Steam & Excursion > From FB post WSL Shay 9 Boiler work contracted to Durango & Silv.

Midwest Central RR at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa say they signed a contrack for Durango & Silverton Shop to do boiler work on former West Side Lumber Shay #9.  I sure hope they truck the locomotive to Durango and later do test runs on the Silverton Branch.  The post does not say where the work would be accomplished.  https://www.facebook.com/MCRR.ORG



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/24 06:02 by PlyWoody.

I just got word the contract calls for the D&S NG RR shop folks traveling to Mt Pleasant, Iowa to do the boiler work on the Midwest Central #9, former West Side Lumber #9.  What a bummer as it is due time for a Shay to be in Durango again.  Last Shay there was March 26/27, 1931 when New Mexico Lumber Shay #7 was towed through town heading for Seattle Equipment Dealer that owned it.  That engine eventually was bought by Oregon Lumber Co. and ran over Sumpter Valley RR and is in Indiana now.  The Midwest Central is missing out of a lot of of great PR if the D&S crews got the Shay there to run test trips over the Silverton Branch.  It could be like Cass Scenic RR.

Oh, by  the way, # 340 will be coming to Durango in April so all is not lost for the future railfans pacers.



Edited 9 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/24 14:21 by PlyWoody.

Why not put this in the original thread you started instead of making a new thread?

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,5835635

I don’t get it. A locomotive is getting the attention it needs to continue in operation and we’re worried about where the work is occurring?

Posted from iPhone

With travel and lodging expenses for D&SNG employees in Mt. Pleasant, I can't see where they are saving any money by doing it this way.  I would think it would be more expensive.

PlyWoody Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just got word the contract calls for the D&S NG
> RR shop folks traveling to Mt Pleasant, Iowa to do
> the boiler work on the Midwest Central #9, former
> West Side Lumber #9.  What a bummer as it is due
> time for a Shay to be in Durango again.  Last
> Shay was when New Mexico Lumber Shay #7 towed
> through town heading for Seattle Dealer that owned
> it.  That engine eventually was owned by Oregon
> Lumber Co. and ran over Sumpter Valley RR and is
> in Indiana now.  The Midwest Central is missing
> out of a lot of of great PR if the D&S crews got
> the Shay there to run test trips over the
> Silverton Branch.  It could be like Cass Scenic
> RR.
>
> Oh, by  the way, RGS #40 will be coming to
> Durango so all is not lost for the future railfans
> pacers.

RGS #40 cannot come to Durango.  It was scrapped in 1943.  The engine in question is D&RGW #340, which for a period of time was numbered #40 by Knotts Berry Farm.

I was very surprised when reading the original message as I thought that Midwest Central has a fully equipped shop and has done contract work for other operators in the past.  I wonder if they no longer have boiler maintenance qualified employees on staff there.  Just seems odd that they're bringing in outside help.

Andy

AndyBrown Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was very surprised when reading the original
> message as I thought that Midwest Central has a
> fully equipped shop and has done contract work for
> other operators in the past.  I wonder if they no
> longer have boiler maintenance qualified employees
> on staff there.  Just seems odd that they're
> bringing in outside help.
>
> Andy

This is becoming the new norm, nation wide.  Our society is not producing trades type people.  Fewer and fewer people want to work with their hands, get dirty, and feel pain from a hard day of work or effort.  There's plenty of people who will show up when its time to run or ride the train.  Many are starting to see that all operations live or die based on what happens in the shop.  As a result, we see more and more operations contracting out what was once simple normal maintenance.  There are places that even contract out an annual inspection of their steam locomotive, because they do not have anybody internally willing or competent enough to perform the task.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/24 03:08 by Deal.

Deal Wrote:
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> This is becoming the new norm, nation wide.  Our
> society is not producing trades type people. 
> Fewer and fewer people want to work with their
> hands, get dirty, and feel pain from a hard day of
> work or effort.

Translated:  Kids these days.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Topfuel Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With travel and lodging expenses for D&SNG
> employees in Mt. Pleasant, I can't see where they
> are saving any money by doing it this way.  I
> would think it would be more expensive.

Trucking isn't all that cheap, and especially depending on how they would have to load the Locomotive. Is it a simple rail ramp load? Still not cheap. Is it a crane onto a specialized low boy job? Extremely expensive, that type of move could easily more than double the cost of the restoration. Then you have to do it at both ends, and again to send it back. Having the guys travel to the work is probably nowhere even near half the cost of moving the engine even if the moving plan was the cheapest option of rail ramping.

As a rough estimate, if they had to move it the expensive way, it would most likely take two cranes at each end. Depending on the lift and reach they may have to do, the crane company would most likely want to use either two 80 or 120 ton cranes. Last I knew that was around $240 per hour per crane tonnage capacity changes price, travel time starting and ending from when they leave their yard. Lowboy truck of sufficient capacity is not cheap, easily 20k to go one way, price goes up exponentially if they have to drop the tag axles. Don't forget the route planning and permits. Then you have to lift it again at the shop. Travel one way could easily be 50k. Hotels, travel and per diem would probably not touch the two way price for the whole job.

Posted from Android

Your figures are credible..
But, you gotta' do the whole thing all over again, to get it
back 'home'.. after tne hydro and steam tests..

That's double the cost --- for the whole transportation thing...

​W.

Deal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is becoming the new norm, nation wide.  Our
> society is not producing trades type people. 
> Fewer and fewer people want to work with their
> hands, get dirty, and feel pain from a hard day of
> work or effort.

Interestingly, this came across my news feed this morning from the Wall Street Journal:

How Gen Z Is Becoming the Toolbelt Generation - WSJ

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions