On Saturday, March 12, Colin Mellin, Kendall Crouch, Tyler Seeley, Tanner Seeley, John McDowell, and Paul Brown got busy and removed one of the trucks out from under C&W Caboose #3, to replace the brake beam and hook up the brake linkage. We used a nice set of air operated jacks we have in the shop to raise the car, and then rolled the truck out. The team came up with a good idea to use a stick of 40# rail and two track jacks to raise the truck up enough to roll an axle out of the way, and allow open access to the brake beam. We were able to reinstall the part properly and put the wheels back in. After a quick lunch, the crew came back to roll the truck back under the car, and reattach the remainder of the brake rods to allow full use of the brakes. We then reattached the steps to finish the job.

I have provided a few pictures to illustrate the work accomplished today. It is great to be able to get so much work done in one work session!

– Paul

Photos by Paul Brown and Tyler Seeley

AT&SF #2912, built in 1944, and one of only six surviving “Santa Fe 2900 Class” engines, is pictured here sitting pretty behind the Pueblo Union Depot in September 2017. In a collaboration between the Pueblo Railway Museum and Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation, two components from this engine will be exchanged for equivalent components of Chesapeake & Ohio engine #2716, to help Kentucky Steam get 2716 back up and operational.

For more details, see Kentucky Steam’s press release.

To learn more about the history of our 2912 steam engine, click here.

On Saturday, March 5, Dwight Maxey, Colin Mellin, Justin Cesar, Tyler Seeley, Tanner Seeley and Paul Brown were able to work on multiple tasks at the Museum. Dwight and Tyler did some electrical work on our cabooses, preparing for a refurbished system to accommodate the new generator. Justin and Tanner worked on our donated high rail truck, which has been waiting for some attention since last December. They were able to check the operation of the crane and the rail wheels. Paul and Colin worked a bit more on the C&W #3 caboose, and came to the conclusion that the truck will have to be taken out from under the car to get the brake beam in proper position. They did some work to remove the steps from one end to facilitate the removal of the truck at a future work day.

We had a quick lunch break and reassembled to do some more work to the high rail truck, and then take it for a test run on the rails. We are happy to report that the truck rides the rails pretty well. Now we need to work to outfit the truck with equipment to fix track and do other maintenance items.

I have included a few pictures of today’s work.

– Paul

On Saturday, February 26, we worked on a variety of things at the Museum. Dwight Maxey, Colin Mellin, Kendall Crouch, Tyler Seeley, Tanner Seeley, and Paul Brown stayed warm by changing out the automatic brake handle on Engine 102. We then crawled under C&W Caboose #3 to detach some brake rigging, and drop down a brake beam that was improperly installed by previous volunteers many years ago. This was actually quite cold laying on the ground under a caboose, so after lunch, we worked on reinstalling an access door on Engine 103, and finishing the generator platform on the Mo-Pac caboose. We also did a small modification to our Porta John to allow more convenient night time use!

I have included a few pictures of some of the work accomplished today.

– Paul

On Saturday, February 19, a small group of Museum volunteers found themselves in almost summer-like conditions to have some fun switching rail cars! Dwight Maxey, Colin Mellin, Reid Adams, John McDowell, Tyler Seeley, Tanner Seeley and Paul Brown were tasked with getting the old C&W Caboose #3 out of the middle of the collection area, and back over to the shop yard. This required firing up Engine 104 and the Trackmobile, and gingerly moving a few passenger cars that were in front of the caboose. We used the Trackmobile to move Reid Adams’ sleeper car, which incidentally is riding on freight car trucks while the regular trucks for this car are being rebuilt. The crew had to take extra care, because to accomplish the task with the least amount of moves required very close clearances between two side-by-side tracks. Something in the neighborhood of 4 inches (between two cars moving past each other) is pretty tight in the world of railroads!

All the switching moves were completed successfully in about five hours, at which the time the crew took a quick break, and then completed some more work on the Mo-Pac caboose generator platform. Watch for future updates on C&W Caboose #3 as we return it to service as part of our train operations.

I have included a few pictures of the work completed.

– Paul

On Saturday, January 29, Dwight Maxey, Colin Mellin, Tyler Seeley, Tanner Seeley and Paul Brown enjoyed a great winter day (that means it was nice and warm) to continue work on the caboose generator project, and to do more prep work on Engine 103’s battery box. While Paul was busy removing the cruddy rusted bottom in the battery box, the rest of the crew were busy adding a couple of braces and finalizing the assembly of the generator platform on our Mo-Pac caboose. The major work is now complete, and we just need to attend to some details before we can do some wiring on the caboose to connect the generator output to our train set. Engine 103 needs a little welding completed and the replacement battery to get delivered, and we can wrap up these projects.

I have included a few pictures to give an idea of the work done.

– Paul

Our three high-speed prototype vehicles, which we call our “Rocket Cars”, have been getting more attention lately. Authors and engineers from across the country have been contacting us regarding these historic artifacts. These unique vehicles were tested in the 1970s at what is now the Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI). Earlier this month, reporter Jon McMichael from KOAA-TV in Pueblo, came out to see our Rocket Cars, and to interview the Museum’s tour guide Ron Roach, and Pueblo Railway Foundation President Gerald Dandurand.

To see KOAA’s online article, click here.

To see KOAA’s YouTube video news report, click here.

Our Museum website has an entire section devoted to the history of the Rocket Cars – click here.

On Saturday, January 22, Dwight Maxey, Colin Mellin, Kendall Crouch, Tyler Seeley, Tanner Seeley and Paul Brown concentrated on building the bracket for the generator on the Mo-Pac caboose. This generator is what we use to power things like our Pueblo Express Christmas train lights. Once we got started assembling the parts, we had to keep going to see how things would work out. With some careful measuring, finding the hardware in our tool room, and getting tools that worked, we were able to set the generator in place and check clearances, as well as start it for a noise check inside the caboose. We will need to do some fine tuning to the set up and paint the assembly before we call this project complete. Then we can set up the new wiring arrangement on each of the cabooses.

I have included a few pictures to show what the crew accomplished.

– Paul

On Saturday, January 15, nice weather returned to the Pueblo area, so a small group of volunteers came out to work on Engine 103 and our two cabooses. Dwight Maxey, Colin Mellin, Tyler Seeley, Tanner Seeley and Paul Brown stayed busy removing some wiring from under the cabooses and planning a rack to put our generator on when it is needed for train lighting. We hope this will make the generator less noticeable during our events, and easier for the crew to set up when needed. We also did more work on Engine 103 to prepare the battery box for reinstalling the batteries. We removed part of an angle iron brace to give us more clearance for the cables. Next we will do work to repair the floor area of the compartment.

I have included a few pictures of today’s work.

– Paul

On Saturday, January 8, a small crew consisting of Dwight Maxey, Colin Mellin, Tyler Seeley, Tanner Seeley and Paul Brown did the work to remove batteries from the engineer’s side of locomotive 103. After lifting the batteries out, we found more of the floor than we expected, but it was very rusty. We worked to clean out a bunch of rust, and then determined what we should do about the remaining bottom of the battery compartment. The crew also added an external drain line, and cleaned up the cab of the locomotive, as the recent winds had deposited a thick layer of dust inside.

I have included a few pictures of the battery removal process.

– Paul