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THE HUDSON CENTRAL VALLEY RAILROAD

HELLO TO ALL. AOL DECIDED TO STOP HOSTING PICTURES SO I WILL BE DIGGING OUT ALL MY OLD FLASH CARDS AND CHANGING MY PIC HOST. PLEASE BEAR WITH ME AND I WILL GET AS MANY OF THE OLD PHOTOS UP AS SOON AS I CAN.
A WEEK AND A HALF PROGRESS BETWEEN THESE TWO PHOTOS
ANOTHER TWO MONTHS PROGRESS ON THE NEXT 4 PHOTOS
ABOUT HALF WAY THROUGH THE PLUMBING. WORKING ON THE BURNER NOW, SHOULD BE DONE WITH IT IN A DAY OR TWO. I NEED TO RUN ALL THE COPPER TUBING AND I MIGHT BE ABLE TO FIRE IT IN ABOUT A WEEK.
THE HCVRR IS LOCATED IN SANGER, CALIFORNIA, JUST EAST OF FRESNO. AS OF DECEMBER 2001 WE HAVE 900 FEET OF TRACK ON THE GROUND INCLUDING A 100 FOOT SPUR INTO THE SHOP. PLANS ARE TO FILL OUR 5 ACRES WITH AS MUCH TRACK AS WILL LOOK GOOD AND BE PRACTICAL. (DID I SAY A MODEL RAILROAD IS PRACTICAL!)

THE TRAIN IS FINALLY RUNNING.

I finally have the railroad up and running. For now I am using a RMI Davenport switcher powered by a 5.5 horse Honda and a hydrostatic unit. I have some 2% and 3% grades and it handles them very well. I build all my own rolling stock. and have patterns for stake pockets, journal boxes for the trucks and a link and pin coupler. We use a steel coupler pocket. I am currently about half finished with an RMI SWEET CREEK 2-6-0 side rod steam loco. I should have it running in a few months. It runs on air nicely and I am anxious to get it on the rails. I am gathering parts now for a 1/3 scale class B, 31 ton Shay. I have many parts and drawings and will begin building when the SWEET CREEK is finished. Take a look at the pictures below, and email if you have any questions. (cahudsons@aol.com) Thanks for looking.

THE SWEET CREEK IS RUNNING.

I fired the Sweet Creek for the first time yesterday September 14th. Had a few bugs so I didn't fire it for much more than a half hour. Fired it again today September 15. Had most of the bugs worked out so I fired it for about 2 hours. It is hard to believe how well this boiler builds and holds a head of steam. It is also hard to believe how strong the loco pulls. I had to remove the cow catcher and front coupler for now as the cow catcher was to low. I should have that fixed next weekend.



BROTHER ROBERT RUNNING THE SWEET CREEK FOR THE PHOTOS.





ALL OF THE PHOTOS OF THE SWEET CREEK ON THE RAILS ARE OF THE LOCO UNDER STEAM. THE NEXT THREE PHOTOS ARE PUTTING ON A LITTLE SMOKE SHOW FOR THE CAMERA!




THE SHAY HAS MOVED TO A NEW PAGE, JUST CLICK THE "MY SHAY PAGE" LINK BELOW

BELLY DUMP HOPPER HOLDS 800 LB OF ROCK
BELOW IS ONE OF 4 NEW BELLY DUMP HOPPERS UNDER CONSTRUCTION AS OF APRIL 2008

HCVRR ARCHBAR FREIGHT TRUCKS
We build our own archbar fully sprung freight trucks. They are approximatly 2 1/2 to 3 inch scale,7 1/2 gauge. The journal boxes are cast aluminum, bolsters are maple,and the rest is steel bar stock. We use Titan Mfg's 6 1/4 blackened billet steel wheels. Different springs are available depending on the weight of the car. The belly dump hopper uses die springs and handles 800 lbs. of rock nicely. The bearing journals are brass, and the journal boxes are packed and filled with oil. These trucks roll very smooth and are easy to maintain. E-mail if you are interested in a set.
BELOW ARE OUR NEW ANDREWS STYLE TRUCKS. THEY ARE SAND CAST ALUMINUM, FULLY SPRUNG AND EQUALIZED. THIS IS THE PROTOTYPE. I WILL ADD MORE PICS WHEN THEY ARE COMPLETED AND PAINTED.
THE TRUCK ON THE LEFT BELOW IS OUR NEW 3 3/4 INCH SCALE 36 INCH WHEELBASE 18 INCH WHEEL 2 FOOT NARROW GAUGE SCALE TRUCK. THE TRUCK ON THE RIGHT IS A SMALLER 2 1/2 INCH SCALE TRUCK.
HCVRR LINK AND PIN COUPLER
We use a simple link and pin coupler with a sprung shank. We have our own patterns and pour them from aluminum. This keeps it simple. Full scale link and pin couplers were known to leave many a man minus a few fingers at least. At 2 1/2" scale, they are quite safe. They are a very dependable coupler and very easy to use. They will not uncouple accidentally, yet to uncouple, one need only to pull the pin.
MY BROTHER BUILT THE CABOOSE BELOW. HE USED WOOD FOR THE FRAME, BUT THE SIDING IS A PLASTIC TONGUE AND GROOVE IMMITATION WOOD. REAL NICE STUFF. I NEED TO ADD ALL THE HARDWARE AND DETAILS. HOPE TO HAVE IT IN SERVICE SOON.

Please copy and paste my email address cahudsons@aol.com into the write mail address window. Angelfire can't seem to put the correct address on my page when I tell them to. If you have sent me an email before please try again. Thankyou.

MY SHAY PAGE
TRAIN MOUNTAIN VENDOR LINKS
JERRY'S WEB PAGE FOR STATIONARY STEAM
Fr. FINELLI'S LIVE STEAM PAGES
ROLL MODELS (Nice people, good stuff)
JIM'S LIVE STEAM
OUR WORK PAGE
HORN AND WHISTLE MAGAZINE
INDIAN LAKE RAILROAD
HILLCREST SHOPS, REEDLEY,CA