Restoration Update: Public Debut
- Friends of No. 9
- Apr 27
- 2 min read
This last winter the Friends of No. 9, began the last bit of heavy restoration for Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Engine No. 9.
Joe Breeze and the Millerick brothers spent many months researching No. 9’s long-missing and unique fuel tank, gone since 1956. In February, 900-pounds of shaped and drilled steel plate arrived the Millericks yard. The plan called for almost 800 rivets which weighed about 100-pounds and cost about dollar each. The replica 650-gallon tank was built using both welding and rivets to made construction both historic and easier. Welds would be ground smooth and hidden under a coat of paint.
Jeff Craemer underwrote the construction. The 7 x 8-foot tank has a unique cut out section that would hug the filler pipe of No. 9’s water tender. The fuel tank sat on top of the water tank at the back end of the locomotive. No. 9 was an “oil-burner” from day one. Fuel oil cost less than wood or coal and put out far less embers, an important consideration when working on brushy hillsides.
Public Debut - Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Engine No. 9 will make its public debut in Mill Valley on Memorial Day weekend. It arrives Friday afternoon at Mill Valley’s Depot Plaza, the same spot it first began work in April 1921. No. 9 will be at the Depot Saturday and Sunday and in Mill Valley's Memorial Day parade Monday morning. We hope to see you there.
We couldn’t do any of this without your help. Donations are always appreciated. No. 9 will go to the California State Railroad Museum in June to become its featured display later this summer.
Fred Runner
President
Friends of No. 9, Inc.
A Nonprofit Corporation
Steel for the fuel tank was delivered during a February monsoon that flooded the Millerick's work yard.
Shaped steel sections were bolted and then riveted together in the same way No. 9's cab was rebuilt.
Jeff Millerick carefully squares up the "cut out” that accommodates the filler pipe for No. 9’s water tank.
Don Millerick shows Jeff Craemer the welding work finished moments before on Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods No. 9's fuel tank. The round section allows this fuel tank to wrap around the filler pipe of the water tank that lays beneath this tank. Almost 800 rivets were used in making the new fuel tank.
Ryan Millerick inserts a red-hot rivet into a seam of No. 9's recreated 104 year-old fuel tank. Jeff Millerick (forehead visible at right) prepares to “buck” the rivet in the hole.
Wearing 4 or 5 shirts to keep warm inside the cold steel tank, 83 year-old Jeff Millerick climbs out after bucking the last rivets needed for the top plate of the new fuel tank.
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