Today, I joined some of the guys for a trip to Dick Boucher’s shop. Dick has been a member of the Waushakum Live Steamers since 1973.

Pictured are (L) (Chuck Abraham, Dick Boucher, Bob Newcombe, & Don Cornell)

Dick is a professional machinest and has to equipment to prove it.

I think that entering Dick’s shop was like a child entering a candy store.

The shop is literally filled with machines of all kind, tools, fasteners and live steam locomotives. In fact, there are actually two shops. The big one downstairs and a smaller on upstairs. The lower shop was in perfect order, although I hear there was some heavy duty cleaning last Friday.

To the back of the shop, there are three Bridgeport mills, two have power feed and the third is CNC. As you walk from the back of the shop to the front, there are also three lathes to complement the mills. Along the side of the lathes is another beauty of a mill. Right along the front of the shop are two surface grinders, a few presses, belt sanders and a variety of other machinery.

Dick’s current project is a Simplex, 0-6-0T in 1″ Scale, 4-3/4″ gauge. It is a real beauty, almost completely made of brass. The boiler is copper and will be run on propane.

On one shelf is Dick’s 3/4″ scale, 3-1/2″ gauge Virginian 4-4-0 in the process of rebuild. Dick also does some work on the side to help out other Live Steamers.

One of Dick’s current projects is assisting Chuck Abraham with 3/4″ scale, 4-3/4″ gauge Challenger. Dick is helping Chuck with some fine tuning of this beautiful project that has been under construction for some years. Can’t wait to see that run on the WLS high line.

I think we all had a very enjoyable visit with Dick.