Water and steel are a corrosive mixture, especially when you apply heat by firing up a boiler. The expansion and contraction of steel that results from temperature and pressure changes add to metal fatigue, especially at weld points. Consequently, the Federal Railway Administration regulations require that the entire boiler be thoroughly examined for cracks, pitting, grooving, or indications of overheating or other types of damage every 1472 service days or a period not to exceed 15 years between inspections. This requires the removal of the jacket and lagging to conduct a careful inspection of the exterior of the boiler, and the removal of all flues to conduct a "minute" inspection of the interior.

The Restoration Process

The first mechanical self-propelled vehicles were steam powered. The technology is almost exactly 100 years older than that of the gas engine: The first steam vehicle ran in the late 1760s, the first locomotive in 1802. In 1893 a train exceeded 110 mph...there were fewer than 100 autos in the United States in that year. Not only is the technology much older - it developed in a fundamentally different way. Autos were made in huge numbers for families and individuals. Locomotives were not really mass produced - they were made to special order for huge companies...and this is reflected in their size. In their later, early 20th century incarnations each weighed between 100 and 250 tons and boasted of 3000 to 6500hp! These beasts had unique sounds, very different from other types of engines. You can listen to one pulling out to the station in Hitchcock's 1938 thriller The Lady Vanishes.

Henry Ford turned out about 15 million Model T's. Baldwin made no more than 500 - more likely less than 100 - sisters to our #18. Many, many Model T's remain. It's fairly cheap and easy to acquire and restore one. Lots of companies cater to people with such interests...and Ford still makes plenty of automobiles. By contrast, Baldwin has not manufactured a steam locomotive in a half-century. Still, there are companies which do locomotive restoration work. We could send them ours and, at a cost of a quarter to half a million dollars, get it back fully restored.

We can't afford to do that and, for many reasons, we don't want to. So we're doing it ourselves.

   Mucking, cleaning, painting.

Jan. 25, 2001
For the first time in 47 years, the steam locomotive whistle was heard in the little town of Independence. Through the efforts of Randy Babcock and Dale Tetley, both certified steam locomotive engineers, Old # 18 was brought back to life VERY SLOWLY. With a BIG air compressor to atomize the no. 2 diesel fuel in her tender and our 1942 fire truck to fill her boiler, a roaring fire was started in the fire box. The needle on the original Ashcroft steam pressure gauge soon began to move off the peg , ever so slowly. She crept up to 10, then 20, finally 45 PSI. We let off a little steam by blowing the whistle to honor the memory of our founder and first president, the late Myron Alexander, who was with us in spirit.

By then it was very dark and cold, and knowing how much some of our neighbors love the haunting noise of train whistles, we shut her down at about 7:00 p.m. She performed very well, but more work needs to be done. The snake head need to be adjusted a little, and the fuel line needs to be replaced with a better hose and an in-line filter. We didn't have enough time or steam pressure to test the injectors or the air compressor. These will be checked in the following months as time permits.

We've dissambled, inspected, repaired or replaced all the lines, valves, pistons, wheels, brakes, etc. We've removed the gauges and had them rebuilt.

 
Controls in 1938, looking new, and in 2003, before they were rebuilt.

We've done everything we could do with the resources now available to us. What remains is the boiler. 216 12' long tubes must be removed. The boiler can then be inspected and repaired as needed. New tubes will then be installed. We cannot do this outside. We must have a shop building, tools, power, heat and light.