American Steam Railroad crew chief Gordon Hartschuh fills you in on what has been accomplished in the past month on Reading 2100. Highlights of the work done include:

• The firebox side sheets and staybolt sleeves were cleaned of debris so that the welders have an excellent surface to work on when they come to weld in the staybolts.

• All the staybolts were taken from Bleil Machine in Mentor, Ohio, to the Midwest Railway Preservation Roundhouse in Cleveland, where Reading 2100 is being restored. The staybolts were checked for quality, sorted by length, and media blasted to clean the areas that the welders will weld on.

• To date, the fundraising to weld in the staybolts has reached the halfway mark. We’ll soon begin to have our contracted welders come in and install put in the staybolts on the fireman’s side of the firebox. We’d like to say thank you to all of you that have sponsored to have this process done. Right now, we’ll need $2,800 to fully fund the engineer’s side to be welded. Visit our gift shop, where you can sponsor to have a staybolt welded in for only $9 apiece, and you can support as many as you’d like!

• The copper gaskets that will go into the staybolt caps arrived this month. We want to say thank you to Doyle McCormack for getting us in touch with a supplier he uses to have these done.

• A steam locomotive contractor visited us to help determine the wear on the running gear. His findings have determined a savings of a considerable amount of anticipated work.