As you may have witnessed by the web cams and the summer work session photos, the Friends have been working for many years to put together a tank car train to run on the CATS. Eight tanks on a single train is something that the railroad hasn't seen in about a
HALF CENTURY so this should be something special.
After many years of hard work,
#1, Going to Alder Gulch for three years to work on their railroad to work off a trade deal for 13 UTLX arch bar trucks to put back under the narrow frame tank cars. Many thanks to Ed Lowrance (Friends projects committee co-chair) for putting together the trade, and not only that, he and his wife Valley came out and led the work sessions all 6 weeks in 3 years. And our president Tim Tennant even came out to Montana to help out. How's that for dedication?
#2, Four of the narrow frame cars have been primed, painted and lettered with three getting their arch bar trucks again, and a fourth one will be finished with the truck change over this summer by Clyde Putman and his team.
#3, Chris Trunk has been working for years now on the two frameless cars sitting on wood cribbing in Antonito which now are sitting on their correct Bettendorf trucks again after about 50 years, and Chris now has couplers installed on both cars. They have been sandblasted, primed and painted and are looking good. He has brakes and brake rigging with all of the piping still to do on the cars.
#4, We are working on getting Dave Collins back out next summer to lead a team sandblasting, priming, and painting the two remaining narrow frame cars so Clyde and his team can put arch bar trucks under them again.
John Engs, (Friends projects co-chair) is working with John Bush to find the most cost effective way to make up enough brasses and wedges to have enough bearings for 6 tank cars, so everyone can roll on our 'oil can train' by fall 2015.
Here is where we need
your help, as of right now we have a bid of $500 each for brass and wedge all babbitted and machined ready to go in a journal box. Four bearing per truck, times 12 trucks is a lot of bearings we need to do. I talked to John Bush today and he is certain he can bring the price down on the bearing costs, and is working on it. He also has pledged the support of the railroad in buying many of the bearings as well as pouring the Babbitt and doing the machine work needed on each bearing. The railroad cannot afford to pay for all of the bearings needed right now to pull this off right now, so we need all of your help.
John Engs will set up a special account in the Friends so all donations will get you a 501-C3 tax donation for your gift. While we don't know what the cost of each bearing will be right now, we are going with the $500 each bid price right now with the certainty that the price of each one will be lower than that. In that way we should be able to purchase more needed bearings with your support.
I have personally talked to the team leaders involved with this project as well as our projects committee co- chair, and John Bush and ALL feel this goal is within reach. All of us will do our best to make sure this happens on schedule, (and we have two summers of hard work ahead of us to get-r-done) but without the bearings it just won't happen. So If you want to be part of recreating long ago history that you can witness yourself in person, please help us out.
PS; and then buy a ticket to BE THERE! Thanks!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2013 07:23AM by John Cole.
