Second try: yours is a tough site to speak to!

I started a message here, but it evaporated after I'd got through a few lines. Poo!

I'm wanting to find out about Ralph McAllister's last days, what happened to his railroad ( I found the mallet some years ago), and to ask Don Richter whether or not he's related to Frank, who I worked with years ago in the Boulder area. I met Linda Richter, Frank's daughter-in-law, here in the Spokane area.

I knew Ralph for quite a few years, and saw a lot of the rolling stock materialize. He was a neighbor when we came to Boulder in '60, and we got to be friends. He introduced me to his R/R project, and away we went. I got a goodly collection of pictures of all that, including a couple of his diamond-stack and switch engines, with and without my kids nearby for size comparison, the shay under construction, and various cars, including the vistadome.

We moved to Anchorage, but I'd come visit him to see how things were going every couple of years when we'd come back to the states on turnaround leave.
It tickles me that he built all that rolling stock while trying to find a certified welder to do the throat of the mallet boiler, so he could run it in an amusement park someday.
He ran several good welders off that I sent him, and ultimately got himself certified, and welded it himself!

A question: I read through a series of your email exchanges--sure learned that I don't speak your language, concerning the various steam engines, but have been unable to figure a way to see the various pictures you refer to. Sure would like to see those!

Hopefully, all of this will spark enough interest in one of you guys to help get a conversation going.

Best regards,
Bill Arnold.
Cheney, WA