J&L 58 Steam Locomotive Restoration Update

[Rick Rowlands]

The Jones & Laughlin Steel Co. 58, a two foot gauge Porter 0-4-0T has been on site for one year now, and we are making good progress on her restoration to operation.

The locomotive has been stripped down to the frame, which will soon be going out to a heavy fab shop to have the front pilot and rear platform made and installed. A prior owner removed these pieces to "save weight", but since we are restoring this locomotive to its original appearance we have to put that plate back on. A local heavy steel fabricator, Reichard Industries has offered to do the work and will donate the 2" thick plate, but we must purchase the 4" thick plate that is needed.

I have had several people asking if I had any J&L 58 apparel available, so using an online fundraising platform I set up a fundraiser to make shirts available as well as raise money to buy the 4" plate that we need. Whatever we raise through the t shirts will help defray the cost of the steel plate and hasten the locomotive's restoration to operation. It would be greatly appreciated if you would consider supporting our efforts.
https://www.booster.com/jl-58-porter-locomotive-restoration

I am working to acquire enough rail to build about 200 feet of track at the Youngstown Steel Heritage Museum and have it ready to go by the time the locomotive is ready to steam up, hopefully this fall. I will be adding additional trackage to replicate the narrow gauge trackage that many steel mills had. I'm even contemplating the construction of a turntable to turn the locomotive.

This project is my most ambitious one since the preservation of the Tod Engine, and I'm putting all of my energies into getting it done.


Sister engine 59 at work moving ingot molds at the J&L Pittsburgh Works


The 58 when we acquired it


The stripped down frame.

 

[tdmidget]

The front of the smoke box looks to be burned off. What happened there? Do you have those parts?

 

[Rick Rowlands]

I have the smokebox door, but the front plate was scrapped and is one of the pieces that will be replaced as we do the restoration. The locomotive should weigh 90,000 lbs. In that pic it weighed 68,000 lbs. The rest of it was either scrapped or had to be tracked down from other locations. Its been a real scavenger hunt to bring all of the parts of this locomotive back under one ownership. Its nothing short of a miracle that 58 will be rebuilt to her original configuration.

 

[Rick Rowlands]

Work continues on the J&L 58, and is ramping up as spring is making an appearance. A couple of weeks ago we set up a table at the Midwest Narrow Gauge Convention, exhibiting the smokebox door and number plate. The silver on the number plate is actually aluminum leaf and this was my first attempt at leafing.

On Easter Sunday we sandblasted the frame. The frame will next be painted and then shipped out for some heavy welding. The boiler is at the boiler shop awaiting its turn for repairs. Driver sets just need cleaned up a bit and will be ready to go back in the frame once it returns. The myriad of smaller components all await their turns for restoration and repair.

Soon our attention will be turning to building the first 200 feet of track so the 58 can have somewhere to run.

 

[Rick Rowlands]

The J&L 58 has been re-wheeled and I am now working on installing the left side motion work. Left side will go together first, then the right side. After the motion work has been installed the mechanism will be tested on air and then I'll move on to complete repairs to the saddle tank and finish construction of the cab.

I plan to have the locomotive largely completed this summer, save for the boiler which has been two years at the boiler shop and still no indication of when they will do the work to it.