6/3/2023 A Message From Bob's Workshop

Remember the new air rivet gun that we were trying out? This one?

We gave it a go during the May 27th work session and after setting 2 rivets we had a failure. The shaft snapped…. which is less than ideal.

For the next prototype, Bob has converted a chipping hammer mandrel into a rivet setting mandrel to fit the mid-size air hammer we got from Jason. He used an abrasive cut off to lop the pointy bit off and slowly whittled out a female dome to fit our rivet heads for the cab. It was pretty tough metal to work with…..wiped out a hacksaw in a few strokes! In this case, we are hoping that bodes well for its durability. We should be in business now!

5/27/2023 Work Session

Memorial Day weekend, we welcomed many tours through the shop. It was lovely to see so many people out and about!

When not talking to folks, we managed some work. Saturday night and Sunday morning, Bob ran conduit and wired outlets on the outside of containers 2 and 3 to provide electrical while working on the boiler.  He also added circuit to put lights in container 3 later on. Given that we are having less and less cold nights, we finally turned the water to the shop on. Huzzah for washing up!

Roger put in some dedicated hours to needle scaling. You can see how much material is missing in the corner of the ash pan due to the corrosive effects of coal ash.

We are continuing to test new methods of light-weight rivet air guns and backers. We need something small enough to fit in the tight spaces where the cab roof intersects the walls. Pictured here is a prototype of a new backer. It is a tricky spot, but with each iteration we are getting closer!

While working on the cab, we realized that the hatch was bolted on — not riveted as we had supposed. Removing it will allow for critical riveting space to be opened up inside the cab. Additionally, it will allow for increased airflow. Right now, when we rivet in the cab, all the heat is trapped by the roof and it gets mighty toasty. The hatch came off cleanly. We also inspected the roof during the process and are happy to report that it is in much better condition than anticipated.

Present for the work day: Leverett, Hanna, Paul VS, Bob, Roger

5/20/2023 Work Session

Work continued on the boiler survey this weekend. In order to prepare for the removal of the throttle, the throttle gland was removed from the backhead by Paul and Bob. It came off with surprising ease considering the amount of backache the flexible staybolt caps caused.

We are testing a new lightweight air rivet gun in order to handle the small rivets we are setting in the cab. For a size comparison, the air rivet gun we have been using is laying on the table of the first photo, attached to the yellow coiled hose. Our practice steel plate -- yes, it is cut in the shape of the tender -- has many rivet learning sessions displayed. We set four rivets in the far right column, starting from the top. After a few modifications, it seems like this lightweight air rivet gun may be game changing!

Finally, we continued working on cataloging Maine Central technical drawings in our collection. Finding some real gems!

Present were Bob, Paul, and Hanna

5/6/2023 Work Session

Finally, Maine has decided to grace us with some sunny and warm weather!!

This weekend, work was mostly focused on preparing the shop for the upcoming work on the cab and tender. Roger continued with needle scaling various rusty small parts so that they can be painted and returned to the tender. Paul cleaned up the neglected air riveting hammer that had become rusty, wire brushing and oiling it up.  Ready to be put to work now!   The crane was fired up and the welding/fab bench was relocated to allow work to be done on the lower portions of the replacement front cab walls.

A few office improvements were made. Bob and Paul arranged all the office furniture and moved the refrigerator and drafting table into the office. They also created a mobile dispensing rack for the Mother of all paper towel rolls.

In attendance were Bob, Roger and Paul VS.

4/15/2023 Work Session

Needlescaling is one way that the NESCo crew is working to restore the Maine Central #470. Metal parts that can be reused are stripped of old paint and rust using a needlegun scaler. The needlegun holds a set of very fine chisles ("needles"), which it pounds against the surface of the metal around 5,000 times per minute using compressed air. Once needlescaled, the surface is ready to be primed and painted.

Roger is the "King of the Needlescaler" at NESCo, having perfected the art of removing paint and rust from small parts. He spent much of Saturday continuing to needlescale small parts, so that they can be painted and reattached to the tender.

4/2 and 4/8/2023 Work Sessions

Over the last two weeks, work has continued on the new office container. If you guessed that the color would be green, then you are correct! Paul has gotten one coat of paint applied and Bob ran more electrical outlets to make the space more functional.

Work also progressed on the boiler. Timm finished the platform on top of the boiler so that crews may enter the dome safely. Some stray boiler tubes were discovered inside the tent, so Keith and Leverett moved them out to the pile. Leverett continued to work on mapping boiler studs. Brian and Hannah from Maine Locomotive & Machine Works came up Friday, April 7th and removed the wet patch off the backhead of the boiler. This “wet patch” had been applied by Maine Central to repair a leak. It was simply a steel patch formed to fit over the area that was leaking and it was welded around the edges and patch bolts applied in the center of the patch. We suspected a crack underneath it and after it was removed, our suspicions were confirmed (see photo). This type of repair is no longer acceptable and will require a different method of repair to be determined when the boiler survey is complete.

Additionally, Ron and Al continued drilling rivet holes. Keith and Leverett brought over a donated tool box and started organizing small hand tools. Keith also oiled the machinery on 470's frame, and Roger needlescaled small parts.

Present for work Sunday, April 2nd were Paul V, Ron and Al Jenkins, Timm Steele, Keith Thompson, and Leverett F.

Present for work Saturday, April 8th were Paul V, Bob, Ron and Al, Roger, and Leverett F.

3/26/2023 Work Session

In preparation for riveting, Ron and Al have resumed drilling rivet holes in the new tender cistern. While many holes have already been drilled using the mag drill, many more are left. Check out the photo of the old cistern to see the pattern that they are painstakingly transferring. Hot riveting, here we come!

Following the slew of shop improvements made last week, Timm reworked the water pipe to make a spigot, so we have our own wash-up area by the safety shower. He also completed a lovely set of steps to the office container. Inside the office, we have begun running electrical and a full coat of primer has been applied. Any guesses for the final color?

Present were Leverett, Timm, Ron, Al, Roger, Paul VS, and Hanna

NESCo recieves Mass Bay RRE Railroad Preservation Grant

New England Steam Corporation (NESCo) is proud to announce that it has received a $4005.00 Mass Bay RRE Railroad Preservation Grant from the Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts, Inc. (Mass Bay RRE). The funds will be used to purchase a pair of leaf spring sets for 470's lead truck.

NESCo is honored to be the recipient of this grant in recognition of the historic significance of Maine Central 470 and the important restoration work that NESCo is conducting.

3/19/2023 Work Session

Welcome back to the start of NESCo work days! The crew was happy to see each other after taking the winter off.

The crew got right to work cleaning up the end of the boiler tube and flue removal! Brian and Hannah from Maine Locomotive & Machine Works removed the last the tubes and flues from the boiler on March 11th. On Sunday, the crew worked to remove the pile from the shop. We are embarrased to admit that it took until the last 12 to work smarter, not harder. Look at that clean floor :)

Did you catch the article about the 470 restoration in the April 2023 issue of TRAINS magazine? A lot has happened on the project, even since the article was written. Here is a lovely look inside the boiler, sans tubes!

The work session included many quality of life improvements around the shop. The office container is now about half primed with Kilz. Eventually it will store all of our archived historical documents on MEC. A new air compressor is now wired up and plumbed into the system. All of the new hose reels are mounted and 470's machinery has been oiled!

Present for our first work day of the season was Bob D, Hanna, Paul V, Ron and Al J, Roger B and Will T

What's Happening in January and February?

As many of you may be familiar with, Maine winters are known for being:

  1. Unpredictable

  2. Bitterly cold

  3. Full of snow and ice!

On average, our volunteers travel 1 to 3 hours one way in order to come work on the 470 restoration project. Winter travel is too dangerous and unpredictable for us to be able to ask our volunteers to make this drive. Safety first!

Plus, not sure if y’all have noticed, but while our lovely tent is really good at keeping out the snow and rain it is not heated. In fact, it is almost always a good 10 degrees colder in the tent than it is outside! We like being able to feel our fingers and toes!

So what does that mean you can expect from NESCo until we get into warmer months? We are continuing to work on cataloging historical MEC drawings. So far, over 2,000 drawings have been logged and there and many hundreds left. In addition, we all have little winter projects to do! You will also see us at two upcoming train shows:

Members will be getting a Winter newsletter in their inboxes soon!

Thanks for your understanding!

12/21/2022 Work Session

Happy holidays from the NESCo crew! Volunteers braved the cold to set out donuts and hot coffee for the Big Guy, next to a stocking hung with care on the best mantle in town!

Black's Heat Pumps showed up to the tent and brought the equipment to be installed. Ron and Al began installing the mount in the office container where the inside unit is to go. Black's will return Monday to complete the job. Paul H got more MEC drawings recorded and organized in the office. We now have about 2000 drawings accounted for.

In other areas, Bob did more assembly of the cab — drilling and bolting up both sides of the new upper front cab wall to the new side walls of the cab.  Bolts will be soon be replaced with hot rivets. Bob, Paul V and Leverett came up with a plan for a platform for the dome area on the boiler, and installed the hand winch cable that will be used for the throttle valve removal.

Attendees were Ron and Al Jenkins, Bob, Paul V, Paul H, and Leverett. 

12/4/2022 Work Session

Bob, Matt, Paul and Leverett worked on making a mount on the steam dome for the davit crane, so the throttle valve can easily be removed. Bob brought his profile cutter and along with his plasma cutter was able to cut a piece of 1/2” plate to fit over the dome studs along with some spacer washers. This part fit perfectly and made the job of making the base mount much easier that it would have been otherwise. Two braces were added to the crane base and were secured to the trailer side rails using 2 old 2 inch boiler tubes.

Ron and Al laid out and drilled the holes in the back of the tender cistern for the hold down brackets and are now in place with temporary fitup bolts until we are ready to rivet them in place. Roger and Will made gaskets from tar paper that will be placed between the hold down brackets and tender cistern. Afterwards, Leverett showed Will how to oil 470's machinery.

Present for the December 4th workday were Bob D., Paul V., Ron and Al Jenkins, Roger Bennati, Matt Hofer, Leverett Fernald and new volunteer Will Ternay.

11/26/2022 Work Session

Progress, progress, progress! This weekend, work continued on the cab restoration. Bill Alexander stopped by the shop to discuss the details of the cab windows with Bob. A fine woodworker, Bill is making all new windows for the cab. He and Bob have been collaborating on design and fit, as Bob leads the metal work on the cab. Bob then resumed work on the cab, Paul and Hanna helping as needed. The front panel has been completely cut down to size and now awaits drilling and riveting.

The mag drill is currently tied up on the tender, however, as Ron and Al resumed hole drilling for rivets. There are many holes drilled, but many more to go!

Paul, Kerri and Leverett erected staging in anticipation of accessing the steam dome. Once all the tubes and flues are removed, we will then need access to the steam dome for the next portion of the boiler survey preparation.

In addition, we all worked to finish winterizing the tent. Hanna and Leverett cleaned up the blocking and air tank brackets that were outside, and Hanna took all of the paint home to store it for the winter. Ron, Al and Hanna finished rearranging bay 2 in building 1 so one of the DESR hirail trucks could be stored.

Kerri also got to cook on the new grill purchased last year, and we all enjoyed a hot lunch to warm us up! Kerri took many photos and updated her Facebook page — Maine Central Steam Locomotive #470 Restoration Project— with an excellent set of “Before and After” photos. Check it out here! All in all, a good day. 

Present were Bob D., Bill A., Ron and Al J., Kerri, Paul V., Hanna and Leverett.

New Merch Alert!

Two new items are here just in time for your holiday shopping! Check out our new 2023 calendars and t-shirt design in the store today.

2023 calendars are currently available for pre-order and will begin shipping the first week of December. Reserve yours on the store today. Supplies are limited to 50!

Our new “Blueprint” t-shirt is available in sizes medium through 5X-Large. Get yours today!

In addition, we will be selling both at the Eastern Maine Annual Train show this Saturday, November 19th from 10am to 3pm.

11/13/2022 Work Session

The work session everyone has been anticipating is finally here! Today we picked up the new tender cistern and successfully placed it on the rebuilt tender trucks and frame.

Thanks to all the effort over the last year to prepare for this lift (e.g., 23 July work session, 30 July work session), the crew was able to complete the lift on the first attempt and achieve perfect alignment. This view of the action is taken from the cab of Downeast Scenic Railroad 54, which was used to move the tender throughout the lift to position the frame into position. Once the crane and other equipment was positioned, the lift only took ~13 minutes.

Look at how much room is in the shop with the tender out. We seriously don’t know what to do with all the spare room. This space will be critical when we start riveting the tender in the spring. There are about 2,500 hot rivets to set!

Thanks to all the NESCo volunteers and members who made this a reality!

Present for the lift were: Paul VS, Paul H, Robert, Leverett, Bob, Kieth, Al, Ron, Hanna. and Jim

11/5/2022 Work Session

This week, work continued on several major projects:

The coupler was installed on the tender frame! Yes, we got the knuckle on as well. We had to borrow Downeast Scenic Railroad 1055 to double-check we got all the pieces in correctly, it is a bit of a jig saw puzzle.

The new front sheet of the cab continues to receive adjustments for a perfect fit. One remaining decision to be made is the configuration of the front-facing windows. Over the course of 470's service, their size and placement varied.

With winter weather coming, it is time to turn back to some of the smaller jobs sitting around the shop -- including the rebuild of 470's Detroit Model A lubricator. The lubricator reservoir was left full of oil and the steam lines full of water when weatherized in 1954. Volunteers have spent the last few winters carefully stripping off the thick coats of black paint and cleaning all the oil from the block. Now, attention is being turned to inspecting and cleaning the steam circuits. At least one coil is split and will need to be addressed before reassembly.

Additionally, work continued to weatherize the tent.

Present: Robert, Al, Ron, Leverett, Hanna, Paul VS, Bob

10/30/2022 Report from Bob DeWachter's Home Shop

Things are once again afoot in Bob's workshop! What do you think he is making on the CNC plasma cutter this time?

What did Bob make? Why a table-top whistle stand for our beautiful new bronze whistle to be displayed! The whistle screws in with 2”NPT threads and three legs were zipped out with the new CNC plasma cutter in short order. After a bit of deburring and some TIG welding, the stand was complete. Going to look mighty fine with a whistle on it at our next public showing!

New England Steam Corp.
a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
P.O. Box 302
Winterport, ME 04496