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Restored steam engine to be inspected

By TIM UNRUH

Salina Journal (Kansas)

December 1, 2008

ABILENE -- A retort for doubters will be loud and clear Tuesday as the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad's Santa Fe locomotive No. 3415 builds up steam, sounds its whistle and rolls for the public.

The four-year restoration project by the nonprofit group of railroad lovers will reach another stage -- an inspection by the Federal Railroad Association on Tuesday morning -- said steam engine coordinator Joe Minick, Abilene. A public viewing follows at 1:30 p.m. at the railroad depot, 200 S.E. Fifth, Abilene.

"It's very exciting, because a lot of people said we couldn't get it refurbished," said Mary Jane Oard, the Abilene & Smoky Valley manager.

Officials of the railroad that attracts tourists with excursion train rides from May through October intend to put the old steamer back into service next summer. It will be the only steam engine running within 500 miles of Abilene, Oard said. There are only two other Santa Fe steam engines running in the nation, Minick said.

Many thousands of hours have gone into waking the 1919 Baldwin that sat more than half a century rusting away in Eisenhower City Park.

"Kids climbed all over it," Oard said.

City donates engine

The city of Abilene donated the steam engine to the railroad group in 1996, and a house mover brought the 3415 to the Abilene & Smoky Valley headquarters, where it was placed on siding track. Work on a building to house the engine began in 2004, and restoration started in August 2005, Minick said, defying naysayers.

"We had a lot of comments when we started in on it, that 'You guys will never get this done. What's the matter with you?' You don't tell an old German that," he said. "That's like telling a dog to sick 'em."

While many experts in the restoration business told the Abilene & Smoky Valley the restoration couldn't be done for less than $1 million, the project chugged forward, Oard said.

With thousands of volunteer hours, it was completed for less the $300,000. That money was raised with a $216,276 federal grant through the Kansas Department of Transportation and a $67,092 grant from the Kansas Tourism department. The railroad group chipped in up to $10,000.

A small amount of technical work on the engine's boiler was hired out by a Wyoming company, but 90 percent of the work was done by members of the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad Club.

Minick, 73, the retired owner of Minick Manufacturing and Repair, threw his equipment and expertise into the project. He joined train lover Fred Schmidt, Abilene, and several other volunteers. A total of 15 helped, but six men were there from the start.

"Fred is a big train enthusiast. I'm more of a big heavy equipment manufacturer. If it's big, heavy and ugly, I go for it," Minick said.

The engine was in bad shape. All but the drive wheels and axles were dismantled. Parts were repaired, replaced or remade from mechanical drawings made by the volunteers. There were no instruction manuals.

"The cab was completely vandalized and destroyed," Minick said. "Now it's all back with its gauges and fancy red handles."

Using diesel fuel to heat up the boiler, the engine was fired up Nov. 8. It was the 3415's first operation since the early 20th century when it made runs on the Santa Fe Railroad's Argentine District out of Kansas City.

It starts again Tuesday for the inspection, the volunteers and the public.

"We'll run it up and down the track and little bit," Minick said.

Originally made to burn coal, the Santa Fe converted it to burn heavy oil in 1941. When the engine assumes its new role of service for special events on the Abilene & Smoky Valley, it will burn oil.

More improvements are ahead.

"She doesn't have her final paint job, lights and attachments," Minick said, "but she's come a long, long way."