ABOVE: Museum volunteer Tom Tabacco primes new cab window panes for painting during the winter of 2014.
ABOVE RIGHT: The backhead begins to take shape in December 2014. The interior of the cab was never painted on the original Glen- brook, just sealed to reveal the natural appear- ance of the wood. The reproduction cab main- tains the original appearance.
RIGHT: More appliances, insulation, and the original builder’s plate were added as the lo- comotive neared completion towards the end of 2014.
Glenbrook in the 21st Century
Since 1986, interruptions in state funding as well as changes in program- ming repeatedly stalled efforts for the Glenbrook’s restoration. After the suc- cessful 13-year restoration of the Vir- ginia & Truckee McKeen motor car No. 22 was completed, it was decided to take care of some unfinished business and complete the restoration of the Glen- brook to full operation. To solve the boiler issue, restoration specialist Chris de Witt opted to com- pletely disassemble, clean and inspect the original boiler and reassemble it with a new liner under the boiler wrap- per sheet with new rivets, stay bolts, and the welding of some parts. Other non-compliant or faulty parts would be manufactured of better, yet cosmetically correct, material so that the locomotive would retain its original appearance. To facilitate this, the museum devised
an estimate of $253,756 for materials and contracted services with labor pro- vided by restoration shop personnel and volunteers. It was estimated that the restoration could be completed within 36 months after fiscal resources became available. But where would the cash- strapped state come up with the money?
40 OCTOBER 2015 •
RAILFAN.COM
The meticulous restoration of the V&T McKeen motor car in 2010 earned it the rare designation as a National Historic Landmark, one of the few pieces of rail- road equipment to carry this distinction. As a result, the E.L. Wiegand Founda- tion of Reno approached the museum with enough funds to cover the entire cost of the Glenbrook restoration. Work on the Glenbrook resumed in December 2010 with the cataloguing and assessing of all the loose parts. Cleaning, inspection, and repairs to original parts and the fabrication of new parts were be- gun. The successful fit-up of the new lin- er allowed the restoration team to begin hot-riveting the original pieces back to- gether with all new stay bolts in the boil- er. The entire process was done in com- pliance with, and the full cooperation of, the Nevada State Boiler Inspector, who also offered helpful technical advice. The frame of the locomotive was moved
into the shop and jacked up, and the drivers were mounted on a timing roller to facilitate the installation of new pis- ton rods and valve setting on the steam cylinders. A new pilot, smokestack, and numerous smaller parts, including many new valves and castings, were manufac- tured in-house. A new wooden cab was delivered and the tender was shipped out for repainting. (Anyone reading this who has first-
hand experience with a steam locomo- tive restoration knows that I have left a lot of the details out. But, the minutiae of crosshead wrist-pin holes, brasses, smoke box rings, back head-brace an- chors, steam dome lids, pilot staves, ash pan studs, and mud ring rivets are prob- ably better discussed under the shade of an old cottonwood tree, with a cold one, after the fire as been dropped at the end of the day.) Compared to other projects completed
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