The preservation process has officially begun on the Fort Wilderness Railroads engine #4! The engine, which now resides at the California home of Carolwood Pacific Historical Society governor Michael Campbell, is now on the road to recovery. With a little hard work, money, and dedication, the engine may once again show it's former glory it last showed some 25 years ago! Michael was kind enough to send me these photos of the first "official" day of restoration, and will send updates as progress is made on the restoration.

Day one crew from left to right: Michael Campbell, Ken Judy, Austin Flores, Tyler Campbell, Kelsey Campbell, Bob Flores, and Dennis Flores.

Engine & coach wait for a cosmetic make-over ...

Michael and Dennis get to the task of removing items to bet sent out for restoration.

Cow catcher, head lamp, steam & sand dome, saddle tank water hatch, and many other items are now removed and are in the process of being sent out to various vendors for repair, re-plating, sanding, painting, etc.

We certainly had a great Train Day #2 on Sunday! 8 people showed up to help preserve (not "restore") #4. It was a hot day, and a lot of hard work, but the effort really shows.

Day two crew from left to right: Darrell Holmquist, George Crabb, Renee Story, Bo Story, Craig Story, Mike Lima, John Hopkins, Dean Severns, and Michael Campbell. Many thanks to each and everyone one of you! We are making terrific progress.

Mike Lima, John Hopkins, and George Crabb sand away the rust.

Renee Story does a fantastic job polishing the brass around the number plate. Look at the shine!

Craig Story gets to the task of cleaning the inside of the coach.

There's still a long way to go, but I am very encourage by the progress we've made so far. I think it's very possible that we may have a nice looking train by September.

Progress continues on the #4 engine. It's hard to tell, but you should see the shine on the bunker and saddle tanks! They will still need to be painted, but only because of the "scrape job" that those intrepid WDW employees did to them. Otherwise, the paint came right back to original shine with just a little buffing. The fiberglass didn't fare as well, but it will be painted anyway.

The day 3 group shot features Rob Anderson, Dean Severns, George Crabb, Tyler Flores, Austin Flores, Dennis Flores, Kelsey Campbell and Michael Campbell

Michael Campbell power washes 25 years of build-up off the coach roof.

Rob Anderson gets to the task of polishing. Note how nice the fuel bunker paint cleaned up on the engine.

After some down time, the crew resumes it's preservation work. This weekends goals included preping the smoke-box and smokestack for painting, removing the smoke-box supports and the pilot deck as well. Some measurements were taken of the pilot area as a new pilot needs to be fabricated. Finally the stack and smoke-box were repainted.

The crew, Ken Judy (in the cab), Rob Anderson, John Hopkins, Dean Severns (Crew chief), George Crabb and Michael Campbell pause for a group picture.

Cleaning and prep work take place. The sand dome, steam dome, & saddle tank are covered before painting begins.

A new coat of paint is added to the cylinders, smoke-box, and smokestack.

The results have the crew eager to continue the preservation work! Keep up the good work guys, it looks great!

If you are interested in possibly helping, or providing a service to help, contact Michael Campbell at Michael.Campbell@FortWildernessRR.com.