Steamtown is one of the few places in North America where steam locomotives are overhauled for operation on the main line railroads.  In the next few photos, you'll see some of work being done to bring these iron horses back to life.

The picture above is of Baldwin Locomotive Works # 26, an 0-6-0 switcher, undergoing heavy maintenance.  As you can see in this picture, the round smokebox cover has been removed and work completed on the steam flues (those round pipe openings you see inside the smokebox.  The front wheelset (called a truck) has also been removed for restoration.

In this picture, you'll see # 26, an 0-60 switcher, with its boiler marked with a numbered chalk gridwork as a prelude to hydrostatic testing.  The same grid can be re-used for ultrasonic testing as well.  Hydrostatic testing is a crucial operation in restoration to find out if the boiler is leak-free and safely pressurizing with steam.  If a steam engine cannot pass this test, it cannot be used in service or even fired up again without major repairs.  In this instance, the locomotive is undergoing its five year inspection and crown sheet replacement.  For more details on this maintenance effort, click here to access the Steamtown web site's operating steam locomotive page.

Here is the backhead of PRR K-4 # 1361.  In the picture above, you can see inside the backhead area and in the picture below, you can see the backhead ready to be re-installed onto the engine.

During my visit, a welder was performing a few final touches on the backhead's right side in preparation for re-installation.