Kinetic Steam Works

01/30/2026

Getting warmed up for the Edwardian Ball, 2026

01/30/2026

KSW will be at The Edwardian Ball, 25th Anniversary tonight and tomorrow night. Join us!

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THE EDWARDIAN BALL

25th Anniversary • January 30 & 31, 2026

Regency Ballroom • San Francisco

The Edwardian Ball returns for its 25th Anniversary, January 30th & 31st, 2026 at the historic Regency Ballroom in San Francisco.

Inspired by the works of Edward Gorey, The Edwardian Ball is an immersive, multi-floor celebration of art, music, performance, costume, and theatrical spectacle. Guests explore three transformed levels of the venue, including the Grand Ballroom stage, the Museum of Wonders, and the renowned Vendor Bazaar. Throughout the evening, guests will discover absinthe & specialty bars, a hot food menu, ballroom dancing, interactive art installations, costumes & the vibrant community of Edwardians that brings The Edwardian Ball to life.

Costumes are encouraged. Curiosity is required.

Tickets: https://www.edwardianball.com/shows-and-tickets

11/14/2025

Hi all, train talk happening TONIGHT! FRIDAY 14 Nov 7:00 pm Pacific. Dial in and listen if you’re not local (South Bay Area) (details below, copied and pasted ftom a friend’s email)

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Tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM Bill Boller will be doing a presentation on Narrow Gauge Railroads at the Museum of American History in Palo Alto CA1 (351 Homer Ave, Palo Alto, CA). This is a free one hour lecture sponsored by MOAH to open the museums exhibit on Trains, Games and Wheels (a live steam 7 1/2 inch steam locomotive is on display inside and at the lectrue also)

This lecture will be also conducted online via Zoom with the following link. I will also add the MOAH flyer/poster below knowing that the museum would greatly appreciate anyone interested in attending or utilizing the Zoom link below so they have can see lectures like this are being attended. Please share the link with folks you know might be interested in hearing this lecture on Narrow Gauge Railroads.

ZOOM INFORMATION here…

Topic: Bill Boller talk
Time: Nov 14, 2025 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85619807433?pwd=PSNoevYebVqyedSKMbdA7FUCSab4Dk.1

Meeting ID: 856 1980 7433
Passcode: 808489

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One tap mobile
+14086380968,,85619807433 #,,,,*808489 # US (San Jose)
+16694449171,,85619807433 #,,,,*808489 # US

Join instructions
https://us06web.zoom.us/meetings/85619807433/invitations?signature=SItpxRR_Cz4jAjCLPdFz7iK_j04NMT6Bhu2JyLC1DTA

Here is the MOAH museum web link for more information on the museum.

https://www.moah.org/moahevents/munch-learn-with-bill-boller

Remember this is tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM (Nov 14) make sure to attend in person (snacks will be served) or use the Zoom link in this email. Pass it on!

Thanks, This should be an excellent presentation as Bill is all about Narrow Gauge Railroads!

Bill Boller of the Portola Valley Alpine Railroad Association discusses trains of all sizes.

09/29/2025

Pappy is leaving Mare Island after a good weekend at Maker Faire. The line boring of the crosshead guides was successful and that was no longer a source of knocking- we can move on to the leaking valve rod packing, left main bearing play, and governor base to steam chest gasket as well as the odd leaking valve stem packing and valve seat lapping.

Pappy was a hit in the Sunday parade (we didn’t do the Saturday parade as it would have been too much effort to get it back into and aligned with the belt). The engine and boiler ran well and we found we used quite a bit less water on Saturday and Sunday versus Friday due to running hotter on those days and that made a significant difference.

The generator performed flawlessly, and the belt was tracking, amazingly well, even in the very high winds that we had on Saturday that blew it sideways across the pulleys to within a few inches of coming off, but it never did. The Tesla poster prints came out well, and lots of people went through and printed their own coasters on the table top presses.

Thanks to Sean Orlando, Cole Meeker, and Artifact Logistics for the heavy transport and all the kSW staff and volunteers that made this happen as well as Siana for placement and logistic support (we cant make steam without water!) and Dominick for loading help! Next year will be even better :-)

09/20/2025

We are getting ready to fire up Pappy and load test the generator for Maker Faire. We have a new 12” wide belt that should handle the load better than the 6” wide one we’ve been using all these years. If anyone is in West Oakland today (2602 Campbell street in Google maps will get you here), feel free to stop by and say hi, pull the whistle, or just hang out!

07/31/2025

Here’s another clip from the Welland rally, running a bit rich on the fire.

07/29/2025

Sadly the Great Dorset Steam is no more, but other events like this at the Welland Steam Rally go on https://wellandsteamrally.com

Of course, events like the (55th) Great Oregon Steam-up at Powerland Heritage Park (Brooks, OR) continue as well. It’s last weekend and this coming weekend. https://www.antiquepowerland.com )

07/23/2025

We did some iron casting last Saturday at the shop and will be doing more this Saturday if anyone wants to stop by (and many more Saturdays into the future). This is a job for the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (Colorado) for some vintage iron seat brackets for a car they are restoring- they want 100 of them. The last casting is a spoke for a 12-spoke, 175 pound, 30” diameter flywheel that one of our members is making for a 1/12 scale Corliss steam engine project, which will be very exciting.

This video is completely unedited, straight out of a chest-worn GoPro, though the money shot is in the first minute or two. I will do a more comprehensive (and *edited*) video showing the mold making and shakeout with the final product at a later date. For now, this gives an idea of the melting and pouring part of the process. https://youtu.be/jwH8SzZ4oWI

We are able to do all the pattern making (3D scanning, printing, CAD work, traditional woodworking), casting and machining all in house- not something too many outfits can say- and we are working on improving our processes and workflows all the time. The seat bracket pattern, in this case, is on loan from The Railroad Museum at Ardenwood - SPCRR

19July2025, KSW, HQ, Oakland CAJUST THE POUR. We had just had a couple runouts (see https://youtu.be/HO-fxpK3hpA ) prior to this and quickly realized our mis...

06/24/2025

Has anyone seen other OEM steam traction engines attempt this?

06/08/2025

Pappy. Out-standing in his field.

(Photo by John Wilentz, Patrick Ranch Museum, 8Jun2025)

06/05/2025

If you happen to be near Chico this weekend… :-)

Hard at work over here gearing up for the Tractor Show & Pull on Saturday and Sunday! Will we see you there? We sure hope so!

06/05/2025

Case engine #34449, aka, Pappy, is on his way to the Patrick Ranch Museum near Chico for their 22nd annual Tractor Show and Pull/County Faire. This years event will be bigger than usual as it’s also the EDGE&TA Southwest Regional Show, hosted by the Vintage Iron Museum, EDGE&TA Branch 136. Many thanks to Blake Ballestrazze for hauling, Casey Wilmunder for organizing the event, and Paul Bonderson for his generosity throughout the years. It will be warm this weekend, but a couple of us will be grinding ice for snowcones, so it won’t be that bad. 😎

https://www.patrickranchmuseum.org/calendar