WRC Projects

Take a look at this at this old photo from the early 1900’s…

This was the Cagney Locomotive Works in Niagra Falls, NY at its prime. They built 12 5/8-inch, 15-inch and 22-inch live steam locomotives and train sets (among other things) and made a real go of it for the first 25 years of the 20th Century. The trains were a world-wide attraction. Locomotives and trains still operate as far away as South America and South Africa, not to mention those still in operation here in the States at zoos, amusement parks, museums, and with private hobbyists.

Now take a look at this…

These photos, though black and white (sepia) were not taken in the early 1900’s. In fact, they were taken just two weeks ago at the WRC shop in Cheyenne, WY. Take a closer look in the right picture, that is not six, but seven (7) 15-inch gauge live steam locomotives in one photo, all of which are either receiving, have received, or will be receiving new ASME “S”-stamped boilers provided by WRC. Not only are we providing the boilers, we are also performing rebuilds, final application, and assembly of a number of these fine machines.

Other Boilers

The 15-inch Live Steam project is not the only project in the shop. The next photo of Swanton Pacific No. 1913’s boiler. Wasatch is building an all new Code boiler for the 1913. It is hoped that this boiler will be out of the shop by mid Winter 2010/2011. Though the new construction is of welded design, it will appear to be original as the customer has requested rivet fascias to be installed along with round corners to preserve the original look of the locomotive.

What about Boats?

Yep, we do that too! Here you see yet another vertical marine boiler, almost completed. Wasatch already shipped a few of these boilers and has orders for an additional 6 boilers of this type.

Boiler Re-cap

That would be a total of ten (10 Cagney Type Boilers) one Swanton Boiler and six Vertical boat boilers, not to mention the other customers we are working with to finalize orders for new boilers. In the world of restoration, 17 total boilers on order, sounds like a growing concern to me!

Future of 15-Inch Steamers

This note does not constitute a formal announcement, merely a teaser. Wasatch has begun full construction two 1911 Replica Cagney Class D locomotives (15 Inch). These new machines will come complete with roller bearings, CAD designed, CNC-machined running gear, code boilers, new safety valves, optional firing methods (propane, coal or fuel oil), complete operators manual, choice of color and finish specifications and much more. Additionally, we have finished two steel replica Cagney Coaches. The entire train set will appear on a new web page we will announce in the next month or so. The finished locomotives will look a lot like this: