In 2000, the pilot was removed from the locomotive. When we removed the locomotive pilot the wood beam broke in half. Thanks to a donation from Melvin Matlock, who had a relative that owned a saw mill in Tennessee, we obtained a piece of oak large enough to make a new pilot beam. A new oak beam was cut and drilled and cracks in the beam filled with epoxy filler. The metal parts of the pilot were sandblasted, repainted and mounted to the beam. The flag holders had to be repaired since the mounting bolts were badly rusted. New mounting bolts were fabricated and then welded into the flag holder casting. This was a difficult weld and was done by a welder from L3 Communications. To finish the pilot, a new coupler pin was machined to hold the coupler in the coupler pocket. The pilot assembly, minus coupler, was finished in 2002. The coupler was installed in September 2007.
