476 update

Since I get asked fairly regularly as to the 476's progress I thought I would post a few photos taken by Joe Dailey of the current work. Currently we are drilling and reaming all the tapered bolts that hold the smokebox to the cylinder saddle, this has been a time consuming portion of the job but thanks to Aztec Machine and their help constructing the custom boring machine it is going reasonably well. The chore is to line up each hole up/down and left/right and to the correct angle, once that's complete its just takes time reaming. Once we complete the bolting we will finish off the riveting at which time the major assembly is done. Smokebox work aside there is still plenty left to do on the 476, however we still are on pace to complete it sometime in the later half of 2017.
Also of good news to all of us in the AHR family of railroads is the overall ridership increases throughout 2016. The Durango Herald article explaining it all is here:
[durangoherald.com]