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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...
07/03/10
Our time was split pretty evenly this month between the G-16 and S-16 projects.
The G-16 is now sitting on its power trucks and on top of the A & P Shops rack.
With the plumbing of the various vacuum systems completed, the G-16 has started
to be reassembled. The trucks, gas tanks, vacuum transmission shifter, and drive
lines have been installed. Next month we’ll get the engine and fluid clutch installed
as well as swap out the intake manifold for a low profile one we custom built.
We will also start an assessment of the bolt-on trim parts we have accumulated over
the years and see what fits and what we are still missing. We are also fabricating a
coupler for the rear of the A unit as it had been removed from our unit before we acquired it.
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Some of the hoses for the four vacuum systems I am building myself and the swivel
head hoses I am having made. We’ll get all those installed in July.
I brought the S-16 Bumble Bee tender to the A & P shops from the Flagstaff and Middle
Verde Railroad this month. It is generally complete, however, it lacks the coupler,
some rivet work and a number of miscellaneous finish details. One of the trucks also
needs some significant additional work.
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We fabricated grab irons for the side of the engine cab and replaced the original
engine handrails (tubing) with solid brass. We pressure tested the air tank and
replaced all its brass fittings and pop-off valve. The drain cock was cleaned,
rebuilt and reinstalled. A great deal of work went into this component that you
can’t even see…
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I have acquired about 80% of the parts I need to rebuild the false drive wheel
assembly of the Bumble Bee and am hopeful I can locate or fabricate the balance
of the parts in the next couple of months.
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I rebuilt the bell cradle with new bushings, spacers and zerk fittings.
It was also thoroughly cleaned and stripped with a wire wheel and hand sanding.
It functions great and looks pretty good! We are close to being finished with
the work on the front breast plate; another work day or two and it should be completed.
There is still a great deal of additional work to be completed on both projects, but
they are coming along and the level of excitement increases when components start
going back together instead of coming apart. Both engines will be very cool when completed!
Despite the fact that I live right in the middle of the city, I never know from one day to
the next what short of wildlife might show up in the back yard. All the fruit trees and water
do have something to do with it - or maybe they're all railfans... We had a very wet spring
and it has been good for the rabbits and the quail.
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We had a work day on the Flagstaff and Middle Verde Railroad interrupted by a large swarm of bees
earlier this month. Two of us bundled up and swung the door up and tied it off in the open position.
With the bee shortage nationally, we didn't want to kill them and hoped they might move down the road
and find another spot to call home. Suffice it to say the bees were not amused at being in the direct
sunlight and heat and we were hightailing it up the road after the door was tied off. These photos show
the honeycomb three weeks later - there were still some bees in the area, but the large swarm had moved on.
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Work had me spending a few days in Las Vegas this month and I took a few more pictures of the Hoover Dam bypass construction project.
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Have a great Fourth of July everybody!
06/06/10
We managed to make quite a bit of progress on the “Bumble Bee” S-16 this month. We completed fabrication
and installation of the pilot, fabricated the pilot beam support rods, mounted the new smokestack and headlight,
cut out and replaced the front section of each running board, removed and replaced two of the truck safety hooks
that were sheared off and modified the smoke box breast plate to closely resemble the prototype including the staybolts.
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We finished the preliminary plumbing on the G-16 this month with all dry joints. Next month we’ll get
them all soldered up. We finished the brackets for the hand valves, tubing braces and clamps for the vacuum lines
and mounted the vacuum tank. We are working on the various hoses for the four vacuum systems: the brakes, the throttle,
the transmission shifter and the vacuum pump to the vacuum tank. There are considerably more bends, fittings and
transitions than on the S-16. We have decided to forego having an original trumpet style vacuum horn; we are staying with
the trumpet style, but will utilize a 12V electric horn.
We had two new gas tanks fabricated out of aluminum for the G-16 which are really trick. We added interior baffles
and placed the fitting mounts where they made the most sense for our year and model. We also added a shared air
line to equalize air pressure in the two tanks. They will look great polished up for the final assembly after the
rest of the engine is painted.
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We added two low voltage lights to illuminate our water tank for our after dark runs in the Summer. The wiring isn’t
completely finished, but they work very well, are hidden in the daytime and provide the lighting effect I was hoping to achieve.
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We received one of the original Freestone Park railroad signs that was mounted on one of the two Sandley coaches that ran
at the park in the early 90s. It will get mounted and displayed in our engine house in the next few weeks. Thank you Carey!
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We rebuilt and repainted one of the old park style lamp posts near the baggage cart this month as it had some minor
damage and was badly faded.
The primary focus this month was getting issue No. 5 of the Large-Scale Railroading magazine finished, blocked out
and to the printer. It is finally completed and will go to the printer this week. YES!!!
We added a new rail hand to the Arizona & Pacific crew this month. Her name is Lodi and she is up to 11 pounds
from the six pounds she weighed three weeks ago.
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Summer has arrived at the Arizona & Pacific Railroad and it's 110 degrees in the shade.
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In April we had ducks visit the A&P RR. In May we had rabbits visit. In June we're expecting another visitor...
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05/03/10
As I shared last month, we obtained seven retro aluminum patio umbrellas each of which needed some work.
Some needed a lot of work. We were able to salvage and swap parts and were able to make five nice ones
from the seven bodies and parts. They are already placed in service here on the A & P as summer rapidly approaches.
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04/03/10
March was a very busy month on the A & P Railroad. I was in town every Friday, Saturday and
Sunday and it didn’t rain on any of the weekends so we tried to make up for some lost time earlier
this year.
We extended our loading area in length from 15 to 40 feet. It was long enough to load and unload one car previously; now it will handle two cars and the engineer can also use the platform to get on and off the tender.
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We got the third exterior light mounted on the north side of the engine house. The area is now well lighted and a comfortable place to train watch - even after dark.
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We added two more high CFM exhaust fans to the engine house for doors nos. 2 and 3. We still have some finishing touches to complete on the duct work, but we are close to having the installation of these exhaust fans complete. This will provide 4 exhaust fans in the engine house.
We started on the big insulation project with R38 ceiling and R19 second story walls in the engine house. It was a huge project that involved moving and rehanging the lights, trimming and fitting what seemed like hundreds of pieces of insulation and shooting almost 15,000 staples. We also had to finish the framing to box out the four vertical shafts that penetrate the ceiling to the windows in the clerestory area. We insulated and boxed in plywood a 8 foot by 4 foot by 30” high storage area in the attic and added a light switch and two light fixtures on opposite ends for light. I am not sure how much I’ll use it, but the space was free… The insulation work is about 80% complete and about 80% of me itches… I will be very glad when the insulation part of this project is complete!
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All of the concrete and paver work in the greatly expanded waiting area patio is finally complete. We still have some welding to finish and the wooden walkway connecting the two largest areas of the paver patio to complete, but it is basically done and looks pretty good. The wooden walkway is likely a summer project.
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My brother Dave located and purchased the Stewart-Warner gauges for the instrument panel of the G-16. There is just something special about the black face retro looking SW gauges that is very appealing. I am working to locate the balance of the components for the dash. Several special order copper fittings arrived for the vacuum systems (brake and throttle) this month and we fabricated the mounting brackets for the vacuum tank. They look pretty good and very similar to the original brackets.
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We received three boxes of parts for the trucks and another of bolt-on parts for a future stock car. I still have quite a number of metal parts to fabricate, but it is a good start
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The wood frame and glass covers for our two display cases in the engine house were completed by my friend Steve this month. I am looking forward to displaying various park train catalogs and paper memorabilia in the cases.
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We obtained several sunbrellas (aluminum patio umbrellas that were very popular in the 50s – 70s) this month through the hard work and persistence of one of our friends. I think we can make four or five nice ones from the seven bodies and parts. You can never have enough shade here in the summer. Thank you Dan!
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We received the donation of a really cool vintage Arizona park train sign this month. It was mounted on the side of one of the four NAD coaches that ran 40+ years ago at the Old Tucson movie studio. The National Amusement Device train that ran there for many years was purchased in 1959 and was in place when the movie studio opened to the public in 1960. One side of the sign reads Old Tucson R.R. and the other reads Southern Pacific. It will be proudly displayed in the engine house. Thank you Carey
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I attended a work day on the F & MV RR in Camp Verde, AZ. We had to replace the pan on the Wisconsin motor of the S-16 without pulling the engine. It wasn’t pretty, but it is done and it doesn’t leak anymore.
We had visitors from Chicago, IL and Detroit, MI this month.
We had our first night run with friends – very cool!
Happy Easter everybody!
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03/08/10
The waiting area patio behind the engine house was the major project this month. We removed
our granite ballast to be used elsewhere later and brought in and compacted several tons of
dirt under the patio footprint. Two pallets of concrete later and the pavers are all set
in 2 ½ inches of concrete. The patio is a 60 foot by 17 foot rectangle with railroad tracks
cut through it.
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The pavers are all set and most of them have been cut to shape, but many cuts remain. The number of cuts was almost overwhelming. Then all the cut edges have to be treated. Some of the smaller edge pieces will be affixed with thinset and then the polymer sand will be added throughout.
Once that phase of the project is completed, I can start on the wood walkway between the rails that will connect the two largest areas of the patio and connect the area with the loading platform and pedestrian walkway. A great deal of time went into the project in the last two months and it still has quite a way to go, but I think you can get the idea of where I am going with this project. Everything except the wood walkway should be completed by the end of March – if it quits raining every weekend….
We cut and fit another piece of Arizona flagstone to the north side of our engine house this month. This will be the third and final light fixture on that side of the building. The rough wiring is complete. The wiring will be finished and the fixture mounted this month
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Just when I thought we were done with lighting projects, we are adding a light switch and receptacle for a railroad drumhead inside on the west end of the building and adding lighting for the attic where we will have some storage.
We got started on plumbing our G-16 this month. All of the plumbing had been stripped out before we bought her and what we bought was basically a shell with a few parts. Over the years we have tracked down most of the major components. As they always say though, the devil is in the details. We are mocking up the plumbing and cutting, flaring and fitting tubing. Locating and buying fittings, fabricating brackets and slowly moving forward. Dave is tracking down the gauges we’ll need for the instrument panel.
We made some progress on the S-16 reassemby this month as well, but didn’t have much time to devote to it.
We are just getting the mainline back together enough to start running the engines and start entertaining guests again. We had visitors from Yardley, PA and Salt lake City, Utah this month. Speaking of travel, I had two more weeks in Las Vegas this month on business. The Hoover Dam Bypass is really starting to take shape.
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I have always thought it would be cool to have a stock car and a caboose to add to our train. I am a big fan of Sean and Melissa at the Hillcrest Shops in California and really like the stock car they produce. Over the years, I had purchased about ½ the metal parts that go into that project and this month purchased pretty much the rest of the metal components that they offer. I will still have to fabricate a few metal components and all the wood, but at least the metal parts will be here. The stock car is a long range project and may be five years away, but I like to plan ahead. The caboose will be after that.
Happy railroading everybody!
02/06/10
Sorry about the delayed update, I was out of town all week and just got home yesterday.
In January, we installed stake pockets on both of our recently built maintenance of way trailers and painted the stake pockets, truss rod washers and nuts and the couplers to match the wood frame. We still need to letter and number the trailers, but that can happen inside this Summer when the heat is punishing on the outdoor projects.
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We finished our 1961 Allan Herschell Dodgem bumper car project and moved it into the game room. Oak and Walnut pedestals we designed support the rear metal wheels of the bumper car above my Oak floor. The pedestal on which the front wheel sits has a bearing concealed within which allows the top half of the pedestal to spin and thus the front wheel turns when the steering wheel is turned. It’s a little thing, but it is pretty cool to be able to turn the steering wheel. We shortened the pole slightly so that it would fit, but I thought having the pole and the electrical pick-up on the back of car was a nice touch. My brother David found an original sales brochure for the car. It weighs roughly 600 pounds. Five of us (totaling well over 1,000 pounds) struggled to get it out of the shop and into its current spot. It wasn’t pretty, but there she is…
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We finished our 3+ month lighting project and couldn’t be happier with the outcome. We have our five light poles with seven lanterns installed, painted and fully operable. Located at key spots along the right-of-way, they shine enough light to make the occasional after dark operation in the Summer possible without “over lighting“ the area. We selected an older style 60 watt bulb for the lanterns that puts out a yellowish light that adds both light and ambience to the railroad
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The lantern poles are painted a tan/brown color to simulate the look of wood and structural washers are placed where they would be located on a wood version. The wiring is all concealed within the steel tubes. The outlets are always hot and thus I no longer need to drag out 250 feet of extension cords for some projects. Everything is code compliant with GFI, breakers, wire gauge, connectors etc. The poles and lanterns look good in the daylight, but they are very cool after dark!
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While we were painting our new lamp posts, we decided to get another coat of paint on our turntable which was completed in 2005. It didn’t really need painted that badly, but had faded a bit over the years and with the new lamp post standing nearby, I thought it was a good idea. We removed all the planking and recoated it with a water and termite resistant product. The ring rail was also painted and everything looks good. The turntable was reassembled over a couple of weeks and should be in great shape for many years to come.
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About a year ago, we added two high-density seat pads to each of our gons to soften the wood seats a bit. The thought being that the adults might like the padded seats while the younger people probably wouldn’t care if the seat was padded or not. As it turns out, everyone wants a padded seat. We had four more seats made and installed this month in our two gons so now all the seats are padded.
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Last year I designed and built couplers on the rear of our speeders to enable them to tow our maintenance-of-way trailers. When I later changed my mind on the design of the trailers themselves – it meant I had the couplers in the wrong place on the speeders. We had to cut out the original design and fabricate new ones that sit much higher. We also had to move and rewire the tail lights on the speeders. There was a great deal more cutting, grinding, fitting and welding than the last two sentences imply, but the changes are complete and the coupler assemblies have been reinstalled. I still need to sand, prime and paint them,but the balance of the work is done.
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I also thought our trestle fire bucket/water barrel might look good as our engine house trash can and made that change from the plastic variety.
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I purchased the additional 3” thick mega pavers we will need for our expanded waiting area and the sidewalk from the waiting area to the boarding area. It took two of us the better part of a day just to get the pavers all moved to their staging area and divided into three piles based on paver size.
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I still need to remove some gravel from the area, bring in and compress some dirt, buy a pallet of concrete and a couple of tons of sand before we are ready to start. I hope to have all the materials on site later this month and get started on this multi-weekend project. There will be a large number of time-consuming saw cuts so this project will take a while…
I have had three metal benches in the engine house that have provided a place to sit while swapping stories and lies for some time. The metal eventually started to become uncomfortable. I added padding to the seats and back and covered the benches. They are much more comfortable and with some imagination - okay a lot of imagination - look a bit like coach seats from two centuries ago.
I am still hopeful we can get the expanded waiting area done, the ceiling insulation in the engine house completed and a good start on the T & G ceiling in there before Summer sets in here – we’ll see.