-- 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.  

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.

-- Update July 17, 2010 --
Once the door opening edges were painted, the two brake access doors on the cab front were reinstalled.   And after drilling out a lot of broken hinge screws and repairing the frozen hinges, the two small side access doors were also reinstalled.

Dan removed the very last of the old paint on the front of the cab and shot a coat of epoxy primer on the surface.  

Dan Furtado Photo

Dan Furtado Photo

I decided to cut into one of the rotten areas on the outside wall of the cab.   What I found was not unexpected.  There is lots of rust and some very thin sheet metal with which to deal.

-- Update September 25, 2010 --
The two front frame doors on the right side were shortened by the SP in 1966 when the handbrake was relocated to the area ahead of the cab.  In the first photo, you can see the difference between the door on the left and the one on the right.  Two new doors were cut and formed and then the original hinges were removed from the old doors and welded to the replacements.

-- Update November  22, 2010 --
During the Camera Car conversion, the SP removed all of the components and radiators from the section behind the number 1 engine.  They also removed 8 of the side doors and replaced them with 4 sheets of 1/4" steel plate.  The area was used to house a diesel generator which powered the equipment in the camera compartment plus other equipment that we have not yet identified.  During the aborted restoration at CSRM, the 1/4" plate was torched out, leaving 4 gaping holes in the locomotives sides.  The 4 holes in the hood have been covered with sheets of plywood for quite some time and work has finally begun on restoration of the doors.  We purchased four 4X8 sheets of 1/8" plate, had them cut to size and had the bottom edge bent up slightly to match the "kickout" at the bottom of the other doors.  The first step was to make cuts in the remaining original metal in order to create suitable openings into which the new metal will be butt welded.  The narrow side of the old opening was removed completely.

Once the cuts were made, the new metal was bolted into its new home and will be welded in once both panels on the firemans side are fully installed.  The grills and shutters will be fabricated at a later date.

Mike Ohare Photo

Work has also continued on the job of removing the radiator expansion tanks that were added by the SP.   They are constructed of 1/4" steel plate with 1/2" end plates, four 1/4" baffles and a 1/2" plate divider between the main tank and the turbo aftercooler section.  As of now, three of the tanks are removed.  The last will be torched off when the 9010 is returned to the other track in the barn.  Luckily, all of the structure under the tank was intact with only a few holes to patch and a few welded-on cover plates to remove but we face hours and hours of grinding.  The roof line is returning to 1964.

-- Update December  29, 2010 --
Work on the roof never seems to end.  The amount of grinding needed is unbelievable.  And then there are those 2" diameter water circulation holes that the SP cut when the tanks were added.   All told, there are 36 of them, 16 in a reasonably flat surface and 20 in the curve at the roof edge.  New crew member Mike Ohare suggested using a 2" hole saw to produce a blanks and we found that they would fit nicely.  Strips of steel were run through the roll to produced  a curved blank from which the plugs were cut for the edge.   Mike looks like he is laying down on the job but, this was the easiest way to weld the top plugs.  During the cleaning process, we discovered a number of areas with severe cracks which were ground out and welded.  When not making parts for the roof repair, Rich could be found cleaning out the cable duct on which we also continue working.

Mike removed all the angle iron that was welded to the plates covering the missing cooling fans and the vents that were added to cool the generating plant that was installed below.  Small plates were welded to the covers to keep the elements out.  Once all the excess tank and weld was removed, the curved surface was treated to several passes with a belt sander to remove crap on the surface.  Thank goodness the SP was an advocate of radiator treatment compound as there was no rust, only residue of the compound.   Once cleaned, the surface was treated  with Rust Mort and will receive a coat of epoxy primer.  Meanwhile, Mike moved on to grinding the leftover welds on the fireman's side rear.

Work continues on the rotten areas of the cab side.  There were a number of areas on the left side of the cab which were cut away until good metal was found.  Photo two illustrates the goodies found inside the outer wall when the bad metal was removed.  With the patching done, the wall was cleaned, treated  with Rust Mort and will wait for warmer weather for a coat of epoxy primer.