Restoring treasures of railroad history so that they can continue to run on virtual mainlines.
Current in progress project
I recently purchased a collection of AEM-7 internal cab components from a man who worked on and operated these locomotives. The AEM-7 was a type of electric locomotive used primarily by Amtrak in the Northeast. The majority of these locomotives were scrapped after their retirement in 2016, although several survive in preservation. The parts I have are in varying states of decay and I have been working to clean them up and give them the restoration they deserve. I aim to restore everything to how it might have looked on a regular day on the railroad (functional, not completely corroded, but by no means pristine). The end goal for this project is to integrate my original components into a custom desk that I will build to be a 1:1 match of the locomotive cab.
I have successfully connected some of my components to act as inputs for a digital train simulator using a Raspberry Pi. I currently have a test panel assembled and operational. I hope to start work on the final form of the desk in Fall 2025. In addition to the restoration I have been doing to the original parts, I've also been working to design a replica CDW-30A brake valve, as I have not been able to acquire an original. Currently the design is FDM 3D printed, although I hope to eventually machine it out of aluminum.
