A few days ago, the #1385 felt her first sunshine with the new boiler, and now the boiler has received its first Wisconsin water.   

To clean up details from our last update, we have 2 crew photos because someone has to hold the camera.  The first shot shows Gary A., General Foreman of Steam Ed R., Gary B., Richard P. and Spec Machine owner, Steve R. 

The second shot is Gary A., Ed R., Steve R., Richard and Roger F.  Roger provided and operated some of the machines used to lay the track. 

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After all the work that has been done on the boiler, we need to flush it out before we can prepare for a pressure test.  The first trickle coming from a firebox washout becomes a steady flow carrying debris from the stud installation with it.   

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A large hose was used in the steam dome, then Ed switched to a smaller hose to flush from the washouts at the front end of the boiler. 

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The engine seems to be saying, “Ahhhh,” while enjoying the afternoon sun and a nice, clean feeling. 

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The next morning the steam dome was mounted on the boiler with help from Blue Star Farms who not only provided the water but also mechanical help. 

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With the steam dome in place, the engine was filled. Approximately 2800 gallons later, the vent hole in the steam dome lid looked like a bubbler. 

We have already identified a few minor weeps that will need attention and once the water is warmed to the proper testing range, we will pressurize the boiler to see if there are any further items for the “fix-it” list.  Then the boiler will be drained & dried, the fix-it list addressed, and the boiler refilled and pressurized again to make sure everything was truly fixed.  Once we know that we have a vessel that has no leaks, we can look to scheduling a test for the FRA. 

More pieces are getting mounted to the new boiler as we can see in the following comparison shots. 

First up is the brake stand and power reverser quadrant.  Here’s the before (top) and after (bottom) shots below. As an added bonus, the air brake gauge bracket shown in place on the boiler. 

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The top of the boiler is pictured below with an additional 3 shots following the first that show the safety valve turret and where the cab turret will be attached.

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The location of said attachment can be seen here. Both turrets will be clamped down on a bronze ring or donut which allows for slight variations in positioning.  The white ring in the foreground is a plastic dummy ring used as a substitute while the hole in the boiler was being finished.

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The next shot is a better detail of the safety valve turret.  The arm sticking from the side of the turret is where the whistle is mounted.  The steam supply for the whistle comes from the turret. 

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The last shot is the steam gauge bracket with a double bonus!  In the background is the turbo-generator shelf and one of the handrails.  That handrail is mounted above the main handrail in the area where the runboard steps up and over the air compressors.  The FRA (originally ICC) has a required minimum distance between the handrail and the runboard.  Rather than making a series of fancy bends in the main handrail on that side of the boiler the C&NW opted for the simpler (read cheaper) route of a second, short piece of railing. 

As mentioned in our last update, almost every item that must be mounted to the boiler of our engine requires at least one more hole to be drilled into the boiler shell. In recent weeks the layout of where to drill some of those holes has been moving quickly. Among those completed are the holes for mounting the bell and the steps used to access and fill the sand dome. Item locations laid out and awaiting attention include brackets for the Brake Control stand, Reverser, Steam Gauge, Safety Valve and Cab turrets, and the Power Reverse Cylinder.

Starting at the top of the boiler, the rectangle at the near edge is where the Steam Gauge bracket will be mounted, and further back will be the Cab and then the Safety Valve turrets.

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From Paul Swanson’s collection, here is the Steam Gauge location.

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The Cab Turret is hidden behind the gauge, but the Safety Valve Turret can be seen in this shot, along with the Power Reverse Cylinder. The Power Reverse system uses an air-powered cylinder controlled by a lever in the cab to actually move the valve gear of the engine and control both the direction the engine moves and how much power is applied to the rails.

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The cylinder is mounted outside the cab to this bracket and the bracket is held to the boiler shell by 7 studs. The locations for the holes were laid out using dimensions from the C&NW drawings we have, but then the bracket is strapped to the boiler so the actual locations can be transferred from the bracket itself. In several places we’ve found manufacturing differences between the drawings and the actual parts which makes double and triple checking necessary.

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Inside the cab once again, we see the locations for the Air Brake Stand and the Reverser Lever as well as a photo from 1993 showing the actual items. The process of 3-D chess continues as we move ever closer to the FRA-mandated boiler tests.