American Steam Railroad’s Communication Director Brian Smith fills you in on what’s been accomplished in the past month in the latest video update. Highlights include:

• The forging and machining of the 560 staybolts needed in the firebox are now halfway completed. Volunteers have been spending weekdays and Saturdays drilling out the staybolt telltale holes in stages.
• Work was done on our tool car, former New York Central 9110, at the Mad River & NKP museum’s new restoration shop in Bellevue, Ohio. Volunteers cut in the car to remove the fiberglass insulation and to better assess what will be needed to be done to fully restore the car. After the work session, museum Vice President Dwayne Fuehring instructed ASR members on how to conduct a Clean, Oil, Test, and Stencil on the car.
  We’d also like to thank the Youngstown Steel Heritage Museum for their donation of D-22 brake components to the restoration effort of the car.
• The steam distribution manifold from the stoker mechanism was removed from the adjoining housing, so repairs could be done by a professional contractor.
• A complete inventory of spare parts was completed in the auxiliary water tender.
• Rear steps were mounted onto Reading 2100’s tender.
• Removal of the damaged studs on the feedwater line on the tender.
• The adhesive that remained from the reflective tape on the running board skirting was in the starting process of removal.