Illinois Railway Museum Blog

With Christmas close it was a small but active team at the steam shop this weekend.

The next major milestone on 1630 was achieved as planned.

Progress in fitting fire tubes

The last 17 fire tubes were loaded so all except for the 9 that will be installed along with the super heater flues are now in place.

Then we moved on to rolling the fire box ends.  As with each step, this was initially slow.  It is critical that we fully understand the technique and can do it right each time before we start to do it on a large scale.  However we made a good start, got more confident as the day progressed, and by end of day the first 15 were rolled.  Looking closely at the view below you can see the effect.  Comparing columns K, L and M to the adjacent columns, these are now tight in the tube sheet and set at a consistent 1/4 inch projection beyond the sheet.

Progress in rolling tube ends

Once we have proved that everything is watertight the projection will be beaded over.  All tube ends in the fire box are beaded to protect the joint from the direct effects of the fire.

The rolling requires a team of three and is achieved by first setting the tube accurately with a 1/4 inch extension beyond the tube sheet.  The team member in the smoke box then clamps that end of the tube to prevent movement.  The roller is then inserted into the tube.  Here you can see the construction of the roller.  Three small hardened rollers are turned by the rotation of the tapered pin that is inserted thru the center.

Setting the roller into tube end

The air motor is attached and rotates the central tapered pin.

Rolling in progress

The rotating pin is slowly drawn into the roller forcing the three hardened rollers out into the wall of the tube slowly increasing its diameter.

When the tube is fully expanded against the ferrule and tube sheet the taper pin has been largely drawn into the roller.

Rolling of this tube is complete

The motor is then reversed to free the pin and the process continues with the next tube.

In addition to the work on the fire tubes:

·         annealing was completed on the 16 super heater flues, so these are now ready to load once the fire tubes are secured;

·         drilling continued on the fire box patch.  The holes are now complete on the front face.  Once holes are made in the side face it will be finally formed to the mud ring along its whole length.

We also took advantage of reasonable, if cold, weather to jack the end of the KCS tender to remove the wood packing that was left between the rubbing plates when it was delivered.  This should now be in a condition which will allow it to be shunted so that the box cars of parts can be relocated back by the road to allow access.

Nigel