Arizona & Pacific RR Current Projects

          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...

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.

The waiting area is starting to take shape

          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

Flagstone installed and wiring in place for a 3rd light fixture on north side of the engine house.

          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.

They continue to make progress on the Hoover Dam Bypass

          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.

Stake pockets have been added to the maintenance of way trailers

          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…

Restored 1961 Allan Herschell Dodgem bumper car

          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

These two custom built light poles lead the way to the loading platform

A two armed light post for illuminating the loading platform and it's walkway

          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!

New light posts after dark

New light posts provide night time illumination

          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.

The planking has been removed from the turntable and a nearby light post sports a coat of primer

The turntable is masked for a fresh coat of paint

          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.

All the seats on both gondolas are now padded and so are the benches in the engine house

          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.

Modified speeder coupler

          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.

Sedona poses by the fire bucket

          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.

The mega pavers for expanding the waiting area are stacked and ready

The current waiting area will soon be expanding and will connect to the loading platform.

          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.

12/30/09

          Last month we started on a lighting project we had contemplated for some time to light enough of the backyard to allow night running. The loading area, the turntable, the water tank area and the switch yard need additional lighting to be able to safely run after dark. Most of our time this month went to continuing our work on different aspects of this project.

          Two of the lantern posts have been completely assembled, welded and wired; only the priming and painting and the installation of the switches, outlets and lantern remains. The other three lantern posts have been cut, drilled and tack welded with the pull wires in place.

          We completed digging the 300 feet of trench under sidewalks and crossing under the tracks several times. We laid the conduit and pulled the wiring. Four of the five concrete mounting pads are complete and the j-bolts and final wiring are in place.

Hole and conduit prior to pouring the concrete slab that will secure the lamp posts

          Two of the lantern posts have two arms (at 90 degrees) and three have one arm. Each has an outlet so we will have access to power without dragging 250 feet of extension cords when we are working on projects along the right-of-way

One of 7 lanterns that will hang from the 5 lamp posts

          We designed the posts to look the period and struggled with the scale. We have the engine house which is people scale and the engines, water tank and turntable which are 5/12 scale narrow gauge scale. We settled for something close to 5/12, but cheated a little.

Two of the lamp posts are roughed in place to check scale

          It is amazing how many hours of shovel and pickaxe work not to mention the hours of cutting, drilling, welding and grinding that get lost in projects like this. Dave, Frankie and I have logged 80 man hours on this project so far and still have a long way to go to have it finished, but we have made substantial progress. It should be finished in February/March.

Frankie marks a lamp post for drilling

Steel for fabricating the lamp posts

More steel for the lamp post construction

          Last month we moved three truckloads of S-16 parts into our Peoria shops to restore and reassemble an engine for one of our friends. This month we gathered several more parts for the project including: the fluid clutch, transmission, gauges and boxes of mounting hardware and misc small parts. All that remains to be moved is the Wisconsin engine which won’t be needed for another couple of months. It is amazing how much less room these things take up when they are assembled…

          We got our new light fixture mounted to the platform side of our engine house. It looks and works great. We have plans to expand our waiting platform in that area.

A second light fixture (far right) was added to the North side of the engine house

          I attended two more work days on the F & MV this month. We completed the new spur from the turntable and have 20 feet of a 70 foot privacy fence project completed. We also rebuilt the problem trucks under one of the flat cars and took her around the layout several times without incident.

          Work on our 1961 Dodgem bumper car is nearing completion and it should be out of the crowded shop in January. I am very pleased with the finished product. It looks like it would have when it came out of the Allan Herschell Shops in Buffalo, New York almost fifty years ago. That said, it is so much work and so tedious I don’t think I want to restore another one any time soon… Besides, I need the space for several upcoming railroad projects.

          Happy New Year and safe railroading everybody!

11/28/09

          It has been several weeks since the last update here and as a result, this one may be longer than most.

          I was able to get two vacation days from work on October 8 and 9 and we headed out to California to visit several large-scale railroad sites after work on the evening of Wednesday the 7th. We started our trip with a tour of the historic Hurlbut Shops in Buena Park. Bud and Lonnie have built some of the amusement industry’s classic and most beloved trains over the years. The hospitality and history was amazing and we spent several more hours there than expected as the day flew by.

Hurbut Shops in Buena Park, California

New loading platform at the Panella Pacific Railroad

New water tank at the RS&T Railroad

Curved trestle under construction at the MP & BH Railroad

Del Osso Farms Railroad

Riding the Marie E.

Down in the cut at Railfest 2009 at the Hillcrest & Wahtokee Railroad

Trenches for wiring to allow night time running on the A&P RR

Conduit with wiring moving towards the 2nd leg of the project

D&RGW S-16 arrives in Peoria

New hardrock maple Dodgem floor

Steering column and seat bracket on the new hardrock maple Dodgem floor

Repainted Dodgem fiberglass body during chrome installation

Progress on the Hoover Dam bypass bridge continues

Hoover Dam bypass bridge in November 2009

10/05/09

          We spent a great deal of our available time this month working on our two Maintenance of Way trailers. The end sills are mortise and tendoned and pinned with an oak dowel. The top slats are White Oak with several coasts of Red Oak stain and attached with countersunk stainless steel screws. The wood work alone was a big job as every surface is beveled or routed. We threaded our own ½ inch diameter cold rolled steel rod for the truss rods. It was fairly standard cutting the right hand threads, but I’m not sure you ever get used to cutting left hand threads for the turnbuckles. We have a couple of good coats of paint on the end sills and frames, but still have some additional painting to finish and some touch up to complete. We also had to enlarge the throat of the couplers to accommodate our tight radius curves. We still have to add the stake pockets, modify some slats for the pockets, finish the painting and then add the A & P lettering. I am pretty pleased with the way they have turned out so far and they roll great!

Maintenance of Way Trailer Under Construction

Truss Rods, Turnbuckles & Couplers

Maintentance of Way Trailer After Installation of Wood

Long Maintentance of Way Trailer

Restored MTC Track Gauge

Insulation for the engine house

Granny's Closet

Flagstaff Freight Depot

Flagstaff Passenger Depot

Southwest Forest Industries Steam Engine No. 25

Twin Arrows Trading Post

Twin Arrows

Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona

Wigwam Motel

El Rancho Motel in Gallup New Mexico

West Theatre in Grants, New Mexico

Hiway House Albuquerque, New Mexico

09/07/09

          We finally completed the 16th truck of our truck rebuild project. They are painted, covered and safely in storage awaiting completion of our G-16 and passenger cars. They all have new bearings, seals, brake shoes, hoses, quick connect fittings and plumbing. Most have new wheels and some have new axles. All the brake rigging has been disassembled, straightened, bead blasted, painted and reassembled. Plank bearings were replaced as were broken or badly bent leaf springs. A number of the coil springs were replaced for aesthetic reasons. Each of the 64 vacuum canisters was also rebuilt. Our truck rebuild project was a huge undertaking that has taken several months here on the A & P where we only have Sundays and an occasional Saturday to work on our projects. It does give a sense of accomplishment to have them all reassembled and ready for another fifty years of service when they were bent and mangled junk when I drug that stuff in here, some of it in boxes, years ago!

          Well I thought we were completely finished with our MTC/AH truck rebuilds, but a friend has asked us to rebuild two of his passenger trucks and I have agreed.

          I attended an interesting “work day” on the F & MV this month. When the F & MV has a railroad open house a large turnout is the norm, thankfully, we weren’t having an open house with a lot of guests on this occasion. We went down to the car barn to do some general cleaning and move one of the cars. The intrusion was not well-received by an uninvited guest that had staked claim to the car barn. Wow, you talk about having the crap scared out of you… It took a while to get the rattler out from under the car where we were at a disadvantage. Once it was out in the open, the confrontation didn’t last long, but it was still far from one-sided. Gosh those things are scary and dangerous. This one was an adult and just over four feet long. The fourteen nodes on the rattle indicate it has shed it's skin 14 times. It had eaten within the last day and was slower moving than normal or likely would have gotten at least one of us… Frequently, jackrabbits, quail and gophers are on hand for our work days and an occasional coyote or javalina will make an appearance, but this is the first rattlesnake l have ever seen in 16 years. Malcolm advised it is his second in 40+ years.

Uninvited Guest at the F&MV Railroad

Western Diamondack Rattlesnake at the F&MV RR

14 Bead Rattle

Irrigation at the A&P RR

1960's Table Umbrellas

Speeder Trailer Under Construction

MTC Track Gauge Before Undergoing Restoration

MTC Track Gauge During Restoration

Wickenburg Depot

Wickenburg Steam Engine and Wooden Caboose

Kingman Depot

Kingman Steam Engine

1909 Brunswick Hotel in Kingman, Arizona on Historic Route 66

Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge

07/28/09

          As I shared previously, over the past several months we rebuilt all the journal boxes with new bearings, seals and gaskets, replaced the wheels, replaced worn axles and replaced damaged springs and plank bearings on 12 MTC passenger trucks. Eight of these will go under the rolling stock of our G-16. This month we worked on rebuilding the vacuum canisters, replacing the ¼ tubing and hoses, straightening, stripping, priming and painting brake rigging and replacing all of the brake shoes. Each activity mentioned is more time consuming and in some cases frustrating than you might think. We also devoted time to getting all the brake rigging reassembled.

Vacuum canister ready to be reassembled

Freshly painted vacuum canisters

Some of the brake rigging and vaccum canisters freshly painted in black (S-16) or silver(G-16)

More freshly painted brake rigging with the brake shoes still taped

Hoover Dam bypass bridge under construction

Hoover Dam bypass bridge

06/30/09

          Our G-16 arrived in Peoria this month as planned. We already have several hours in welding, grinding and sanding with a long way yet to go, but we believe she has a great deal of potential.

Our G-16 Arrives in Peoria

Getting ready for restoration

G-16 body work has begun

Dave (left) and John (right) take the speeders for a run

Rebuilding a passenger truck

Vacuum pump used to check brake cannisters

Dr. Ken Snyder and Staff visit the A&P RR

05/25/09

          We were fortunate in that we were invited to visit the large scale division of the Joshua Tree and Southern Railroad during their meet May 2. The first run of live steam through their magnificent new cut was witnessed and was spectacular. It is amazing what this small group of really dedicated guys is getting accomplished in this one of a kind terrain. If you have never been there you need to visit and check out their progress. Thanks to Ken, Chris, Brendon, Ace and the rest of the crew.

Shay #6 passes through the newly competed rock cut at the Joshua Tree & Southern RR

Grand Scale Divison of the Joshua Tree & Southern RR

One of two power trucks being restored for engine No. 37 of the Flagstaff & Middle Verde RR

La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Arizona

Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona

It'a a girl my lord in a flat bed Ford...

A&P RR collection of MTC torque wrenches

G-16 at Dave's House

04/25/09

          The last six weeks were a blur with various projects and activities here on the Arizona and Pacific as well as other local railroads. We did manage to get a few things accomplished.

          We got our coupler assembly built and mounted on our speeder No. 1. We still need to get another unit built and mounted on our speeder No. 2. We also made some progress on the two speeder trailers we are building. One is 4 feet long and the other is 6 feet long. We got our couplers welded in place on both ends of both trailers, got them both primed and the shorter of the two is painted. We still need to finish and mount the wood platforms. We also built two draw bars to contact each trailer to a speeder or both to one speeder – depending on what we are doing. Speeder No. 1 will get a “makeover” with new paint and a new windshield later this year.

Speeder Coupler Assembly

Speeder & Trailers

Both G-16 Power Trucks are Completed

Close up of G-16 Power Truck

Some of the Freshly Cleaned and Painted Brake Rigging for S-16 Power Trucks

Open House at the Flagstaff and Middle Verde Railroad

03/08/09

          We managed to get a few things accomplished on the A & P in February.

          We completed work on the set of original style Miniature Train Company block signals that we have been working on for quite a while. Built from parts we have accumulated over the years, they are fully wired and functional, but we will use them as a MTC display in our engine house along with the pair of later style block signals, MTC crossing signal, Allan Herschell crossing signal, non-electrified crossing signal and MTC crossing gate. The gate still needs rebuilt, but it is complete.

Miniature Train Company Block Signals & Allan Herchell Crossing Signal

MTC and Allan Herschell Signal Collection

Cab for engine #2, the Sandusky

Sandusky with the cab mounted on the frame

G-16 Power Truck

02/02/09

          January was a very busy railroad month on the A & P, but there isn’t that much to show really.

          Although they aren’t exactly prototypical, we wanted decoupler levers on each end of our gons. We designed and built the levers which are fully functional. They lift our coupler pin so that the drawbar is released and then the pin slips back into place. They are accessible from both sides of the car. We built four of these assemblies so we would have one on each end of both cars. They all work very well.

Fully functional decoupler lever

Custom fit cushions for the gondola seats

12/26/08

          The Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving was a track work weekend. There were four of us on Saturday and five on Sunday. It was a long, hard weekend, but we did get a lot accomplished. We cut several pieces of rail and increased the space between rail ends to better allow for expansion in the summer, dug out and replaced several ties, replaced the original lag screws in areas near the front lawn with galvanized lag screws and re-ballasted and re-leveled some areas. We still have several more ties that will get galvanized screws after the first of the year, but our track in general should be in great shape for several months.

          In our last update we shared we had our new arch bar trucks under our two new gons. Prior to positioning them behind No. 1 and No. 2, we pushed them around the entire layout in both directions to make sure the trucks were happy and that we had plenty of clearance with switch stands. The cars are 10 inches wider than the standard S-16 cars and I had calculated that before ordering them, but a slow speed field test is always a good idea anyway. They fit and roll beautifully.

Gondola 218 waits at the loading platform

Passengers take Gondola 218 for a test ride

Custom brake wheel added to gondola

MTC and Allen Herschell signals on display

Sandusky poses for a Christmas photo

Merry Christmas from the Arizona and Pacific Railroad

11/23/08

          The first week the new gons were here in Peoria, they spent on blocks and under tarps in the driveway. The following weekend we placed temporary trucks under them and got them moved into the engine house where they were again placed on blocks while we worked to complete the arch bar trucks.

Arch Bar Trucks

Gondola #219 on the transfer table

Three passengers tryout Gondola #219

The instrument panel on engine #2, Sandusky

10/31/08

          Several months ago, I contracted with Sean and Melissa Bautista at Hillcrest shops in Reedley, California to build us two gondola cars. They are always busy building or restoring cars and engines, laying rail on their railroad or someone else’s and working on various construction projects around their railroad – not to mention their real jobs. There is always a waiting list for their equipment, but it never disappoints. Our cars were completed the end of September and we loaned them to the Hillcrest and Wahtoke Railroad for use at their Reedley Railfest held the weekend of October 11 and 12. They made their public debut on a train lead by the beautiful engine named the “Sonoma” at the popular and well attended festival.

Sonoma running at the Hillcrest and Wahtoke Railroad

Moving the A&P RR gondolas with a Hillcrest Davenport engine

Removing the 15" trucks used for Reedley Railfest from the new A&P RR gondolas

Loading the new gondolas onto the trailer for the 16 hour drive to Peoria

Loading the B unit at the Panella Pacific Railroad

Loaded trailer heading for the Arizona & Pacific Railroad in Peoria

10/08/08

          It has been a while since I updated the projects page so I figured you deserved an explanation of what I have been up to the last several weeks. I started a magazine entitled Large-Scale Railroading which in many ways is a celebration of rideable scale railroads. If you think you might have an interest in subscribing, check out the link to that website (click on photo below). The inaugural issue ships the week of October 13. It isn’t a big publishing conglomerate, just me with some help from some friends, but I’m happy with the first issue and hope it will get bigger and better as we go along. The first issue is 56 pages. If you like my writing style and sense of humor here, you will probably enjoy the magazine.

          I am in the midst of rebuilding 10 Allan Herschell coach trucks, two power trucks and designing and building four arch-bar trucks utilizing Allan Herschell wheels and axles. These AH and MTC trucks were all purchased very used many years ago from a variety of sources and have been stored all this time and I am finally getting to them. The trucks were completely disassembled and bead blasted. The leaf springs were checked for condition and alignment and the plank bearings were checked for wear. Wheels and axles were replaced as needed. The bearings and races were all cleaned and checked for wear. About 60% of the bearings and races were still in great shape and just needed cleaned and fresh grease; the balance were retired. All the seals were replaced. The wheels and axle assemblies and the frames were painted separately and then touched up after assembly.

Coach trucks in phase one of their rebuild

          Phase two of the AH coach truck rebuild process will start in November when I start to clean, straighten, paint and hang brake rigging. I also will be building 12 brake line manifolds as the originals were too mangled to be reused. Then it is on to brake shoes and vacuum canisters… - no, there won’t be “film at eleven”, but I will keep plugging away.

Four coach trucks being rebuilt

          The two power trucks are apart and the journal boxes have been rebuilt. The bearings and seals for the gear boxes are now on site and I hope to have these power trucks done early in 09 as time permits.

Power trucks, bearings and seals for rebuild

          I am also about half way along in building two small (4 foot long and 6 foot long) MOW flat cars that can be used to haul tools and other materials back and forth to assist in maintenance and new construction. The MOW cars also utilize Herschell wheels and axles, but not its trucks.

          There are three major reasons why I have tried to build as much of our rolling stock as possible out of MTC/ Hershell wheels and axles. One, it is technology proven over time. Two, the bearings, seals, axles, wheels and other components are the same on most of our equipment thus I know the parts are available and the parts shelf doesn’t have hundreds of different parts. Okay, it does have hundreds of different parts, but not thousands… Three, mixing and matching multiple wheels and flanges can make for an interesting afternoon.

          The Arizona and Pacific Railroad utilizes cast frogs of the Miniature Train Company or Allen Herschell variety on all but one of its switches. The frogs are exceptionally smooth when MTC and AH wheels or wheels which follow those wheel and flange profiles are used. Wider and deeper flanges as well as taller wheels make for a rough ride through the frogs and frequently the ride gets even rougher through the gravel… The real “fun” starts getting the wheels back on the rails.

Miniature Train Company Cast Frog

          Progress continues on the “Sandusky”. The plumbing for the gauges is complete, some additional wiring is finished and a number of “odds and ends” have been finalized. The headlight sealed beam and retaining ring have been installed. You would think that would be an easy task – well not so much. The headlight pocket was originally designed for a 6 volt sealed beam in a style which was slightly thinner. Problems arose when the retaining ring grove was not accessible with the new 12 volt sealed beam in the pocket. Lots of adjustments, modifications and hours later, the headlight and retaining ring are in place and look pretty good. The “to do” list on No. 2 is getting shorter.

          Our four arch bar trucks which also utilize AH/MTC wheels and axles are finally nearing completion. They will go under our two gondolas built by Hillcrest shops. The cars will get their “christening” the weekend of October 11 and 12 at the Reedley Railfest held at the Hillcrest Shops in California. They were a couple of cars short for their festival so we volunteered our cars which will be rolling on their trucks for the weekend. We plan to have the cars here by the end of the month, so I better quit typing and get going and get some more work done on the trucks. Have a great weekend everybody.

8/23/08

          We just completed editing last week's video footage taken by remote controlled airplane. You can check out the finished video by clicking here: Arizona and Pacific Video Page. It's the second video on the page. We also managed to get a few screen captures that are shown below.

Screen capture from the video

Nice view of the turntable

The loading platform is visible in this screen capture

Phoenix sits on trestle #5

The engine house and new siding

8/16/08

          A friend of Dave's named Jerry Carter brought his remote control airplane to the A&P Railroad today. Jerry's RC plane has a video camera attached and he shot a few minutes of video as he flew over the Arizona and Pacific Railroad. After we get the video and have a chance to edit it we'll post it on this site.

"Lil Banchee 3D" Airplane

Preparing to take off

A&P RR Flyover

Sandusky

7/12/08

          Two weeks ago, we finished the bending and gauging on the final section of rail in our new spur. The spur is 120 feet long. The final ballast work remains to be completed, but the rail and tie work is finally done. We also have a couple of minor adjustments to make on our new switch and that will happen later this month.

          Well, the temperature plummeted to 110°F last weekend so Dave and I seized the opportunity to do some track work. We dug out twenty-five of the ties we originally set in 1995 and replaced them with new ties. The problem here isn’t water causing the ties to deteriorate, it is the dryness and the heat. The ties check, splinter and crack after several years cooking in the hot gravel ballast.

ROW maintenance taking place (left) and new spur (right)

10 tons of ballast

F&MV RR small ballast car visiting the A&P RR

Hillcrest gondola construction photo

Photogenic track crew

6/22/08

          Well, summer has definitely arrived on the Arizona and Pacific. Saturday the 21st was the first full day of summer and the thermometer in the shade on the back patio read 118°F at 4:30 and climbed to 119°F before heading back down. This is the desert and it is supposed to be hot this time of year, but anything over 110°F and it is tough to stay motivated to get much accomplished out there. The heat pulls the water and energy right out of you.

First day of Summer

Switch on trestle #1

6/7/08

          Fitting and mounting the various brass components to engine No. 2 continues. We made three custom brass bands for the boiler and are still adjusting our custom made stanchions and handrails. We have quite a way to go, but are continuing to make progress.

          We completed the last of the wood planking on our pedestrian walkway which allows guests to walk comfortably and safely across the three sets of tracks on their way to reaching our primary loading area. The 16 foot long by 33 inch wide loading platform was finished and discussed in a previous update.

Pedestrian walkway to the loading platform

Building a switch on trestle #1

Digging down to level the new siding

"Armstrong" rail bender

5/24/08

          We're making progress at the Arizona and Pacific Railroad despite the crazy weather. Last Sunday it was 109°F while we were working on the walkway to the loading platform. Dave's job had him in Dallas on Thursday and when he returned it was 55°F and there was an inch of rain at his house (~15% of our annual rainfall). Weather permitting we'll have an update soon.


          I didn't get any photos at the A & P RR last weekend but I did visit the Forest Park Miniature Railroad in Fort Worth while I was in Texas this week. You can read the spotlight article of my trip here: Forest Park Miniature Railroad

Engine #105 at the Forest Park Miniature Railroad

5/10/08

          We shot some video of the Arizona and Pacific that you can see by clicking here: Arizona and Pacific Video Page

Engine #1 Phoenix poses on Trestle #5

5/05/08

          We have been working on several projects in the four weeks since the last update. We finally got the telephone, clock and thermometer mounted in the engine house. The stereo and TV shelf is mounted in the corner so I can work on trains and have something to listen to in the back ground. We also got the A & P RR train schedule board up on the wall. We bought a new craftsman toolbox and moved many of the tools used exclusively on the trains from the garage into the new box in the engine house. We also mounted our grand scales railroad builders plate display in the new engine house. We have several original and a couple reproduction builders plates from past and present manufacturers of 15 – 24 inch gauge park locomotives on display. Among our favorites are an original Sandley and Cagney and a reproduction Chance plate. We have plenty of room for more and are always looking to add to the collection…

We've Begun to Utilize the Inside of the Engine House

Display Showing Our Collection of Builder's Plates

Engines Number One and Two Inside The Engine House

The Loading Platform is Nearing Completion

Maintenance of Way Car Pressed Into Early Service

4/05/08

          We made some progress on the engine house in the last week. The logo signs on the building have been completed and installed. The pedestal for our harp switch stand has been completed and the switchstand is in place – forgot how heavy that thing is. The four interior fire extinquishers have been mounted. Although a great deal of door hardware awaits mounting, the dead bolts are finally in place and the doors can be locked. The main logo sign has been completed and mounted in its frame; we still need to paint and mount the lower sway bracket. Now the engine house focus can shift to the interior and we will get started on the balance of the finish work.

Harp switchstand on completed pedestal & painted logo sign installed

Now we can focus on the interior of the engine house

A&P main logo sign painted and mounted in it's frame

Laser cut letters & rings are welded to both sides of this A&P logo sign

3/29/08

          There are still lots of things to do on the interior of the engine house from finish carpentry to mounting fire extinguishers, but we finally put the finishing touches on the stone work this week. Did I mention how excited I am that we are done cutting and fitting stone? We also finished the final coat of paint on the doors, door jambs, arch panels and the hand railing. The doors are back up and we have a good start on getting the balance of the hardware installed. We have already run the wiring to tie the security system in the engine house into the one already in place in the superintendent’s house. After the door hardware is all in place in the next week or so, we can get the sensors hooked up and won’t be too far from moving our equipment into its new home.

          We still have a bit of finish work on the exterior to complete with the two logo signs that have to come down and have some finish grinding and the rings and letters welded in place. Plenty of seam sealer, a few good coats of paint and a nice layer of clear coat later and they will be ready to reinstall. We also have a stone pedestal which needs finished to display our harp switch stand.

Enginehouse with painted doors and completed stone work

Brian Stepaniak takes The Sandusky for one of her intitial runs

2/15/08

          Last week, I stated I would try to get a few photos of our progress on the rock work posted. Well, as promised, here are a few photos of the rock work on the west and the south sides of the enginehouse. The columns, arches above the doors and the trim around our logo took seemingly forever, but add some detail and character to the west face. The two large gooseneck light fixtures also contribute to the look and put out a great deal of light. The soldier course window sills, the window trim and the length of the building were the main challenges on the south side. We have the two toughest sides done and have started on both the east and north sides of the building. We are probably about sixty percent finished with the rock work overall. We wanted a really distinctive rock look for the enginehouse and we definitely have achieved that, but to quote a line out of one of the old Rocky movies, “Ain’t gonna be no rematch” - read no more stone buildings for me after this one is finished.

Rock Work on the West and South Sides of the Engine House

2/09/08

          Significant progress was made on our enginehouse project in January. Our second electrical inspection planned for the last week of December was delayed by the holidays. That inspection as well as our “Service Section” inspection and “Final” took place the first two weeks of January and went very smoothly. The electrical is complete and it sure is nice having service out there without dragging 200 feet of extension cords!

          The next project we tackled was an epoxy floor finish for the enginehouse. As most train owners will tell you, each engine has her own personality, idiosyncracies and leaks. There is a practical limit to eliminating every leak so I wanted to coat the floor such that cleaning up afterward is as easy as possible. We met with several vendors and made our material, color and contractor selection. We were initially told it would take four days to complete the floor. Well a cold front hit us the same day they started on the floor. This is the desert and can get much colder than many people realize. We had night time temperatures in the low and mid twenties several days in a row with highs in the low fifties. This meant instead of applying a coat of material first thing in the morning and another late in the day after the earlier coat had cured, only one coat per day could be applied. It took eight days to complete the floor, but was worth the wait. It looks good, has texture to keep it from getting slippery and best of all oil, hydraulic fluid etc. wipes right off.

Epoxy Finish on the Engine House Floor

A&P Engine House Floor

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.

Clerestory and Trim Paint Completed

The front steps are complete and the sidewalk is in progress

The north sidewalk and pad have been completed

100 Amp electrical subpanel to service the engine house

The cases of rock facia have arrived on site

The doors have been hung and painted with primer

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.

The Wood Siding is Completed

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.

The Roof Has Been Shingled

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.

The Roof is Nearly Complete

View of All 3 Stalls

Front View of the Engine House Under Construction

View From Across the Transfer Table

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.

8 foot walls and completed ends

The trusses await installation

The lumber for the roof has arrived on site

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…

3 of the 4 walls are now 8 feet high

Stop Look and Listen sign near the pedestrian walkway

Pedestrian bridge and rock creek trestle during irrigation

Rock Creek trestle and enginehouse viewed from the pedestrian bridge during irrigation

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…

3 of the walls have been constructed 4 foot high

Northeast corner of the building with rock creek in the foreground

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.

132°F in the gravel. Cooked ham anybody?

The rails were welded to I-beams to keep them from moving during the concrete pour

The first cement truck and pumper arrive on the scene

Pouring the concrete floor of the engine house

Concrete floor of the engine house viewed from the transfer table

Reverse view of the engine house's freshly poured concrete floor

BOB-sod thriving beneath the transfer table

116°F in the shade of the patio. The temperature of the gravel we're working in is ~140°F

Track being prepared for the pouring of the concrete floor

View of all 3 tracks in the engine house floor

Freshly installed sod behind the superintendent's house

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.

Walkway across trestle #5 at west end of transfer table

Walkway across both tracks

Transfer Table Locking Mechanism

Rock creek and the start of old wooden trestle #1's steel replacement

Reverse view of rock creek with a little water at the bottom

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.

Rail has been installed on the transfer table and some of the walkway planks are in place

View of the elevated train in Bangkok Thailand

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.

Ties and 2x6 planking have been added to the transfer table

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.

Grouted stem walls and start of soil prep for engine house slab

Retaining walls for rock creek

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!

Primed and tapped end of transfer table and engine house footer

One of more than 117 wheelbarrow loads is poured

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.

View of the transfer table and the engine house

Transfer table under construction

Breaking ground on the engine house's footer trenches

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...