RGS Equipment "beat to death"

As Mike Rowe said, In the thread bring RGS 20 back home, most RGS equipment that survived to the end was "beat to death". The RGS did not have the means to go through the equipment to bring them up to "code" in the last few years of operation. If it was not for the Defense Supplies Corp. loan I doubt if the RGS would have survived as long as it did. Bob Richardson tells the story when an inspector showed up at Ridgway 20 was conveniently out on the line in an inaccesible location. During it's stay in Alamosa and Golden the No.2 driver set retained enough lateral play to scare the RGS crew on the curves. John Bush had the asbestos lagging removed from the boiler and discovered slack coal and cinders had accumulated under the lagging around and under the steam dome. The acid produced had eaten into the boiler causing the boiler thickness to be reduced. The steam dome rivet heads were also partially eaten away. John replaced the boiler jacket and several years later a CRRM volunteer replaced the cab. All three Geese, 2,6,& 7 have had their motors replaced/rebuilt as well as new wheels cast, freight boxes and cabs rebuilt, upholstery redone etc. Rico had both end platforms rebuilt as well as steel reinforcement on the center sills over the bolsters. Inverted diagonal truss rods were installed in all four side corners to bring the car level and the car was completely resided. The interior was restored recently and the car was painted, lettered and varnished) It looks great. All this was a labor of love and kudos to the CRRM volunteers and staff for accomplishing this. Again, as Mike wrote, the RGS equipment was beat to death, but most of the surviving equipment was brought back to life by people all over the country. (Dolores, Knotts, Ridgway, etc.) Hats off to all of them.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone.
Bill Gould



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2012 09:25PM by HighCommander.