-- Update June 18, 2009 --
All of the frame doors on the 9010 have the same basic latch which consists of two movable rods and a central mechanism which is operated by an aluminum handle.  A number of the handles are missing or broken off and will have to be replaced somehow.   Most of the latches are totally rusted and immovable.  It was necessary to remove all of them, disassemble and then bead blast them.  We then coated the parts with a cold galvanizing compound and reassembled them.  Two of the handles were removed from the fireman's side and will be used on the new front doors on the nose.  Hopefully, replacement handles will be either found or made at some point.

On another front (or rear), Al has been busy cleaning up the rear MU box so we can replace the MU and field loop connectors that were destroyed some years ago.  Fortunately, the MU wiring was intact and were able to splice the existing wiring onto the replacement connector.

Dennis and Charles were caught working on removing years of paint and rust on the engineer's side of the cab and the front part of the frame.  Dennis exposed a very odd looking surface on the cab side.   It looks like spot welds but the marks are irregularly spaced and quite large.  His cleaning also revealed some very rotten metal in the cab side.  This will not be the only patching we will have to do on the cab exterior.

-- Update February 1, 2010 --
When the Southern Pacific did the Camera Car conversion, they removed the 2 grab irons that were on the brow of the roof and the front 2 lifting hooks that were nearby.  I don't know why they removed the hooks but the inner grab iron ends were in the way of the microphone box they installed.    For some reason they also beat the roof down in the are of the box and since there is no way to straighten it, I plan to cut it out and replace the section.  

-- Update February 23, 2010 --
The section was duly cut out,the base of the microphone box cut out and  a patch welded in.  The 1 1/2" thick riser block that was used to raise the horn above the microphone box was removed.  A pair of newly forged grab irons were bolted to the roof and the section welded back in.
-- Update March 12, 2010 --
Dan Furtado took some time out from paint stripping on the cab to finishing the body work on the "brow" over the front windows.

Dennis Mann has spent a goodly number of volunteer hours grinding away the layers of old paint, cutting through a flaky crust of old SP gray, red oxide primer, and down through the very first Apple Green KM primer layer to bare metal.  Recently, he has been working his muscles on the cab sides.

When cleaning the fireman's side sheet metal of paint, Denny noticed a faint number that did not seem to want to be ground away.  When he compared it to the 15" number "9" nearby (from the former Camera Car number 8799), he noticed that the ghost number was considerably shorter, not in SP lettering style, and seemed to be the numeral "8".  It is a little hard to make out among the grinding marks and spot welds, but the lower part is quite distinct, and the upper part also shows a clear trace.

"Eight" is the production line number of Chassis 19106, later to assigned road number SP 9010.  The shop forces at Krauss Maffei painted the German abbreviation for "Number" (Nr.) and the series line number on the front and rear pilot sheets of the fresh chassis (seen here on Chassis Number 19099, later assigned SP 9003 as the first Series unit off the line).

After documenting the "8" on the cab side, (likely to connect the loose cab to its destined chassis), a member of the 9010 crew had a little fun and quickly hand-lettered "Nr. 8" in K-M style onto the rear pilot sheet.  It won't stay there for long, but it is a small tribute to the men who built our "Nr. 8" a couple of generations ago.

-- Update April 04, 2010 --
During the Camera Car conversion, the SP cut off one pair of lifting hooks from the top of the cab.  We made a couple of extra when the four were made for the top of the nose and these were welded into place on the cab.  In order to weld the hooks to the cab top, the MIG welder was raised on a fork lift.  It looks a bit precarious but all went well.

One very conspicuous change to the locomotive was made when the SP added the "humps" to the 4 radiator expansion tanks in 1967.   There has been some debate about their removal but, given that we are restoring the locomotive to its 1964 appearance, they had to go.   The liberal application of a cutting torch revealed a nearly intact roof contour and even the original mounting location for the sight glasses.  As time permits, all 4 of the "humps" will be removed and the roof restored to its original appearance.  The last photo includes sparks coming from Dan's window frame work in the cab.

And here is what the top looks like with the remains of that hump torched off.  There is a huge amount of grinding to do but the rear hood is on its way back in time.

-- Update May 22, 2010 --
Taking a break from grinding off the remains of the hump, I decided to figure out new mounts for the water level sight glasses.  The sight glasses welded to the side of the humps were the remains of the originals, with the angled "wings" cut off.  Once knowing the angle, it was fairly simple to reconstruct the wings and weld them to a newly fabricated base.  A transfer of the old sight glasses and cover plates plus new gaskets completed the process.  One down, 3 to go.

-- Update June 13, 2010 --
Work resumes on the nasty welds on the front of the cab where the 3/4" thick walls of the Camera Car nose were welded to the 1/8" thick plate of the cab.  We finally got all the added steel off with the combination of a cutting torch and a lot of grinding but there were still many holes which had to be closed with the MIG welder.   The Camera Car had a door leading from the cab to the camera room.  It was hinged on the outside wall side and had a latch in the "skirt" which will abut the new nose.  The opening for the latch had to be repaired plus, there were a few other spots where the "skirt" was cut away or damaged.

-- Update July 03, 2010 --
Dan continues repairing and reforming the two front cab wall radii.  

Dan Furtado Photo

The upper of the two brake access hatches had to be rebuilt.  Part of the hinge was missing, the latching mechanism was gone and some deadbolts and a drawer pull had been added during Camera Car conversion.

And, all of the added parts were removed from the front transmission area.  While taking the third photo, I noticed another problem that will have to be addressed.  The bottom opening surfaces for the front windows are not even from side to side.  The one on the engineer's side (left side of photo) is quite a bit lower than the other side.  Oh joy!!

It turned out that the fireman's side window had not been cut out enough on the bottom edge and the bottom corner radii were wrong.  I found that there should be a 3/4" lip all the way around the window upon which the window glazing rubber would sit.  Necessity being the mother of invention, a little marking tool was created which allowed me to trace the proper 3/4" lip on the outside of the frame.  This window required only some grinding to come back to its proper shape.

The engineer's side window was not quite so simple.  Both bottom radii had been butchered and needed to have some metal added.  This was also true of part of the bottom surface.  One eighth steel was welded in where needed and the little tool again marked the correct opening.  Finally, after a bunch of grinding, the front windows are back to the shape they had from the factory.  In the last photo, you will note a piece of tubing welded to the cab wall.  This area was the original air duct between the grill on top of the nose and the cab heater.  

There has also been work on the two missing front hand rails.  The first order of business was to make replacements for the two missing stanchions that support the railing.  I removed part of the railing behind the cab and put the new bar through both of the supports which allowed me to hang the stanchion from the bar.  By doing this, I was able to align the stanchion to the mounting bracket and bend the top of the stanchion as required.  The stanchions are actually EMD parts that were lengthened for this application.  There will be more work on them once the end of the bars are forged to make the mounting pads that are bolted to the body next to the steps.  I also took the opportunity to make the extension angles that will support the walkway extensions.

And for the finale of this update, we did a little painting.  Rich cleaned the area under the front of the cab,  gave it a good coat of Rust Mort and then I shot the Suede Gray.  This removed a major part of the front end "derelict" look that has haunted us for so long.