For my LINK Internship, I got to work in the Chama NM Shops of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. This was a great three week experience of learning about how the railroad and it's mechanical department operates in preparation for their summer season. I got to work on and help with a ton of different things here. Most of what I was doing was on the locomotive pictured above, K-36 #488. This locomotive had just received a smokebox replacement earlier this year and is being backdated to its 1925 as built appearance. I mainly got to do three different pieces of work on 488: making a new engineer side cylinder jacket, making a new steam line governor and air pump, and installing new cab windows above the backhead.
Later on when the paint dried and another shop crew member and I took measurements of the saddle, I then proceeded to fit and glue insulation on the saddle. (Pictured to the right)
195 PSI of steam is ran through these cylinders, and the insulation helps keep the casting warm and prevents the heat transferring to the jacket. Here we got the jacket to fit onto the saddle. We has intended to get the copper terminal check line back in and drill the holes into the saddle to properly mount it but with all the other things going on around the shop we ran out of time in the three weeks I was there. But the jacket as seen here is almost complete, and its cool to say I got to help make it.
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Here is the engineer side cylinder saddle. This is a large cast iron part installed on the locomotive when built directly from Baldwin Locomotive Works, housing the piston head (below) and valve heads above. Because this was an original BLW casting it had not seen any attention in probably a long time, so first I needle-scaled all the chunks and particles of rust and build up of other materials. I then gave it a coat of high temp automotive paint to help prevent any more rust from developing. (Pictured to the left)
Here is the jacket (Pictured to the left) with the measurements and drawings for the holes that needed to be cut. Another shop crew member used a plasma cutter to cut these out. One hole seen here is partially out already. The holes here are to allow the jacket to fit over the saddle while still allowing access to to different fittings on the saddle. the bottom corners are for the cylinder cocks.
One of the other projects I helped out on was making a new steam line so we could move the governor next to the Air compressor. I learned how to bend, cut, thread, and ream schedule 80 pipe. I then also wrapped insulation around it. Most steam lines on the locomotive receive insulation like this.
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Finally, Here are a set of windows I got to install in the cab of 488. They were made by the railroad's master carpenter in Antonito out of Cherry Wood. I got to drill holes in the sills and then mounted them in the cab. Both frames slide on the sills to open the window and help ventilate the cab.
Reflection
Ultimately, I enjoyed my internship the the experience I got from it. I've already been doing volunteer work for the Durango Railroad Historical Society in the past, and this kind of stuff was already in my wheelhouse. However this experience maximized that and thought me a lot more about different mechanical and machining aspects of railroading. I was able to take a lot of skills from past expirences from the DRHS and utilize them in the Chama Shops, and now I might even be able to take skills I learned here back to another DRHS work session on 315 or any of our rolling stock in Silverton.
I think one of the most important skills I developed over link was learning the culture of the workplace and the people I was working with. We all liked trains and were interested in what we were doing but it took a bit to get the injokes and properly fit in with everyone. This was a concern for a while but it went away sufficiently as I got further into the weeks.
I think this experience has definitely reinforced the idea I can pursue railroad work as a possible career, I even ended up getting two job offers for this summer at the C&TS that I'd be tempted to take up if I could find housing around Chama or Antonito.
I think one of the most important skills I developed over link was learning the culture of the workplace and the people I was working with. We all liked trains and were interested in what we were doing but it took a bit to get the injokes and properly fit in with everyone. This was a concern for a while but it went away sufficiently as I got further into the weeks.
I think this experience has definitely reinforced the idea I can pursue railroad work as a possible career, I even ended up getting two job offers for this summer at the C&TS that I'd be tempted to take up if I could find housing around Chama or Antonito.