Although no date has been set for East Broad Top 2-8-2 No. 16 to return to service, work continues to bring the Baldwin-built steam engine into operating condition.
Trains magazine reported on its website that No. 16 passed a hydrostatic boiler test last May and since then has been test-steamed under the observation of Federal Railroad Administration staff.
EBT master mechanic Dave Domitrovich told the magazine that FRA personnel were satisfied with the tests.
He said workers will be able to install everything back on the boiler but a considerable amount of finishing work remains to be done on the engine.
No. 16 last operated in 1956. The EBT has four other steam locomotives that operated between 1960 when the EBT became a tourist railroad and 2011 when steam operations shut down.
In recent weeks, workers have painted the dome covers of No. 16 and remounted two of them. Also overhauled or replaced have been major fittings and appliances such as the bell, whistle, sight glasses, tri-cocks (additional boiler-level checks), air pumps, air tanks, Hancock injectors, and boiler-pressure and brake-pressure gauges.
Painting has been completed on the smokebox, pilot and tender are painted.
Domitrovich said the next major tasks include reinstalling the main and side rods and timing the valves. Also yet to be completed is painting and remounting the locomotive cab.
Once work on No. 16 is completed, workers will turn their attention to restoring No. 15, which was the locomotive last used in revenue tourist train service.
The original plan was to restore No. 14, but an inspection determined it needs more work than that initially thought.
Whereas No. 15 simply need running gear work, No. 14 need major boiler work and running-gear work.
In other developments at the Pennsylvania-based EBT, a second new coach has arrived from a vendor located in Washington State.
The car, built by Hamilton Manufacturing, has been placed on its new trucks, and work is continuing to set it up with new couplers, truss rods, air hoses, and heating and lighting equipment. It will be numbered 22.
EBT has ordered four coaches from Hamilton with the first of them, No. 21, having already undergone a test run.
The railroad’s general manager, Brad Esposito, told Trains the EBT may be looking to acquire more carbody shells in the future that would come without coach seats, they can be reconfigured as first-class and parlor-car seating, or as dining cars.
The article can be read at https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/work-continues-to-return-first-ebt-steam-locomotive-to-service/
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