Official Valley Railroad Thread (VALE)

[boatsmate]

Awesome shot Lee! Black smoke coming from the stack is a rarity now with "smokeless" coal. Any word on 3025's progress?

AHHHH Brings back memories........

Capt Bill<<< Former VRR Fireman well known to make Smoke with Smokeless coal<<<<<<

[bshrdr]

Hey, did I hear my name??

Speaking of the Lumedynes, here's one from last week of the first Fright Train

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=378741

Enjoy!
Tom "I bring my own sunlight" Nanos

[superwarp1]

Latest shot of 3025 on facebook shows the running gear installed. Nice clean engine, almost ashamed to take her out and get her dirty. LOL

[bshrdr]

That'd be my shot from earlier this evening. Engineer's side isn't complete, though - still a rod on the ground waiting to be installed when I left a little after 5pm

[Cosmo]

They're timing the valves now. This is a rather involved and complex process. It involves measuring the amount of travel in the valve gear and adjusting/changing the length of the rods to allow the most efficient range of travel.
Hopefully it can be done by the end of the week. We'll see.

[Brendan]

Rummer around the shop is that 3025 has to be pulling trains on the 18th, we will see... big crews working practically round the clock on it. There were volunteer work session the last 2 nights in a row, with 20 or so people working, mostly pipe fitting and final adjustments now.

[Reader#108]

correct to assume that is boiler wash day for 40?

[Cosmo]

correct to assume that is boiler wash day for 40?

No, that was last week.

[VALE40]

Does anyone have any updates as to what's currently going on in the shop with 3025? Getting closer to completion I assume...

[Cosmo]

Does anyone have any updates as to what's currently going on in the shop with 3025? Getting closer to completion I assume...

Yes, I do.
We are on the "punch-list," that is, the last down-and-dirty, little nitty-gritty final nickle and dime items that must be done before she can roll out. This includes purging (bleeding out) and setting the flow rate on the lubricator lines, running about a mile of electrical wire for all the appliances, last minute installations of said appliances, boiler bands, cab gauges, hose connections, lubrication "trimmings" for the rods, and (of course) hundreds of feet's worth of rustoleum gloss black applied, re-applied and touched up as it gets scratched by the aforementioned items.

We're close,... I mean REALLY close... but we have a lot of little things to go first.
Best guess? We may fire up in the next week.... I mean, possibly within 7 days of today!
But that's just a guess.

[steamer69]

No wonder the price of rice just went up.... Congrats Cosmo!!!!!! And to the crew at the Valley too.....

[daylight4449]

No wonder the price of rice just went up.... Congrats Cosmo!!!!!! And to the crew at the Valley too.....

Once i visit (I'm hoping spring) I'll have some hands to shake

[ebtmikado]

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 72&nseq=42

[B&M 1227]

Are there any long term plans to add a more Americanized pilot to the engine? The current one seems very Chinese. That aside, the friends and the VALE should both be commended for the quick restoration of the mike, and I hope to ride behind it soon.

[Cosmo]

Are there any long term plans to add a more Americanized pilot to the engine? The current one seems very Chinese. That aside, the friends and the VALE should both be commended for the quick restoration of the mike, and I hope to ride behind it soon.

Actually, that was the original plan, has been, and is still discussed occasionally, and may actually happen someday. We just didn't have the time to do it this time around.