The Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp., based in Ravenna, Ky., is hard at work to restore its prized possession, Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 No. 2716, while also making improvements to its property to better serve the engine. Volunteers installed new tracks to be able to move No. 2716 outside the shop to better accommodate disassembly. President and Founder Chris Campbell says volunteers have taken apart the locomotive and cut out the sides of the firebox.
“One of the biggest parts of the restoration is restoring the firebox,” Campbell says. “We are concentrating on repairing patches that were put in during two previous restorations, in 1981 and again in 1996. The best remedy was to put in new sides for the firebox rather than to try and correct many patchwork fixes to a bigger issue. The new sheets have been formed and are currently being intricately cut to put back into the side of the boiler.”
About four to 10 volunteers come out to the Ravenna shop every other week to keep the project moving. The next big step is to put in the sides to the firebox and remove old boiler tubes. It’s not all about the engine though. The crew has to put in a substantial amount of track work and other modifications to the shop area to take the best course of actions.
“We’ve had to build some track in front of the engine to make enough room to put a scrap dumpster in front of it, so we can remove the tubes and put them directly in the refuse dumpster,” Campbell says.
The restoration to 2716 has a way to go. The work is only about 20% compete.
“The tear-down process is actually a good portion of the restoration,” Campbell says. “We have been very methodical in our deconstruction of the engine, examining parts for rehabilitation. That’s part of the restoration, though it seems like simple dismantling. We are targeting a 2024 restoration completion, depending on funding.”
On May 11, 2021, the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp. announced it was one of 151 communities to receive the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup Grant. The group will use the $500,000 to continue its economic development project at the Ravenna rail yard. This was a welcome contribution after a tough 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As with most restoration efforts of this magnitude,” Campbell says, “fundraising is a constant challenge. We hit a roadblock, as with many other organizations, with COVID. Luckily, we’ve been able to persevere through the tough times.”
In addition to funding, the group struggles with the fact that it has several projects restoration projects in multiple stages that it tries to keep moving forward. Campbell explains, “When the engine got to our shop, we had to do a lot of rehab work to the shop itself just to get it in good condition to be the home for the engine’s rebuild. Now that the majority of the shop rehab is done, we are able to focus more on 2716.”
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Stay tuned to Trains.com for more updates on this restoration.
Wow! It is something else to be able to look straight through the firebox like that. It does give a nice view of the syphons, which are otherwise difficult to see in full, even if you are inside the firebox.