Al Joyce reports:

“Just a work update on this past weekend. In short we made progress in the positive direction.

“Jim Connor and Ron Kokemuller drilled out the front tube sheet with the pilot holes (170). They did not do anything about cutting the larger holes because the core drill was only 2 inches instead of 2 1/16. One of the holes has a broken drill bit in it. That hole was marked for future work.

“Ed Dench worked on the smoke box by grinding the heads of the flush rivets. They look good. One may need some work as it did not fully fill the hole.

“With the combined help of Bryon Schumacher and Jim Connor, we got many more studs sized and installed in the boiler. They are in only hand tight so they can be removed. The boiler is starting to look like a porcupine with all the studs sticking out. Jim took some pictures so we hope to get them on the web site soon. With the help of Jim and Bryon we have doubled the stud crew membership. All the Stud Guys are qualified to work unsupervised at a pace that is comfortable to them.”

Jim Connor photos.