Our latest Build 11 work session was held on Tuesday through Thursday, August 25 to 27. Harold Downey and Rick Sisson continued their adventures in tramming the crosshead guides. We have made all the necessary measurements and adjustments and marked the alignment of the crosshead yoke (the yoke supports the rear end of the crosshead guides) to the frame. Subsequently, Harold and Earl Leavitt removed the yoke from the locomotive and Earl machined clearance holes to accommodate the valve rods that pass through the yoke.

Quentin Bethune is machining several flat head fitted bolts to join the crosshead guides to the yoke, and yoke to frame. Quentin does this work at home in his shop and brings finished parts to our shop for final assembly.

Quentin also found a large metal cutting bandsaw which we purchased after inspection. Quentin brought this saw from southern New Hampshire to Sheepscot. This fills a long-standing need in our shop.

Between work sessions, Marcel Levesque and Earl fabricated male and female dies to form wrapper sheets for the ends of the pilot beams.

Marcel and Earl successfully formed two wrappers using our Baldwin hydraulic press.

Additionally, Earl has continued his work on the rocker boxes. Here we can clearly see the split bearings that we told you about in the August update.

Gordon Cook was working on the driver brake tumbling shaft. We see Gordon machining the end of the tumbling shaft to receive a mating part on the brake lever.

We are pleased to report that we received machined crossheads and gibs from Mountain Machine Works. These are quite a lot larger and heavier than those on any of the other WW&F Ry locomotives. Once the crosshead guides have been installed, we will start work on these components.

Thanks again for your interest and support. Learn more (and keep pushing us forward) at www.build11.org