Re: Baldwin, Alco or Lima- who made the best?

Ha! You're right, Tom. The Heisler is a pain to work on. I still remember crawling underneath with a grease gun to lube the universal joints. Then there was the bolt that would have to be tightened every few weeks or it would drop out and sometimes strike (if I remember correctly) the rear axle on the front truck. I remember there was a small collection of large bolts bent into a 90 degree angle on a shelf in the engine house. Hope you guys were able to cure that when you overhauled her.
An accident waiting to happen was the upper part of the frame running through the cab. Just the thing to trip over if you're not watching what you're doing.
I regret I wasn't around to when the Shay was running (Dixiana was being overhauled and reboilered and
#7 had not been purhased at the time). They must be 1,000 times easier to work on.
I enjoyed my two summers at the RC&BT RR, but I'm glad I took your advice and didn't make a career of steam tourist railroading!