Steam Department

ASSOCIATE CORRESPONDENT Nigel Bennett sent in this report.  Note: He has been promoted from cub reporter to associate correspondent.

Work on Frisco 1630 (2-10-0) has continued the last couple of weekends.  The job of knocking out the old tube ends has progressed steadily thanks to the efforts of Collin, Jason, and particularly new volunteer Chris who contacted us through the BLOG and visited last Saturday with his brother Eric.  Through their combined efforts we now have about 2/3 of the plus 200 tube ends removed from the front tube sheet - so about 1/3 of the total.

Front Tube Sheet

That is Collin wearing the green hat with white polka dots.

The next sequence of photos show how it works with Collin inside the boiler with a pneumatic chisel collapsing the tube plug that was left when the tube was cut out.  These three pics show one tube in particular on its way out.  Can you sharp eyed viewers spot which one?

Plug in Place

Plug Coming Out

Gone

In this last shot Chris and Eric demonstrate what a day in the boiler can do for you!!  Thanks guys - that was probably a record first day in the Steam Shop!!

Dynamic Duo

In parallel with this Bob and I have largely stripped the boiler back head fittings and lagging to give access to the firebox for testing.  Mike, Bob and others have now removed all but two of the rivets that must be taken out to allow the area of the patch to the firebox corner to have the steel removed and replaced.

Nigel Bennett