I'm glad to be back and thanks for the nice comments. Here's the New Mexico Railroad Historical Society website that's doing the work. The project apparently started in 2000 when the engine was rescued from it's life as a park engine (and pigeon coop... most likely). Like they did with the UP Big Boy project, they had to move it from that place by laying temporary track in front and then moving that panel from the rear to the front so they could keep going.
The site has tons of pictures and some videos that clearly show just what it takes in skill, persistence, and dedication to turn a hulk into a marvelous machine.
One last pic... he was my wife discussing locomotive reconstruction with Steve, the mechanical engineer. I'd really like to be on one of these projects. All of the skills were those I was teaching kids how to do in the early 1970s as a metal shop teacher including sand casting are being applied on this majestic job. They even set up a bronze foundry right at the loco work site to mold bearing wear plates for the radial buffer. Those Timken rods were in place on the original engine. As explained to us, it sounded like they were upgraded during the restoration. I think he was referring to this as a design upgrade in the 2900 series versus the earlier SF 4-8-4s (3700 series) that were running since the late 1920s (also Baldwin-built). The rods were removed and sent to Timken who rebuilt the bearings (still in business!!!). SF 3751 is the other SF 4-8-4 that is restored, running and doing fan trips (or at least it was). There's some great videos on YouTube about the 3751.
