Booming...

Well April is here and lots of stuff going on. If you haven't read my post over on the Pacific Coast Railroad blog, go here to find out about my recent booming around various railroads. On Easter Sunday I fired on the old Heisler #2 at Roaring Camp. Man alive that loco is a beast. I have wrenched on her before with Tom Shreve, but never run. Four trips on that loco is brutal to say the least. Here is a picture of her shortly after being lettered for the Big Trees Flume & Lumber Company, a name that I use today to keep her memory alive.

My new locomotive is receiving the lettering I designed for the railroad of the same name.

Yes it is the route of the Badger!
Here is a picture of my sister Jannell, dad Marty, and myself taken in 1968 on our first trip behind the Heisler.

Who knew 40 years later I would actually fire the locomotive. Of all the geared steam locomotives ever built, the Heisler was designed by a mechanical engineer named Charles Heisler. The way these locomotives are put together just doesn't make practical sense. And since the oldest regularly operating one gets a workout whenever she runs, you can only imagine the work thats needed to keep it operable. It is just a pain in the you know what! Tom Shreve, Roaring Camp's head engineer and mechanic tells me the story of Charlie Heisler's purgatory and how he can't enter into the pearly gates until the last one dies. Well there are a few left running so Charlie may be there awhile. Here is a picture of Tom on the #2.

Thats all for now... no April Fools Jokes from me. I already got suckered today from Ed Kelley about the beast in question. He got me good. What goes around, comes around...