We were keeping hush-hush about this while we updated our security system, but our restoration site at Bayshore has recently been the victim of Grand Theft Cuprum. A metal thief (or thieves) broke into the site several times in the last 5 months.
Among the items stolen were all but one of the pedestal shoes and wedges that the drive boxes slide up and down against (the remaining one has been removed from the site to prevent it from being stolen too). While these aren’t irreplaceable historic parts and we have the patterns to re-cast them, the locomotive’s frame can’t be put back on its wheels without them and this still represents a loss of over twenty thousand dollars worth of material, not to mention hundreds of hours machining them to size.
In the interest of saving money, material, and labor, we’d like to retrieve the stolen items if possible and are willing to give financial rewards for their return or information on their whereabouts. The shoes and wedges are all 5.75″ wide and 2.75″ deep with a 4″ channel. See the drawing below for other details:
To submit information or notify us of possession/intent to return, you can use our contact form. Alternatively, you can contact Brisbane’s police department regarding case number 24-0110-001; the theft has been reported to them and is filed under this number.