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This page of the website follows projects taking place at the Arizona and Pacific Railroad and gives visitors a chance to see the progress that has been made...
12/25/07
My computer contracted a virus shortly after our last update. After nearly a month in and out of the shop without
much meaningful repair success, she was retired and replaced. Our updates should be back on track soon and the
annual report should be available the first week of January as usual. Thank you for your interest and patience!
We had a great deal more success in the last month with the engine house project than the PC… The exterior painting
is complete except for the doors and door frames. The door hardware is all on site and will be reinstalled after
the doors are painted. The exhaust fans and ductwork have been installed and only await the electrical. We went with
two 429 CFM fans and eight inch ductwork. We have the four sets of double doors, the single door, 80 feet of vents
in the soffits and the two large round vents upstairs. The mechanical people who calculate these things tell me that
the two fans will be plenty; we’ll see and can install two additional exhaust fans if necessary.
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11/19/07
We have a bit more progress to report. The soffits have been enclosed and the soffit vents have been
installed. The round vents at each end of the clerestory roof have been added and the wood siding on
that portion of the building is now complete. The steps and hand rail to the main entry door are nearing
completion. The mockup of the A & P logo has been added to the end of the building. The final version
is very colorful and three dimensional instead of the mockup’s painted letters and ring.
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11/13/07
Progress on the enginehouse continues. The shingles are in place and are a special dimensional shingle
designed to look like wood shake shingles. The effect is much better from some angles than others, but
they look pretty good all in all. The upper and lower windows have been installed and the flashing membrane
has been installed around the upper windows. You will also notice that we have started on the steps up to
the main entry. We are really pushing, as time and money permit, to try and finish the building before the end
of the year, but it is starting to look like January before we can get it finished. We’ll see how far we can get.
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10/31/07
We have had a busy several days at the A & P working on the engine house. The roof is on and awaiting paper and
shingles, the framing is finished and the locomotive door transoms are complete and numbered. We passed two inspections
in the last week and continue to slowly make progress. Among the next several projects are flashing, shingles,
enclosed soffits with vents, entry steps and a handrail. Windows, doors, siding, trim paint and another entry platform
will follow those projects.
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10/21/07
Since our last update we attended the Grand Scales convention in Missouri, visited the Wabash, Frisco and Pacific Railroad,
engineered at the Flagstaff & Middle Verde's fall meet and visited several California railroads. The California trip included
the RS&T Railroad, the Hillcrest and Wahtoke Railroad and Griffith Park railroads past and present. The Griffith Park odyssey
included the Panella Pacific Railroad which has the original Griffith Park equipment, the Griffith Park and Southern Railroad,
Griffith Park's LA Live Steamers and "Depot Days" at Griffith Park's Travel Town.
We've posted photos and brief descriptions of several of those railroads here: Recent Updates
At the A&P RR progress continues on our engine house project. We've completed all 4 walls to the 8' level, received our green tag for the
Zonolite insulation and grout on the second lift. We completed that, installed the anchor bolts and extended both ends of the building
up an additional 4+ feet for the roof. The trusses and roofing lumber are now on site and the roof construction will begin soon.
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9/10/07
We had our inspection on our first lift and received our green tag to proceed with grout and Zonolite insulation
on the first four feet of our walls. We completed those tasks and have finished three of the four walls to the eight
foot level. We still have a few hours more work on the front wall around the three train doors to get that wall completed
to the eight foot level. Then we have another pre-grout inspection before we can grout, insulate, place our anchor bolts
and add the final four feet of block to the east and west ends of the building. I am so ready to be done with block and
concrete work for a while and be able to clean everything up…
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8/20/07
Our door frames and blocks arrived two weeks ago and we started on our first four foot lift not long after the
materials arrived. We have three of the sides completed to the maximum height prior to our next inspection.
With some luck this week, we will get the front wall finished to the same height working a couple of evenings
after work. We are still hoping to get an inspection this week that will allow us to start on the second lift
(next four feet vertically) the weekend of August 25. It is finally starting to look like a building…
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8/04/07
There's been quite a bit of progress on the A&P RR since our last website update. The summer monsoons are here and the temperature
has dropped to just over 100°F. The humidity has risen from 7% to 60% so it's a bit muggy but it's no longer 140°F in the gravel.
I didn't have a thermometer that went above 120°F until the peak summer heat had already been broken so this is the best picture
I could get... until next summer.
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6/09/07
As we mentioned last week we've made good progress on the walkway across the two sets of tracks on trestle #5.
The block steps at the southern end are complete, the wooden planks have been installed, the handrail has been welded
in place, it's primed and ready for final painting.
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5/28/07
Lots of progress since our last update but unfortunately we won't have new pictures until next weekend. Dave's business trip
had him out of the country the past few weekends and he hasn't had a chance to take photos of the Arizona & Pacific's progress.
The rail has been installed on the transfer table and the first of two locking mechanisms has been fabricated and attached to the
west end of the table. The east mechanism will be installed after the engine house has had it's concrete floor poured and it's rail installed.
The planks have been installed on the walkway that crosses the east end of trestle #5 and the block steps leading up to the walkway have been completed.
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4/21/07
With the rain, irrigation and Easter there haven't been many work days since our last update.
We did however mount the ties and the 2x6 planking to the transfer table.
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3/17/07
We removed 40 feet of retaining walls and added 30 feet in different places. This should be the last time
we have to remove and replace major sections of our block retaining walls for track realignment – but we
have said that before… The stem walls for our new building are up and came out nice in split face block;
we wanted to have a solid cut rock look for the foundation. We received our stem wall green tag and were able
to grout the stem and start soil preparation for the slab.
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2/24/07
We welded our extensions on our transfer table, drilled the balance of the 70 holes, welded the bottoms of all the joints,
tapped all 70 holes and primed all the surfaces. We also tracked down some reasonably straight 4x4s and cut them to length,
filed the corners and drilled the mounting holes for the first 24 of the 35 ties needed for our transfer table.
In our free time, we moved fourteen yards of concrete from two trucks out in the street in front of the house the 250 feet around
to our construction site in the back corner of the rear yard. In all the excitement, I lost track of the number of wheelbarrow loads
we moved, but it was somewhere north of 117… We also poured the footer for retaining walls for our new Rock Creek Trestle and the
foundation for the rest of our platform steps – more on these projects in the weeks to come. We had help, but it was a still a very
long day for everyone involved!
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2/10/07
The concrete and block pillars for the transfer table are complete. They support the 4x4 beam and guide rail
that the transfer table's wheels ride on. The 4x4 steel beams of the table have been welded together, the wheels are
installed and the structure rolls nicely on it's base. Last weekend we drilled the first 64 holes for mounting
the ties to the table. The next step is to tap threads into all those holes and get some primer on the steel.
The footer trenches for the 3 stall engine house have been dug and the rebar has been bent and tied up. The first city
inspection took place this week and the project was green tagged. The next step is to pour the concrete footer.
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February 2007
There are always projects taking place on the Arizona and Pacific Railroad.
Two of the current projects are the transfer table and the 3 stall engine house.
A 21 foot long transfer table is being built to connect a 3 stall engine house to a 80 foot long trestle.
The transfer table is designed to appear very much like the A&P RR's trestles with concrete and block pillars
which support 4x4 steel beams with railroad ties and rail bolted to the table.
After numerous delays, much frustration and many revisions, we finally received city approval on our
architect’s drawings for our first three stall engine house and we've broken ground. The building will
be 23 feet 4 inches wide and 40 feet long.
This page of the A&P RR website is dedicated to following the progress on these projects...