I would like to introduce myself. My name is Ryan Dela, I am the locomotive 720 restoration manager for the Sumpter Valley Railroad in Sumpter, Oregon. Many of you are aware that we are in the process of restoring a 50 ton GE diesel electric locomotive form the Bocas Fruit Company in Panama. I would like to give everyone a quick update of the progress of the restoration and invite anyone interested in volunteering for this or any of our projects or crew member roles to Sumpter to help with this project and the Sumpter Valley Railroad in general.
As many of you know SVRy #19 will be taken out of service at the end of this season for its federally required boiler inspection. leaving us with Heisler #3 as the only operational 'mainline' locomotive in the SVRY fleet. This is not the death of steam at the SVRY only a transition. The #19 will be returned to service as quickly as possible but in the mean time the railroad will be relying on the #3 that has served us well for more than 30 years since its restoration.
The SVRY has acquired a 50 ton GE diesel electric locomotive from the Bocas Fruit Company of Panama with the intention of adding it the fleet of motive power at the SVRY. The 50 ton GE is currently numbered 720 (Bocas number) for future reference. The engine will greatly improve the capabilities of the railroad, giving us a backup locomotive that can be relied upon for quick response, work train, and switching service that in the past required a fired up steam locomotive or the use of small gas mechanical switchers or industrial locomotives to accomplish.
The 720 is at a transition point. the diesel engine appears to be ready to go, the water, oil and fuel systems appear to be fully functional. We need a full set of filters for the oil, and fuel at this time and Caterpillar has had a very hard time finding filters that fit this particular engine.
The previous owners um... weren't the most maintenance minded. We discovered the diesel engine without any filters in it (fuel or oil), and a large amount of sludge in the the oil and fuel systems. This sludge has been cleaned out, the engine pre-lubed with new oil, and barred over. The injection pump is mechanically driven and was squirting fuel while we were barring the engine over so that is great news.
Another interesting item is that the air brakes are fully functional, however the previous owners had the brakes held away from the wheels using pieces of string and wire. The trucks need some brake hanger work to restore the operation of the locomotive air brakes. With this lack of locomotive air brake equipment we theorize based on the electrical system damage that the traction motors were used as the locomotive brakes (and possibly train brakes). This was accomplished by placing the locomotive in reverse and powering the traction motors in the direction opposite of the travel. Needless to say this was incredibly hard on the control electronics and the switchgear. The locomotive reverser has been destroyed in the process, there is evidence of the contacts being brazed with a gas brazing process to build the burn up contact back up to the point where they would make contact again and the locomotive would have 'brakes' again. Luckily we have a large amount of left over equipment from the Porter rebuild that was not used in the Porter restoration that took place in 2007 (the Porter used freshly rebuilt gear from a donor locomotive for its restoration). This salvaged equipment can be installed in the 720 as a direct replacement of the burned up equipment currently installed in the locomotive. This equipment will be replaced one piece at a time as we re-wire the entire locomotive (front to back).
Right now the next task is the pull the rear truck out and start the restoration of the truck. with the truck out we can access the under frame components that need work without taking #19's parking place over the pit.
We have all of the wire we need to re-wire the locomotive on hand, we just need the people to help remove the old wire, remove the components to be replaced with components from the Porter switch gear, clean and paint the inside of the electrical and engine bays and install the new wire and components.
We encourage anyone that is interested this project or railroading in general to volunteer to help with restoration, train crew, or operations positions at the Sumpter Valley Railroad. We are a 100% volunteer organization and we need volunteers to make the organization and this project a success.
Hope to hear from some excited volunteers soon.
Ryan Dela
SVRY - Vice President - 720 Restoration Manager
ryan.dela@gmail.com
