Re: NNG: Nevada Northern

Ah, yes, the case of the disappearing dump grate...

We got up to Keystone and were turning on the wye. My fireman, Don, got down on the deck to put some more coal in and exclaimed "my bank in the rear is gone, and there is lots of fire in the ashpan". I got off the seat an looked, yep the rear dump grate had broken and fallen into the ashpan.

Bummer.

We nursed 40 back to town, dumped the remaining fire and put it away in the RIP building, using 109 for the remaining trip that afternoon.

That afternoon we made the decision that we did not come all this way to run a diesel, so we embarked on an herculean task to pull the dump grate out, splice it back together, reinstall it, and build a new fire in 40 to run it the next day. Several folks jumped into cause. They still talk about us to this day. In the mid-1990's I was passing through Ely and spent the night at one of the motels I stayed in back in the 80's. The lady behind the counter looked at my registration, and said "you used to work here running the train didn't you? I remember your name. In fact I think you were the leader of the gang that stayed up all night fixing the grate on the engine so it could run the next day..."

Eventually a pattern was made to cast a new dump grate, but the one we patched was saved as a monument to our dedication, leaning against the wall in the RIP building...

Thank you for your help...