Engine 557 Restoration Company
Progress Report June 2025

Now passing the 557 Engine house at the peak of the tourist season is an irregular parade of trains. They are dependent on the arrival of tourist ships in Whittier and Seward. So what is a Boat Train? Robert Krol took this photo of the original terminal in Whittier which is connected by a covered breeze way from train to ship. The fog and rain conceal the mountains that surround this port at the end of Passage Canal. The ship in the background has a passenger capacity that probably exceeds the regular winter population of Whittier by 20 times. A new terminal at the head of the bay can now accommodate 2 additional ships at the same time. There have already been three Cruise ships berthed in Whittier on the same day. Boat trains are usually fully booked.

For a little change of Action we have a South bound gravel train in the afternoon. After 78 cars we find the rear unit in dynamic braking, just keeping up as the train is going down a 1.2% grade for a few miles.

John Combs relates his day chasing 557 on her truck move from Anchorage to Wasilla in 2012. Since we have been reviewing 557”s journey to restoration you will find this story interesting.

Correction in last month's Status Report. The CNR whistle is in fact 4 chime as is obvious with 4 chambers in the bell. I asked if McAvity was the foundry that made the CNR STANDARD whistle. Dick Morris did some digging and we now know. McAvity in all its incarnations over the years built fire hydrants and associated gear for most of Canada. Whistles were just a side note. Here is the short form McAvity history.

 

What other people say:

Tom Simco responding to the May 557 Status Report
“This Status Report is EXCEPTIONAL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

John L Biehn and his son Mike made it to 557 on June 7 while visiting Alaska for a family event. After about 90 minutes they had to leave with the lament, “We will be back in the fall.” John is former Steam Editor of CTC board and several other publications. He commented,“We really appreciate all the hard work that you and your group have done in order to get this historic locomotive back in operation.   Thanks to Patrick for taking time out to give us a thorough tour of the locomotive . Great work and great progress . Can’t wait to see her run. We are from Ohio but we will be back!! Can’t wait.”

British Sports Cars Alaska made a visit to 557 for a shop tour at the invitation of Ken Morton. In order Matt White, Stewart McDonald, John Martin, Bill Demming, Cheryl Babbe, Ken Morton, President, Dean Cox and wife Sandra. Their rides improved the scenery and Ken’s Healy 3000 greeted a South bound train.  

Matt Behrmann from Indiana made these observations:
"Traveling to Alaska has been a goal of mine for several years to document the Alaska Railroad. I found traffic to be plentiful in and around Anchorage and dedicated a couple of more days for going to Fairbanks to see operations up north. Another photographer I met along the way recommended I stop in Wasilla to see the Alaska Railroad 557 project. Having heard some about this project but not actively following it, I was intrigued. With an hour to kill on the way north while waiting for the Denali Star, I stopped in Wasilla at the shop to see what I could find.”  

A knock on the door and quick phone call led me to talking to Pat and, after explaining I was in town from Indianapolis, Indiana, he graciously allowed me in. The next 30 minutes was fascinating to me, seeing all the upgrades the crew had made to the classic 2-8-0 Baldwin steamer. Pat took the time to show me some of the various upgrades and necessary tweaks required to get the locomotive up to modern operating standards. I even had the opportunity to snap a few photos.”    

While another Alaska trip was not on the radar, seeing the 557 in her slumber changed that and I will now have to make another trip to the Last Frontier to see the 557 in operation, whenever that may be!"

From Julie Northrop “Here’s a few photos from our visit on Monday, Grandson Joshu, Granddad JA and his son, Donald. We so appreciate the time you spent to share with us the latest updates on the 557 and all the machinery and materials used to bring it back to life. It’s truly incredible to see the progress over the years. I believe this was our fourth visit which is the highlight of our Dad’s visit every time. He comes up from Surprise, Arizona almost every summer and he loves steam locomotives, so being able to learn the history of 557 and see all the progress has been such a treat for him. We all were excited to climb up in the cab and sit in the engineer’s seat and hear the bell ring. Seeing it on the rails is going to be incredible.”

Kevin Grady of Mercer Island, Washington visited June 26th with Judith and his Brother Tim who lives here in the Valley. Kevin worked McKinley Park in the early days for Westours and was expediter there. Also worked Fairbanks. Has always been a big ARR fan and close follower of 557. He left a very nice $1000 check in support of the volunteers.

Jay Scribner and his wife Kristine stopped for an early morning visit while on their way north to home in Fairbanks. Jay has been a follower on Facebook, so I officially added him to the contact list to receive the monthly status report. Later in the day day I discovered $200.00 cash had found its way into our sight gauge donation collection. Thank you Jay!

 

Back in the Shop:

Tom Walker secured the Baldwin Power Reverse after the crew helped him muscle it into place with the little fork lift. All new grade 8 fasteners and hard SAE Washers. The original operator rod would not clear the heads of flexible stay bolts, as 480 were added during the firebox rebuild. The rod is modified to fit. Al Stienbeck stripped it and got it ready for paint. Jerry Cunnington made it gray and then made it black.

Ken Elmore installed 1/4 inch plexiglass guards on both sides of the A frame on the hand car restored by David Lucas. The guards will keep people out of the gears but allow them to see all the motion. We missed Colony Days in Palmer at the Depot. Maybe a crew will be assembled in time to trailer our creation to the 4th of July event. Thank CAC Plastics in Wasilla for their continuing support, yep they supplied the plexiglass. Just one of our many in-kind donors on the wall of honor.

Often when ordering items to come to Alaska, we get a response, "We do not ship to Hawaii or Alaska."  So then we need to find a work around.  That's when we routed a recent shipment of 20 foot sticks of stainless tubing to our freight forwarder in Fife, Washington.  Lynden Transport has handled shipments big and small from around the world coming to Engine 557 to be picked up in Anchorage.  They are one of many in-kind donors we count on to keep product coming to meet the needs of 557 restoration.  On this recent order, Lynden saved us $1,380 on the shipment.  Grandpa always said “A dollar saved is worth two earned.”

I recently climbed into the fireman’s seat to check out the new brackets made for the firing stand and found that CMO Jeff DeBroeck had the guys incorporate support for the two water glass blowdown pipes into an open top receiver drained through the cab floor and routed around all the congestion under the deck. Note in the photo that we have an Alco firebox door, to which a Lima draft box is mated on a Baldwin locomotive.

I joined long time supporter David Lucas to receive his latest wood project for 557. A growing collection of hold down hardware required a storage system. All the various sizes are now upstanding and handy right on top of the milling machine.

Gene Augustine volunteers for the dirty job of sand blasting the cylinder heads. They were soon ready for paint.

There is an endless list of small jobs to complete. Paul fired up the forge, and the crew fashioned more raw forgings that became pipe brackets after sand blasting and painting.

Blow down drains for the Air Pump required a hole be drilled in the pilot deck. The magdrill required more support metal than the 1/4” plate being drilled, so the pipe stand was added. All these drains are stainless.

Dean Sawyer, installed the rings on the throttle in preparation for installation. Then it was delivered to CMO Jeff DeBroeck, with the crane attachment on the little fork lift. Here you can look into the boiler and see the seat which the top portion of the throttle will seal against when closed. To the left in the photo is the steam delivery pipe which serves the auxiliary manifold. There is very little steam space in the short dome. Tom Walker made new copper keeper keys for the throttle bridge. Dean provided this video of the final throttle assembly operation. 

Jesse Lehman cleaned all the mating surfaces of the Steam Dome Cover preparing for installation.

Just endless details to attend to before first fire. Some good news from Robert Franzen at Steam Services of America. They have a final draft of the FRA required Form 4 completed. Hundreds of hours over the past several years doing thousands of ultra sound measurements of the boiler and fire box structure by 557 volunteers and reducing the data to digital form for submission, was all unseen work until now.

Closing out this Status Report with a teaser. It is also about having fun! You could have been one of the 21 people aboard the AuRoRa fund-raising charter to Seward, Alaska on Friday, June 20th. The AuRoRa was on the Anchorage Platform at 6:00 a.m. to greet the arriving guests. The day concluded nearly 16 hours later with our return to Anchorage on the opposite end of the platform.

What happened between these two images is the subject our link to the 2025 AuRoRa Report. A great day under cloudless skies, riding the most scenic section of the Alaska Railroad with friends.

Patrick Durand
President Engine 557 Restoration Company

 

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