The 1356: Restoration update

We were interviewed by the Missoulian Friday, April 25, for a story that is slated to appear in the paper in a couple of days. One of the questions we often get asked is, how much is this going to cost? The short answer is, we don’t know.

The total restoration project has been estimated in the area of $150,000. This is a ballpark figure. It’s difficult to know the cost of, say, rebuilding a cab when we don’t know how much will be done by volunteers, how many materials could be donated, or how prices might change. That figure includes major items like a professional paint job, repairing the tender.

But this is a long term project and we are doing it in phases. The goal has always been to use our first year to take care of immediate needs: to weatherize and preserve the engine, and for visible improvements such as restoring the bell, lighting the headlight, sourcing a whistle—the things people enjoy seeing. Meanwhile, we’ll fund raise over the summer for the coming phases. We also have grants in process.

Our rough estimate for Phase 1 was $5,000. Due to the generosity of people who care about the 1356 and Andrew Skibo’s volunteer work, Phase 1A is almost complete. There is a new cover on the exhaust stack. The number boards and headlight lens have been restored with lexan. And we’ve been able to buy insurance, keep the web page up and the lights on.

Phase 1B is well on the way. It includes power washing the pigeons out of the cab and screening it in, repairing and refurbishing the bell, repairing the lighting fixtures behind the headlight, number boards, and marker lights. The bell is being worked on and a clapper, which was missing, sourced. The lighting fixtures are ready to go when we get power, which the city is working on.

We hope to have Phase 2 done by the end of summer. It includes:

Repair/Replace cab front door frames

Repair/Replace cab roof vent framing

Fabricate and install lexan windows and framing in cab

Vegetation management

Replace safety valve shield plates

Install replacement whistle

We don’t have an absolute figure established for Phase 2 except for one big ticket item: a whistle, which is $2500. We have a separate donation fund for the whistle.

Future phases include the tender top surface cleaned and repaired of minor rust holes. Fabricate and install a coal bunker cover. Paint preparation, protective primer, paint and replace lettering. Design and install interpretive signage and a kiosk. Rebuild the cab. Repair and replace tender sheet metal. Repair, replace tender sheet metal. In addition to grants, we’re planning what we think will be a fun and exciting fundraiser to help pay for those future phases: a raffle that will involve a trip and a steam train excursion. More to be announced!

When all that’s done, we’ll be coming up on repainting, and planning and budgeting for yearly maintenance.

For your interest: Displayed Steam Locomotives, Their Care and Maintenance, a document from 1974 that “provides all the information needed to prepare a steam locomotive for static display so that it does not deteriorate. The author provides detailed advice that will be useful to civic groups about how to achieve this at a reasonable price so that what should be a source of community pride does not succumb to vandals and rust.