Restoration at Westfield
When the 103 arrived at Westfield in 1977 it was in deplorable condition. The boiler jacket was rusted out and the tender and cab were in sorry shape. Over the next four years staff and volunteers undertook the largest maintenance effort the engine had received since it was decommissioned in 1956. They replaced sections of the rotted boiler jacket, prepped and repainted the entire locomotive. Although far from being a complete overhaul it was an effort that restored the 103’s dignity and made her safe and presentable to the public.
In the mid eighties the financial viability of Westfield was deeply in question. The City was very seriously considering the option of closing the museum and in fact did mothball Westfield for nearly five years. At that time there was an initiative put forward to move the 103 again, this time down to the Museum of Steam and Technology in Hamilton’s east end. It was close enough to being a fait accompli that a process of disassembly was begun on the 103 in preparation for a move.
The relocation somehow came off the rails and was aborted. The 103 was at Westfield to stay and began to fall deeper into disrepair during the dark years of the closure of the museum.
When community volunteers successfully lobbied City Hall to hand over management of Westfield to the Hamilton Region Conservation Authority in 1989 a long slow process was started that led to the restoration of the engine. The museum re-opened with a new business model and began renovating historic buildings on site. By 1993 the need for a serious intervention on behalf of the 103 had placed it in the restoration queue.
In 1997 a small group of volunteers got together to initiate a refurbishment of the 103 for static display. It looked to be a big job. The initial expectation was that the project would take three years but as work began it became obvious that a more invasive, rigorous job would be required to undo the deeply penetrating corrosion that had damaged the cab, the boiler jacket and in particular the locomotive’s coal tender.
Major elements of the locomotive’s steam and air pressure systems, the entire cab, boiler jacket and firebox door assembly had to be removed to allow for soda blasting of the locomotive’s chassis. Soda blasting and then professional grade epoxy-primer was seen as the best and most certain way to extend the life of the engine. Rust never sleeps and the 103 had been outside in the weather for ninety years at that point. The hoped for completion date of spring 2000 was pushed back to May 2005.
For eight years a rotating crew with a solid core of committed individuals appeared at Westfield on Saturday and Tuesday mornings like clockwork, regardless of the vagaries of weather and funding. Local businesses like Stelco, BlasterMaster, Mammant Manufacturing, Coolsaet Pipeline and Samuel Steel Plate generously donated material and expertise. The dogged determination of the 103 Restoration Crew carried the project over hurdle after hurdle. It took years to break the locomotive down to the point where real repairs could begin and when it reached its lowest point it looked like scrapping it would have been a mercy.
It was the day that BlasterMaster arrived to begin the soda blasting process that the corner was turned. Fresh steel was followed by fresh paint and suddenly what had been an eyesore for several seasons became an asset. The cab was back on, the new jacket was coming 
together and for the first time in decades the 103 was getting better instead of worse.
On the May 24th weekend of 2005 a celebration was held in honor of the 103 and the crew that had brought it back from the brink. The heavy reconstruction was done and the locomotive looked like a million bucks, though it hadn’t cost nearly that much.
