C&TSRR Shops 2nd week December 2004

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	Now let me start this weeks update by introducing you to the Smokey Balloon, He is a Aerostar SP-1 Balloon, He is 97 feet tall, weighs in at 1130 pounds when filled with hot air, has a total volume of 145,000 cu ft, is made of 4670 sq yards of Rip Stop Nylon and his Hat Brim Diameter is 72 Feet. He is Piloted by 3 separate Pilots... Chairman/pilot Bill Chapel, Clarke O'Bryne and Jim Russell. Now let me tell you I crew for Clarke and I was Honored to meet Bill Chapel, these are some of the most Professional Hot Air Balloon Pilots I have ever known.. they are the Top of the Field and Known throughout the Balloon World as First-Class Pilots. The Smokey the Bear Balloon is a non-profit corporation of volunteers dedicated to assisting federal, state and local agencies to educate and convey messages to prevent Human-Caused Wildfires. Now due to a accident Smokey the Bear had to be Retired, but trust me, Smokey is to well loved and cherished to be left in retirement... there is a Dedicated group of people committed to putting a New Smokey into the Air where he belongs... The Smokey the Bear Balloon is absolutely Beautiful and I myself won't be Happy until I see Smokey Fly again.. So if you wanna help...even a few dollars will help get Smokey back into the Air... e-mail cgriner@lobo.net or visit www.smokeybearballoon.com to see how you can help. Smokey the Bear brought Smiles to hundreds of Children's Faces and quite a few adults also... even a few dollars will help, lets put Smokey back into the air where He Belongs.
	Smokey the Bear takes his Place in the Air among the other Balloons as one of the Most Recognizable and Cherished balloons in the Heavens above.. Keep checking back as I plan to feature Smokey on a Weekly Basis until we get him back into the Air!!!!!
	Well here's me with 484, just before departure on the Antonito Christmas Train... its almost Christmas, have you all been behaving. Check Back here for Shop Updates... Dec 20th 2004, Antonito Shop Update: Today was a Busy day, we will be replacing the Rings on 484's valve Gear so today we removed both valve's from 484. We started by removing the front steps from 484 to ease removal of the valve's, then we removed the Combination Lever to allow us to disconnect the Radius Rod. after we removed the Valve Guides on both sides we took the front Piston covers off and we were able to pull the valve out easily on the Engineers side, but the Firemans side gave us a little trouble.. on the Firemans side we had to remove the Valve Cage on the back side and eventually had to completely take apart the Valve to remove it from the firemans side piston valve cylinder. We found some scars on the interior of the Valve cylinder, but it should be no problem, We believe the Ring on the Piston wasn't working properly. The Chama shop will machine new rings for us and that should solve the problem and should ease the Movement on the Johnson Bar quite a bit. Car 503 had its P.A. System rewired and repaired and we are now waiting on a wheel set to be returned from chama after re-profiling and we will put the B-Side Truck back to together, we also increased the height of the Hand Brake Wheel to meet codes set by the FRA. Car 503 also received some metal Straps to the roof to strengthen the Canvas Roof Material. Dec 21st 2004, Antonito Shop Update: Today we continued work on 484 winterization, we pulled the Gauges off and the Hydro-static Lubricator, we cleaned the Piston Valve Cylinders and Cleaned all the driver boxes in preparation for the Re-packing of the Grease Cellars we will do later.. we also cleaned all the parts we removed during the removal of the Valve's and stored them. Since we are waiting on wheels for 503 we also did some shop work and built out of scrap wood new storage lockers for our increasing supply of tools, we like to maintain our tools and keep track of every one.. Dec 22nd 2004, Antonito Shop Update: We continued work on 503, we completely serviced all the seats in the car which took a while and we continued a little work to make the shop more efficient by making our own tools boxes. We also Jacked up the Pettibone Machine and removed the front wheels for a Project that I will let you know about soon, when I am completely sure on the details. I have not made it to chama yet, but I will get there, I plan to drive over to Chama on my own Vehicle during my Christmas Vacation, I am committed to getting all the details and pictures of whats happening on this Railroad and I don't want to let any of you out there who visit my web-site down. On A Very nice note, the Boss Kim Flowers took us to Lunch for Christmas.. Thanks to a Certain John who we don't know who is... thanks for lunch. Dec 23rd 2004, Antonito Shop Update: Today we just did a shut down on the Antonito Shop for the Holiday, we drained all the water lines and such to avoid freezing and did a little work on Car 503 and thats was about it.... I have plans to drive over myself Monday the 27th of Dec to Photograph the 487 and 488 in chama, I will get the shots on the web-site soon.
	Motor-Car 102 Fuels at our fuel dock in Antonito, it is Friday the 3rd of December and soon it will be on its way to Milepost 293 to patrol the tracks for the Christmas Train out of Antonito.
	And just across the way, a Electric fan designed to draft a Steam Locomotive Fire is warming 484 up.
	Motor-Car 102 is ready to roll....
	Another Shot the Fan drafting the Fire on 484.
	Here's a look at 484's Steam Gauge and you can see the Steam Pressure is coming up.
	And there goes Motor-Car 102, Marvin V. and Sam R. both went out on the Motor-Car, they checked the tracks all the way to Milepost 293 and also cleaned the Road Crossings.
	A good Fire is going in 484 and the Steam Pressure is coming up.
	With a Boiler full of Steam, 484 sits in stall one and prepares for the night.
	It was a bit cold outside so 484 spent the entire night inside the shop.
	Its the morning of Dec 4th and the 484 is ready to roll with the Christmas Train.
	The Passengers arrive and board the Train.
	Ole' 484 is ready to roll.
	It was a Beautiful day.... just a bit chilly, but it was beautiful, look at that Sky.
	484 preformed Beautifully that day, ran like a champ.
	The steam lifts off the safety valves in the cold air.
	The Classic Pose... 484's Safety Valve's are feathering and we are just minute's from departure.
	We had a Great run and carried 169 Passengers.
	Here's the Crew, Fireman Ronnie Lopez, Conductor Sam Ruybal and Brakeman Marvin Valdez.
	Now it is the week after the Christmas Train and 484 is being winterize, I am running 484 back and forth on Compressed air to get all the water out of the cylinders.
	I let 484 get a little bit of sun and then I had to put her away in the shop for the winter.
	You are looking at one of the new Brake Heads we installed on a Passenger Car, they were freshly Cast and now are in place and they fit perfectly.
	Follow the "Red Arrow" you can see one area where we have to rebuild wear that occurs.
	The "Red Arrow" points to one of the re-profiled wheels and the "Green Arrows" point to one of the Re-enforcement plates we add as needed to the Bolsters of our Passengers Cars.
	The "Red Arrows" point to some wear that has been repaired in the Centerplate Pocket on the Bolster, the "Green Arrow" points to a shim that we add as needed to raise the Height of the Passenger Car and the "Blue Arrow" points again to that Re-enforcement Plate added to the Bolster..
	Here's a look at a freshly rebuilt Truck Set with Re-profiled Wheels.
	Hey I am back with the Balloons...its the Jingle Bell Rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is early Morning, the 11th of December.
	The Balloon next to us is "Cold Inflating", this is a Process that inflates the Balloon with cold air using a fan, the Balloon cannot be inflated with the Propane Burners as this would burn the envelope.
	This is a Crew Member from a Balloon next to us, He is holding the Crown Line and in the upper Left part of the picture you can see 2 more crown lines stretching Diagonally thru the picture.. The Crown Line is used to steady the Balloon downwind and prevent it from rolling side to side during Hot Air Inflation. As lift increases the Crown line is walked to the Basket and handed to the Pilot who then ties it to the Basket.
	Two Balloons become lighter than Air and lift into the sky.
	The Liftoff of a Balloon is a amazing thing, just like opening the Throttle on a Steam Locomotive and seeing all that metal move.
	The Balloons take to the Sky.
	There goes my Fellow Crew Members, and the Guy in the Orange Jacket is Clarke our Pilot.
	The Sky is Full of Color once again in Albuquerque.
	Get this, I am in our Balloon "Viento Encantado's" Basket with my Sweety Erika and our Pilot Clarke and we are taking to the Air... I am flying!!!!!!!
	This is easily one of the most Amazing Experience's I have ever enjoyed, the Lifting of a Balloon into the Air is amazing..
	Look to the left of that Blue Dragon shaped kind of Balloon and you will see where we lifted off from, thats our Crew Truck...
	Another Balloon gets ready to lift into the Air behind us.
	Riding the Winds over New Mexico.
	Another Balloon to the West of Us.
	Looking South the Skies are full of Balloons.
	Amazing, we are passing over a Balloon at a lower and slower altitude,
	We are Pushing about 700 feet off the ground, like I said Before, simply Amazing. Yes Steam Railroaders can fly.....
	Coming in for a landing... we have spotted a safe spot and the chase crew is right below us.
	One last look back at Balloon Fiesta Park and the new Ballooning Museum being built.
	Losing altitude and coming in for a landing.... we are going for that spot just to the right of that truck.
	On the Ground and waiting for the Chase Crew to help hold us down. Next Me and my Sweety will get out and two more crew members will get in prior to the second lift-off. In the background is the Dead Cat Balloon. I love it.
	Welcome everybody to Creede Colorado...
	This is the Creede Colorado D&RGW Depot.
	You can see in front, there are some of the Tracks. I am not sure if this is the Mainline or another Track, there is some tracks still laying around all thru town.
	Here's my Sweety on Main Street Creede.
	A look back to Main Street Creede.
	One of the Most Beautiful Bridges on the Creede Branch, the track swings over the Rio Grande and rides along the River.
	Another view of the Bridge.
	And once again thanks to Gary Aubin, a few more Picture's of the Mt. Washington Cog Railway.
	In these two Picture's you can easily see how steep of a grade these Locomotive's climb.
	Isn't that Amazing, those are some tough Locomotive's to handle that grade on those Cog Wheels.
	Locomotive #8's Engineer smiles for the Camera.
	And here's #8 making the climb up the grade...
	There appears to be 2 Separate Locomotive's making the Climb at once in this Picture.
	Here is Locomotive #8 the Moosilauke. I hope I am correct in this, but I am sure the Rods Drive the Cog Wheel which in turn drive's the Wheel that rides the Rail.. The Rods are connected to the Cog Wheel and not the Driver Wheel.
	Here's Locomotive #4 preparing for a trip up the Hill.
	Follow the "Green Arrow" and you can see the Cog Wheel on the Locomotive's Driver wheel axle.
	Well thats all for this week Folks, its almost Christmas.... I would like to Thank Smitty and Vera Mae Smith for their Wonderful Christmas Gift they sent to me by Mail, it was very much appreciated...Thank You so much Smitty & Vera.