New cover with the old door at Fabco Fabrication Inc.
Restoration of “Slim Princess” #9 continues, with the latest development being replacement of the engine’s smokebox cover.
Last October, the cover was removed, and it was determined that it was too warped and cracked for repair.
John Soenderby, Laws volunteer, at Fabco Checking on the Quality of the work!
While early steam locomotives didn’t have smokeboxes at all, they soon became standard, as a place for ash and cinders (char) to collect, and thus prevent occlusion of the boiler tubes.
For the past six months, visitors have had the rare opportunity to see the smokebox sans cover and appreciate the anatomy of the smokebox structures.
Laws volunteers, Jim Schroeder and Mak Balucas, loading smokebox cover to take to Fabco.
A picture is said to be worth a thousand words, but a three-dimensional view of the inner workings of smoke box and boiler, is much more experiential.
Experiential indeed was the work of train crew members this winter, as every spare moment was dedicated to scraping decades worth of char and rust from those innards.
Volunteers, Beverly, Jim, Mak, John, Lew, send off the smokebox door on its journey south..
The new smokebox cover, made by Fabco Steel Fabrication , has arrived, but likely won’t be installed right away as we continue work on the smokebox.
Laws volunteers, Beverly, Lew, Jim, John, John, Mak, celebrate the new smokebox cover's arrival!
Summer visitors still have the opportunity to see straight through the boiler tubes from the smokebox to the firebox. Wednesdays and Saturdays are especially good days to catch the Engine House crew at work.