mary Balon of Cedar springs Michigan commented, “Took a ride on the Alaska RR in July 2024. On board Guides and Conductor pointed out the 557 and the restoration.” She sent us a $100 donation.

David Cowee with wife Jo from Reno, Nevada came North to visit their daughter and son in-law who live in Anchorage. David has been a regular financial supporter of 557 for several years following an earlier visit. August 27th they returned and took the 557 tour commenting on all the work accomplished by the volunteers. He was sufficiently impressed that he left a very nice donation of $500.00 to the benefit of the restoration. THANKS Dave! They also want to join us in 2025 for the AuRoRa summer solstice trip to Seward on the Alaska Railroad. Yes we are hoping to duplicate this years successful fun fund raiser for 557.

Thomas Healy is active with the local Palmer Museum. “I’ve been impressed with your restoration work on Engine 557. Please use this donation of $100 to further your efforts.”

The Anchorage House of Hobbies hosted several thousand people at their 60th anniversary Hobby Fest at the Sports Dome in Anchorage, Alaska. Volunteers, Gene Augustine, Corey Braush, Casey Durand, Pat Durand were there representing Engine 557 with a 1-1 scale display promoting 557. We were right between the Northern Lights Model Railroad Club with the Moose Lip HO Railroad built by Marty Quass and the Lionel display by the Military Society of Model Engineers. We took photos before the rush. The event lasted 5 hours and we sold out our inventory of 557 trinkets and gave away hundreds of pieces of Operation Lifesaver bling. The dome is air supported over 177,000 thousand square feet with an 80 ft ceiling. An ideal venue for this event catering to the full array of hobbies here in the last frontier. There were airplanes flying aerobatics, dogfighting, cars drifting, trucks rock climbing and trains going round and round! Also a great place to meet old friends like Dan Gullickson, the man behind restoration of Porter Engine #1 at Pioneer Land in Fairbanks.

Corey Brause is a long time supporter of 557 and volunteer and just donated $200.00 in addition to helping out at the Hobby Fest!

Nathan Forester and his children had an adventure day August 14th when they visited 557. “Elliott (10), Lowell (8), Sloane (5), Dalton (1) (not pictured), and I had a great time during our visit. Pat was very accommodating and informative. Elliott was starstruck; as a longtime Shannon Cartwright reader, he immediately recognized Pat from "Ol' 556"! We can't wait to visit again and we're eagerly looking forward to seeing the engine running. Thank you, volunteers!” Sloane rang our bell to round out the visit.

Dick Morris our 557 Secretary brought his visiting sisters, Margie, Patty, Betsy and his wife Barb to the engine house. They all follow us on Facebook. Great to have them here in person for the tour.

Volunteer David Lucas delivered the hand car he has been working on for 557. All new white oak on the refurbished and painted frame. It arrived just in time for a reveal for the Board of Directors Meeting. Terry Stefani has experience with timed hand car competitions so we may well be able to arrange events in the future as part of our community outreach for fund raising.

The Annual Meeting of the 557 Restoration Company Board of Directors was held on August 15th at the Engine House. Officers were reelected and the board is complete with 10 members. Left to Right Terry Stefani, VP Marketing and Customer Sales ARR Dale Wade, Treasurer Jane Walker, Secretary Dick Morris, President Patrick Durand, Vice President Scott Hicks, Terry Douglas. Webmaster John Combs was traveling, and ARR CMO Sean Mesloh was on ZOOM along with our COO Paul Bates.

So back in the Engine House progress toward the first fire is being made. Our volunteer crew on August 26th was just the right size, but we need more crew on Wednesday and Thursday. We can always use new recruits even if only for 1 day a week.

To protect the cylinder bore from collecting errant tools and debris during testing we created baffles for each valve bore. The bore is 10 inches ID so we rolled 1/8 sheet slightly larger OD. Then welded loops and turn buckles inside to pull the OD in while the baffles are inserted and the buckles are released to get a firm fit.

Tom Walker worked more superheater elements to be reconditioned by Jeff DeBroeck. Elements were then Hydro tested by Terry Douglas and Lynn Willis. They get green tags when the prep work is done.

All of the original 2” feed water pipe is being replaced with schedule 80 and Paul Dalleska is the pipe fitter. Pipes are stripped of mill scale and primed with clovaprime and finally finished with Armor Shield Black. Those pipes from the manifold through the starter valve to the Injectors are also insulated with a double layer of fiberglass insulation secured with stainless tie wire.

The piston and rod are a close fit on our Lodge and Shipley lathe when the rod got a clean up pass. Jerry Cunnington then burnish hardened the rod before calling the job done.

The Westinghouse Compound Air Pump has been in dry storage since being rebuilt by Robert Franzen of Steam Services of America. The foundation bracket has been adjusted and Jeff DeBroeck oversaw the dry fit of the unit on August 31st. Some shim blocks for the mounting bolts are being adjusted and it will be right at home where the Alaska Railroad put it on the front pilot in 1944. This replaced a single lung pump that the s-160 locos had mounted on the smoke box door as delivered, because in Europe they used vacuum brakes and only the locomotive was making any demand for air. It sure looks good there.

After considerable work in forming and annealing the solid copper 7/16 rod for the steam dome gasket, it deserved careful storage until needed. The loop is dead soft so the crew made a form to bend it around and it became the container to hold one and a spare plus the original gasket until needed.

A new biscuit gasket for the right side Branch Pipe was machined from ductile Iron by Jerry Cunnington. It was parted off in our vintage W.F. Wells and sons power band saw.

The original draft box from the bottom of the fire pan is being modified so it can be dropped from the pan by removing 12 nuts from studs extending through the angles on each side of the pan. 1/4” plate is being fabricated and welded inside the fire pan to provide a 3 1/2” high dam to retain brick and refractory inside. This will allow access for work inside the fire box by going through the bottom of the pan rather than loosing enough weight to fit through the firebox door. Also, much safer having two openings into a confined work space.

Our youngest volunteer started with us when he turned 18. He has pursued vocational training that took him into the HVAC industry where his current project is the new hospital in Sitka, Alaska. Jesse Lehman chose to spend some vacation time here with Engine 557 and among several tasks, he took up the challenge of fabricating the upgrade on the draft box installation. His goal is to not only work on steam locomotives but also operate them.

There are still a thousand little things to do but they are getting done one step at a time. If you can push a broom and are 18 years old and not afraid of dirt, we can put you to work.

I have been saving the best news of the month for last call!

Mr. Blake Hillis, is General Manager of the Alaska Business Unit of Republic Services. We first met in May of 2017 when after a short presentation he announced, “We will supply all the fuel you can burn for the first two years.” The company was then known as NRC Northern Recovery Corp. It then became U.S. Ecology and today is Republic Services. While preparing to do our first fire test, we needed to order fuel. Mr. Hillis is true to his promise and even upgraded us to a blend of 80/20 used oil to Diesel fuel and arranged for delivery in 300 gallon totes which is ideal for 557. This gift is literally a transfusion that will bring life to Engine 557.

In introducing this arrangement to the Republic Services Crew, Blake made these comments. “This is an amazing project that Patrick has going on and well worth a visit to see it in person. I took my family and everyone was so impressed with this amazing locomotive that has been restored and will actually move down the tracks again.”

This progress is only possible due to our wonderful community of business partners here in Alaska. Our 557 crew can only say THANK YOU! by delivering at the top of our game.

Patrick Durand
President Engine 557 Restoration Company

 

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