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

Here is an update on progress courtesy of Nigel Bennett, one of the boiler rats working down in the shop.

"During September the team has progressed steadily.  On 1630 all the tubes and flues needed to do the inspection have now been removed.  Our smaller team members can now get in and out of the boiler. This weekend the boiler cladding and insulation was largely removed.  We are now getting close to the critical point at which the ultra sonic testing of the boiler can be undertaken.  This is critical as it is then that we will be clear if we can move forward without significant additional work.

The new tubes for the boiler have arrived and been stored ready for use.
Work has continued on removing the rivets to allow the firebox patch to be installed. 

For the UP 2-8-0 work continues on the axle boxes for 428.

A really nice job that our smaller team members will have now is knocking the cut end of the tubes out of the tubesheets (around 500 ends all to be done from inside the boiler!!).

Nigel"