P.C.R.R. No. 1/Doubleheader

Phil wanted me to post this video over in these parts. It's about two years' worth of edited montage of P.C.R.R. No. 1, but specifically includes a double-header we did with the No. 3 (aka "FrankenPorter") last December during test runs prior to the public X-mas trains. We did the first one in the A.M. while Phil was up north somewhere, with Jeff Badger and I on the No. 1 and Art Laidlaw and Jim McEntire on the No. 3, and after returning in the afternoon Phil decided to put a fire back in the No. 1 and give it another go. It was a very eventful day as No. 1 threw the lateral shim on the F-2 driving box for a second time after the first had put it out of service for six months. Also, the hapless fireman in the AM (no comment) was unaware that the CMO, unbeknownst to him, had begun a damper door project and with the linkage still a worl in progress had left them in the closed position and forgot to mention it! (The engine had no firepan damper control when it arrived on the property). Oh well, it was a good laugh and we still made it up the grade no problem.

When this engine arrived from the shuttered Six Flags Astroworld in Houston, Texas, almost three years ago exactly, it was a royal pile. For those of us who saw it in the condition when it arrived, its amazing to think how far its come, and how much Phil has been able to accomplish with such limited resources. One can only imagine what it would look like if he had a real shop to work in and exercise his talents to their fullest extent.