Western Railroad Discussion > SCRM AT&SF SF560 Fairbanks Morse H12-44 restoration

Work is under way restoring the cab interior. All new windows have been ordered. Sliding side window frames have been been blasted and clear electro plated. The control console front panels have been powder coated with black crinkle, the duplex air gauges are removed for calibration and refurbishment, the rotted flooring has been removed and new panels fabricated with the period correct linoleum, the control console cabinet is painted, and bids are being solicited for painting the locomotive. Hopefully the painting will be done in the mid-October to end of November time frame. Budget is still a concern but we hope to finish raising the $15k or so that we are still short, by then

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Sorry, I still call it Orange Empire.  They do amazing work there with their large skilled dedicated volunteer force. Some year ago I dropped off some foundry patterns for our handcars at Covert Foundry (now out of business) and I noticed a collection of nice looking newly constructed patterns in the corner. They looked railroad related and I asked the owner who they belonged to.  He told me they came from Orange Empire Railway Museum and said they had a skilled pattern maker that fabricated these intricate patterns.  There are not too many museums that have that kind knowledge on hand to do this.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Great work !  It amazes me everytime I read about your knowledge and craftsmen ship  

That is some really nice work being done there. Years ago I was restoring a Victorian house. I had about 3 or more too many hobbies, car racing won out, but I found time to continue restoring our home when we were there and not traveling with the racing effort. I could write a book but getting custom milled wood in period correct lumber, cutting down stick lumber to match original un-planed wood sizes, tongue and groove sheathing and other materials such as cut nails vs wire nails and mastering horse-hair plaster repairs, finding period correct bricks to replace those removed and discarded were very, very time consuming and costly endeavors. 
 Another hobby was restoring toy electric trains from the Twenties and the early Fifties. Fortunately some critical parts and paints were made available.
 I seriously appreciate what I see in this and other former restorations at SCRM (Orange Empire if you must, I'm not a California native so have no preference. Now if one day they decided to rename the Strasburg Railroad [in Pennsylvania}, I too would have an issue, however that is an original name chartered when the railroad was built and the oldest shortline charter in existance, so I'm guessing they won't go to initials as a title to replace the original charter name.).
Great post, and updates here rather than Facebook (just gag me) are always appreciated!
Gonut

Todd the Museum can always use more people OERM / SCRM actually is short of volunteers and any one reading this should consider joining.