Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Big Iron

On Sunday morning we visited our local locomotive restoration project.  Santa Fe 2926 sat in an Albuquerque city park for forty years before being rescued by a group of railway enthusiasts.  They got the locomotive and the tender moved to a siding off Twelfth St. and started getting it back to running order.  


I believe our guide said there are about seventy volunteers working on the project.  The magnitude of the task is pretty well encapsulated in the weight of the locomotive and its tender: about one million pounds.


Financing for the 2920 restoration is all from donations.  Large contributions have been made by several companies such as the Timkin Company which recently provided all new wheel bearings.


Working with the massive steel components is hard work any time, but this time of year is especially challenging because of the 90+ degree heat.


The plan currently calls for the locomotive to be back on the tracks in two to three years.


1 comment:

Ger said...

Nice pictures as always mike. A great cause, just shows what people can do when they pull together for somthing bigger than their own wants. Heritage is important.