Our latest Build 11 work session was held October 11 -14 coincident with the WW&F Ry Fall Work Weekend. On Saturday, Joe and Jay Monty manned the torches to heat the transverse equalizer so that we could form the “ears” on each end. Rick Sisson, Bill Steussey, Joseph Gilbert, and Joe and Jay drove our forming tools with a sledgehammer to spread the ears which we later compressed with the flanging machine to form the proper geometry.

Here we see a photograph of the first completed end: Harold Downey directed the heating operation (It’s difficult for the torch bearers to clearly see what they’re doing) and Harold positioned the forming tools for the sledge bearers.

We used our lunch break to let the equalizer cool enough so that we could repeat the process on the remaining end.

We also drilled the forward frame pedestals for the bolts that will hold the driving box shoes and wedges in place. Rick coordinated this effort and was assisted by Bill and Gordon Cook. We mounted Bob Longo’s right-angle mag drill to a 90 degree angle block to drill holes parallel to the top of the frame using our favorite annular cutters.

We have purchased all the Oilite® bronze bushings required to fit up the forward suspension system components. Joe and Jay turned several of these to a shorter length for us because they were not commercially available.

Gordon and Rick were able to assemble the components needed to form our tramming tool. These parts were designed by Jason Lamontagne and were laser cut and shipped to us. The design allows very precise fore-and-aft positioning of the shaft upon which trammel points are fastened and rotated. When the shaft is properly positioned, the trammel point will just touch the tram wire in both the forward and rear rotations. This indicates that the rotating shaft is exactly perpendicular to the tram wires, which are precisely located on the cylinder center lines. The next step will be to mark the shoes and wedges with the trammel points and to record the distance from each shoe and wedge to the tram wire. These measurements will be used to complete the machining of the shows and wedges.

Quentin Bethune brought the lead truck frame back to the shop; Quentin completed the machining operations begun by Noah MacAdam – both in their home shops! Harold and Rick spent a good number of hours aligning and holding in place the lead truck components and then aligning the lead truck frame within the complete assembly. The next step will be to match drill the lead truck frame to the remaining components.

Quentin was also able to rough machine several pins for the forward suspension system. He will finish these and cut threads on them in his home shop.

Meanwhile, our 2024 fundraising is continues! To date we have received $54,045 – 108% of the $50,000 goal for 2024!!!! Remember, you can still donate directly by check to the museum, use a credit card to donate through the gift shop, PayPal, or you can go to: https://www.build11.org/ All gifts above our 2024 goal will be used to accelerate the construction of the locomotive.