Steam Department

A rather brief update this week, not because of lack of progress but because I spent most of the day in the rules and safety sessions so was not directly involved in the work in the shop.  While this was a day away from the shop for a number of us it is essential that we have a team able to control movement of equipment and these sessions are critical to ensure that this is done safely.

Work progressed steadily on 1630:

·         Collin, Eric and Jason made good progress on cleaning and preparing the tube sheets.  Both front and back tube sheets have now been extensively cleaned and checked.  The good news is that no signs of cracking have been found.  Work is progressing on smoothing and preparing the holes to take the new tubes.  This will take several weeks to complete but good progress was made today.

·         Dennis, Bob and Mike continued building up of the mud ring ready to for fitting of the corner patch.  Over the next couple of weekends this will move out of sight as the section inside the firebox is built up and the rivet holes on that face are rebuilt.

·         Plans are in place to do the thickness testing next Saturday.  This weekend we were marking out the points at which measurements will be taken.  Each section of the boiler plate work must be measured to assess its minimum thickness which then forms the basis of the calculation for the form 4.  Clearly each part of the boiler is only as strong as its weakest point so the calculation is based upon the thinnest point found in each section.  Measurement points are identified in a random pattern across each plate with a focus on the areas likely to be weakest such as the belly.  Here the guys are cleaning off and marking measurement points ready for next weekend.

Cleaning and marking the points for testing

Nigel

A successful day at the steam shop.

We now expect the ultrasonic testing to be done weekend of May 5th so yesterday was an opportunity to progress other activities in preparation.  1630 saw the light of day for the first time in nearly a year when we pulled her out to remove the throttle valve and allow cleaning of both the locomotive and the shop area where she has been sitting.

Into the daylight

Eric and his father made good progress in testing the tell tale holes in the firebox stays.  The engineer's side is now largely complete.  By midday Jeff had the BrownHoist de-winterized and running and we were ready to shunt 1630 out of the shop.

BrownHoist mobile crane

Once outside we worked on the removal of the throttle body, which will be lapped to ensure a good seal when reassembled. 

This is an awkward piece that sits in the dome. 

Throttle body in situ

However, with some help removing cotter pins from inside the boiler, it was removed and taken to the shop. It has apparently been removed and refitted in the past with all the tubes in place. I have a lot of respect for the guys who achieved that !!.

It must come out somehow

Throttle body out and on the way to the shop

It was good to see 1630 in steam again !!.

1630 in steam again

Seriously though, it was an opportunity to do some steam cleaning and the locomotive now looks a good deal better and easier to inspect.

Unfortunately not its own steam!

The opportunity was also taken to clear the area around and under the locomotive, that had accumulated the most amazing collection of insulation debris and other muck as well as odd items that had fallen while working.

Even the work area is now clear

By end of day she was back in the shop and ready for ultrasonic testing.

In other areas, Paul and the lads made good progress on needle chipping and wire brushing the Shay truck.  Glenn over came a problem, that has developed in recent weeks, of the fork lift battery failing to hold a charge.  Far from the suspected defective battery he found that a loose terminal and blown fuse in the line from the alternator meant the battery had not been connected to the charging system at all for the last few weeks!!.

Next weekend will probably be quiet as many of us need to attend the rules exam.

Nigel

A rather limited turn out at the shop this Saturday with several people helping at the book store to catalog and prepare a large collection of model locomotives recently received thru a donation.

However the key target on 1630 was achieved.  The sand blasting of the boiler interior is now complete and a few of us were able to start removing all the ply that sealed the boiler and cleaning the dust and sand from the locomotive.  Despite all the sealing the process creates a vast amount of dust and some escape of the abrasive.  We now need to remove as much as possible of this from areas close to bearings etc. before we can move her outside to sand blast the back head.  At that time we will aim to give her a thorough cleaning.

The interior of the boiler shows the progress that has been made and also provides some unusual views of the inside of a locomotive boiler.

Here you can see the top and part of the side seam of the firebox.  The many long vertical and shorter horizontal stays hold the inner and outer fireboxes together.  In use the inner firebox must always be completely covered by water but most of the height above the firebox crown would be steam.  The water and steam are all at a pressure of 180 psi.  The extensive stay system is required to hold the inner and outer firebox together against that pressure.  On the left you can see one of the super heater flues and two of the smaller fire tubes that have been left in place.  On the right are the holes from which other flues and fire tubes were removed to allow access to the boiler for cleaning and inspection.  In this picture they are still blocked by the ply sheet used to contain the blasting abrasive but soon they will again be open to the fire space.

Looking back to firebox

In this shot we are looking forward toward the front tube sheet.  Here you can clearly see where the majority of the tubes had to be removed to allow access to the sides and bottom of the boiler and only a few remain in the center.  At this point the holes were still blocked by ply sheets but, by end of day, they were again open to the smoke box.  Above you can see the long braces that secure the top section of the tube sheet to the boiler barrel.  Again the whole structure is built to resist a pressure of 180 psi.  The tubes themselves brace the lower part of the tube sheet but above the level of the tubes (an area that would be full of steam, when in operation) the braces are required to prevent the tube sheet being pushed forward by the pressure.

Looking forward to front tube sheet

This view shows the top of the front tube sheet more closely.  Here you can see the heavy attachment of the braces to the tube sheet.  To understand why they are so heavy do a quick calculation.  At 180psi the load on an area about 10 inches square is around one ton!!.   In the center can be seen the dry pipe.  This carries steam from the throttle (high in the dome) forward to the super heater header (in the smoke box on the other side of the tube sheet) and then on to the cylinders.  It is called the dry pipe as the steam that it carries is now separated from the water in the main space of the boiler.  This view also shows the work still to be done in removing the abrasive that still sits on top of the tubes and other surfaces within the boiler.

Dry pipe and front tube sheet braces

Meanwhile Paul made good progress on needle chipping and wire brushing the truck of the Shay.  With the thick crud removed it can now be taken down to clean metal for final inspection and then repainting.  The bolster now looks pristine after Paul's efforts.

Clean at last

This makes an interesting comparison to the shot of the same part 11/26 last year.

Where we have come from

Nigel