Mt Rainier Scenic Railroad - A few updates

I got redirected here via some guys that thought I could answer some questions that were floating around. I'll hopefully remember to add this to my daily rounds.

First and foremost, the #70 now has its jacket and if the schedule has held, the jacket will have been painted and in the process of curing for Saturday's debut. I don't know if she will get the stripes/pin striping but that may follow if this weather ever decides to improve.

As for the Tacoma runs, we actually didn't even get a chance to really work her too hard except a few times when we were curious to see what she would do on the hill with dry rail and the boat anchor (the F9) on the rear providing as little help as possible. We were able to get the F9 in Run 2/3 with the #70 wide open. It was AMAZINGLY loud that I could hear it with the windows and doors closed in the F9 and held 9mph until the steeper part in the s-curves where it started to lose its footing... give or take, she could have done one or two more coaches than what we brought, if the conditions allowed.

The other thing I also wanted to address just in case it does get brought up is that we had the F9 with us to ensure that one, if there were an issue, we could move the train into the clear of the Tacoma Rail mainline and two, there was no place to turn at Freighthouse Square and lastly, we wanted to save as much fuel as possible in the steam engine since we had no idea how much fuel/water she'd really drink for the trip. In August, we will bring the aux. tender along when we are down for the Tacoma Rail open house.

Work is progressing on the Alco S-2 and is mostly repainted now. The original wood in the cab has been brought out and looks amazing. New windows and other electrical has been worked on as well over the past year. It may return to service sometime in the near future but it is a low priority with the tourist season in full swing.

Work is also progressing on the Alco 2-8-2T #17 with running gear and firebox work mostly completely. The heat and beat party will be starting soon to get the patches into the firebox. There are still a lot of things to finish. Here is a video of the last progress during a work party I organized. Had nearly 10-15 people at one time working inside and outside of the engine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fgNYfiWvPg

The Rayonier #2 is a workhorse and we put a lot of hours into her over the past 1.5 years now that it has been in service. With nearly all of the bugs out of it, she has turned out to be an amazing engine and proven to easily pull a 6 car train with the boat anchor (the F9) on the rear in the S-curves at Mineral and will continue to accelerate up the hill. Pretty darn amazing.

After the #17 is finished, work will shift over to the Pacific Coast Shay #11 and will take about 4-8 months of work to get her back into service. Once the #11 is finished and funds allow it, work on the Heisler and Climax will begin in earnest. The Heisler will get its 3rd truck "powered" once again when the new bearings are made along with the conversion of the engine back to oil from grease. The crews are already jumping for joy when that moment comes (especially myself)

That's all I have for now! Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions if I don't pop back on here. b.bundridge at gmail.com

Thanks!

Brian Bundridge
Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad
Volunteer Crew Caller/Fireman

 

Yo, Brian, welcome to TrainBoard! And please continue to visit us here. Thanks for the update on the Mt. Rainier Scenic where all of you guys do such amazing restoration work.
For all of our members, Brian wears several hats there on the MRSR, as a volunteer working on the restoration projects, a fireman and engineer on both steam and diesel, and for sure, a very active Public Relations guy for MRSR, keeping the internet rail forums updated on the progress of their many locomotives and rolling stock. Great to see you here, man. :tb-biggrin:

 

Thanks for telling me about the board!! Very cool place =)

 

Welcome Brian!! :teeth: