City of San Jose, California Trolley and Railroad Corporation and the San Jose Rotary Club Cut Ribbon on Historic Trolley Line!

A new/old trolley line running nearly a mile from the History San Jose Trolley Barn of the California Trolley and Railroad Corporation (CTRC) down Senter Road to Happy Hollow Children’s Park will be inaugurated at 11:00 AM on June 3, next Wednesday at San Jose’s Kelley Park.

This historically significant reestablishment of a trolley service along Senter Road is open to the public and will feature a ribbon-cutting by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, City Council members, San Jose Rotary President Bert George and other dignitaries.

This new donor-constructed and volunteer-operated service featuring free rides on the beautifully-restored historic trolley cars will serve the Happy Hollow Park and Zoo, the Leninger Center, the Japanese Friendship Garden, the Rotary Office, and History San Jose.

The free rides will be available to the public after the inauguration ceremony.

For additional media information contact CTRC President Rod Diridon, Sr. at 408 924 7561 or 408 859 4447.

The CTRC (Steam team) weekday crew (Larry M, Denis M and John E) has started the stabilization of SP1215 exterior.  This work was started the week of May 18, 2009.

The plan is to complete stabilization of the side exposed to the HSJ parking lot first then complete the otherside of the locomotive.  We plan on reinstalling the piping, hand rails, and other items which were removed when the engine was move to San Jose from Portola California.  In addition the cab will be weather proofed and the rest of the locomotive will be weatherized.

Before:

After:

April 18

With the move complete and most site infrastructure in place, work has resumed on the locomotive.

These past two weeks members have been installing the many components that make up the locomotives braking system.  This may not sound like a significant task, but many of these components are of significant weight.  Weight combined with working in the now smaller area under the locomotive's drivers, makes this a sometimes challenging task.

The new site has brought the restoration into a more prominent view as the locomotive is easily seen from Monterey Highway and Old Tulley Road.  Visitors to the site have been frequent and often surprised about the repairs.

April 25

The fence that will separate the restoration area from the rest of the fairgrounds is in the process of being installed.  Task should be complete this coming week.  The fence line is between 10 and 20 feet east of our site plan, thus giving us a bit more space for parking.

Installation of the locomotive brake system continues.  All levers, beams, brake heads and shoes are now installed.  All but three pieces of the brake safety support components are in place.  We were unable to locate two of the remaining three pieces.  One of these pieces may not have been in place when the restoration effort began.  The missing pieces will be easily formed from 2 1/2" x 1/2" bar stock.

May 9

Removal of the locomotives valves was completed on Saturday.

There were no defects noted to the right side valve and cage assembly. Things were not so good on the left side.  Several significant gouges were observed in the front valve cage.  One of the three damaged areas is circled in the below image.

More information is needed before repairs can begin.  Initial thoughts are to replace the cage.

While one crew was removing valves, other members worked at recovering track ballast from the old site.

Mid May

We are starting to have visitors now that the locomotive is visible from Old Tulley road and, if you look real hard, it can be seen from Monterey Road.  A lady came to the site with her three little children and we issued them little hard hats.  They felt like part of the working crew as they were escorted around the equipment and in the caboose.

The workday crew finished and secured the between-the-container shed. It now contains the fuel and oil as well as the riding mower and racks of equipment.  Temporarily the side rods are stored there while bushings are created.

All the equipment from the old location has been moved to our new location including the turntable and water tank and a property fence now separates us.

The tender and caboose have been moved up close to the locomotive so we almost have a "train".

All the under-the-locomotive brake components have been installed. Two safety bars had to be fabricated.  One other bar needed to be straightened.  It probably was bent in the 1937 wreck and never repaired.

Because of our new, more visible location we now must maintain the area outside our street-side fenced location.  But the good news is that we no longer need to mow the large acreage that is now on the other side of the property fence line.

The steam distribution pistons have been removed.  The pistons appear to be OK but one of the internal cages has a crack that must be evaluated and repaired.

By John Ezovski

A secure storage area between two containers was completed this past week.  Work included installing gutters along the roof edge, installation of the roof, attaching chain link fencing along the back, fabrication and installation of double gates at the entrance.

With the storage area complete, all remaining material was removed from the women's restroom and deep sink area.  The locomotives pistons that were stored in the men's room entrance area were moved into the outdoor shop area.

Two and one half panels of track were leveled in preparation of the final move of the tender and caboose.

While materials were being moved and track leveled, the small shaper/planner received some much needed attention.  Various oil lines were replaced, and the machine tested.

In addition, grass (weeds) in and adjacent to the new site were cut.

The end of the move is here!  By the end of this coming week, all remaining CTRC equipment (exclusive of the turntable and water tank) should be within the county designated area.

Feb 28

Muddy conditions created by heavy rain during the first part of February slowed the relocation of CTRC material to the new site but did not stop all work.

Site improvements continued.  Fairgrounds staff have spread many more yards of base rock like material.  This has allowed us to ballast and level panels of track that the locomotive will sit.  The dirt bike motorcycle course operator, located on the fairgrounds, allowed CTRC the use of a loader for several hours this past week.  Ballast from the old site was recovered, spread and tamped under the panels of track.  Some additional ballast is needed between the ties then the locomotive can be pulled forwarded to the new work area.

The trailer was the last large object to be moved by CTRC members.  Several days of work remain to clear the old site of a number of small items.  Dry weather and identifying a storage location are all that is necessary.  On the other hand, much work remains at the new site.

On Saturday, Feb. 28, the crew decided to take advantage of the prior week's dry conditions with an attempt to move organizations 40 by 20 foot double wide trailer.  Tires were installed and the task of extracting the trailer began.  Eight years ago this trailer was positioned between trees. (We must have never thought about having to move this trailer again.) Those trees have grown over the years combined with the delicate structural integrity of the trailer made extraction a bit more difficult.  Several hours of jockeying the trailer about were expended.  The trailer was successful rotated into a direction where it could be pulled across the field to the new location. The trailer must now be leveled, placed back onto concrete piers and electrical installed.

Mar 7

Today's large crew and dry weather moved several tasks forward.  The double wide trailer received most of the attention.  The trailer was placed back on to its concrete piers and tires were removed.

Thanks to the generosity of Mr.  Pedersen of A Tool Shed, a trench was quickly dug from the main power panel to the trailer.  Conduit and wire were laid and electrical power restored to the trailer.

A second trench was dug from the main power panel over to the rail.  A circuit breaker panel and power outlets, mounted on 4 x 4 posts, was set into the ground. Conduit and wire have been set into place but several small connection issues remain.

Three months have elapsed since the present phase of site consolidation began.  We are very close to being able to place all of our attention on restoration of SP 2479.  All remaining material should be relocated to the new site in the coming weeks, assuming relatively dry weather.

Thank you Mr.  Pedersen for the use of the walk behind trencher!

Mar 14

Another busy week at the restoration site.

• The circuit break and outlet box adjacent to the rail was connected to the main power source.
• Compressed air was also made available at this same location.
• The large rack was set into its new location and filled with pallets.

Today a significant amount of material was relocated from the old site and with this the relocation of CTRC material to the new site is almost complete! One more day's worth of work is all that is needed to place this task in the complete column. By the end of the month focus will be back on the locomotive.

Mar 21

Its been another busy week at the restoration site.

The most significant event taking place today.  The Saturday crew completed the necessary track work and pulled the locomotive forward 120 feet to the location where restoration of SP 2479 may be completed.

The week day crew has begun construction of a storage shed between two of our containers.  This shed will be a secure area for equipment previously stored in rest rooms at the old location.

This coming week fairgrounds staff will have a crane company provide a quote to move the turn table and water tank.  To help reduce this cost, the week day crew moved a portion of the structure that supports the large water tank.  This large support is seen in the image below to the right of the double wide trailer.

Today's crew spent most of the day clearing materials from the old site.  Finally, all CTRC materials have been removed from the field previously occupied.  The end of the move is in site!

This past week a 200 ampere, 3 phase, 220 volt source was connected at the new site.  The shop was connected to this source and each machine verified for correct operation.  While machines were being check another crew was busy plumbing the air compressor.

With all of the electrical issues resolved, the crew turned to repairing the panels of track that the locomotive will sit for remaining repairs.  Ballast can now be recovered from the old site and the rails leveled.

The rain that has fallen during the past two days has turned the area between the old and new sites into a large field of mud.  Our Clark forklift is not operable in this environment.  The remaining large objects at the old site, double wide trailer and large rack, will remain until the ground dries.

Dec. 6, 2008 marked the beginning of this stage in the move.  Much has been accomplished since that date.  In two months crews have relocated three large containers (and contents), a 26 x 32 foot boiler tube canopy (and all the equipment it protected), and one 225,000 pound pacific class steam locomotive.  Not bad for two months work!