Our latest Build 11 work session was held during May 14-16.

Quentin Bethune picked up the lead truck journals from Noah MacAdam and brought them to our shop. These were beautifully finished. Rick Sisson was tasked with scraping the journal surfaces – a process that begins with bluing the axle bearing surface and positioning the journal on the axle thus transferring the bluing to high spots on the journal. With the journal removed, hand scraping tools are used to shave the blue surfaces of the journal. The journal is applied to the axle again and the process repeated until a satisfactory surface has been achieved. This took two passes for the first journal and zero passes for the second! – It was perfect. The photo shows the finished journals.

The lead truck frame was disassembled (again) to fit the journals into the pedestals. The lead truck was again assembled, this time with the wheelset and the fit was checked.

We found that the lead truck equalizer pin (hidden in this photo) was a tiny bit too long to fit inside the frame casting so the truck was disassembled again and Quentin shortened the pin for us. With the truck disassembled we developed an approach to pin the swing hangers to the lower pivot pins.

Gordon Cook started machining the lead truck journal cellar castings. These will be positioned during the (next and) final lead truck assembly.

Harold Downey has completed machining the shoes and wedges. Harold is checking the final fit in this photo.

On Friday we were joined by the late Wayne Laepple’s family – Anny, Kitty and Kate.  Wayne and his family have been great supporters of the Build 11 campaign and we were thrilled to have them visit and observe the progress we’ve made firsthand. A memorial train ride was held in the afternoon for members and friends to honor Wayne and his family.

Meanwhile, we’ve exceeded our 2025 “On the Fast Track” goal of raising $120,000 towards the project. All additional funds raised will be used to further speed up construction (by hiring contractors to supplement our volunteers) or defray funds needed in 2026. Learn more and donate at www.build11.org

PS: The observant reader will notice the Build 11 team proudly wearing their new Build 11 hats! Our thanks to Gordon and the gift shop crew for making these available. Get yours at: https://giftshop.wwfry.org/product/build-11-cap/812?cs=true