Steam Work Session September 2018
By Roger Stabler
I arrived at the museum the morning of September 24th. I started the week by helping Greg Elems work on the WP1503, removing the vinyl stripes from the pilot plates and sanding the under carriage. Greg sanded the car body for painting. We continued that work until Tuesday afternoon. Steve Lee arrived at the museum and dropped off the tube roller. On Wednesday I started prepping the remaining tubes to roll, it took most of the day to shim the tubes. At the end of the day, I helped David Elems and Steve Habeck remove the A-end truck from the sleeper Magnolia Grove so the wheels can be turned. The car is owned by Doyle McCormack. As soon as the B-end is done, the car will be going to Portland.
Thursday saw the addition of Erik Olson and Channing Walker to the team. Eric installed the blow-down valve on the engine and Channing repaired the bottom of the sandbox so it can be put back into place. Eric and Channing then went to work prepping the 5 1/2" flues. They spent the next two days getting them in and cut to length. The next step will be to roll the flues in the spring. Dick Couden came in and spent Thursday afternoon and Friday making and installing bolts so the water tank is now secured to the tender frame. Dick was assisted by Bob Sims and Steve Lee in this effort.
I spent Friday in the firebox rolling the 2-inch tubes, finishing the job on Saturday morning. Hank Stiles and Mike Mehcam showed up on Saturday and worked at locating and putting all the washout plugs back into their respective holes. Bob Sims worked at modifying the cab floor so it is easier to move if necessary and Bob finished up the engineer’s side floor. Kirk Baer came in the afternoon and painted the sand box that attaches to the front of the tender
Saturday was the day that the WP165 was scheduled to get the oil tank put back into the tender. David Elems moved the oil tank and positioned it so the derrick could be used to make the lift. Charlie Spikes and Roger Stabler, with the assistance of the Steam Crew, switched the WP165 out to the east yard and got the tender positioned so the tank could be set in. The lift took much longer than anticipated as the derrick had some minor problems that we had to fix before the lift could be completed. I found a few more things that need attention before we use the WPMW 37 again. With the lift completed, the engine was put back into the shop. I wanted to do a boiler wash and permanently couple the tender to the engine, but we ran out of time and daylight so this job will wait for the spring workweek. During the winter, David Elems will be making thread adapters so our safety valves can be fitted onto the dome lid. David Wallace showed up late Saturday. I retrieved a quadrant for the power-reverse lever out of the steam boxcar so David can use what was left of the old one and the used one to make a working power-reverse lever.
It was a productive workweek and I thank all who showed up and helped get the WP165 closer to running.
