Entries by Nigel Bennett

Oh well, we are into March.  You would not have guessed it at Union yesterday as we gingerly picked our way across thickly ice encrusted roads to get between the shop and the amenity block.  The day was then somewhat shortened by the development of a steady snow storm as darkness fell.  However, there was a reasonable turn out and steady progress continued.

On 1630 it was very much “more of the same”, which is exactly what we need at this point.

Painting continued on the frames and running gear.  Christian joined the team for the first time and, by afternoon, was fitted in between the frames and top coating the cylinder casting and adjacent areas.  There is a lot of variety in the steam shop.  As a new volunteer, you cannot be sure if you will be handling a paint brush or a 20 pound hammer!.

Christian paints the cylinder casting

Meanwhile Jerry worked between the frames ahead of the firebox.  So most of the lower areas of the locomotive have now received top coat and attention moved to the tender.  Jim and Jerry painted most of the tender frames during the day.  (The positioning of the bucket is unfortunate.  Honest, we are not painting it with driveway sealer!!).

Jim paints the tender frames

There are a few more weeks of work on the lower areas of locomotive and tender that will not be obvious unless you are standing next to the locomotive.  A number of pipes and the under sides of the walkways need to be cleaned, primed and painted.  In addition there is a major review and touch up exercise.  Whenever you shine lights and look from different angles you spot areas that are not fully covered.  So there will be a significant exercise of inspection, with a brush in hand, to touch up these spots and finish the job.

Dennis had welded some areas of the cab last week and identified further areas on the fireman’s side that needed grinding out and clamping so that he could weld.  I cleaned these up so they are now ready for welding.

This weekend Dennis was cutting the new mesh sections for the smokebox spark arrestor.

Jason located another steam heat gauge, very similar to the existing one.  He was able to exchange the face of this one with the damaged face of the existing gauge so we now have a good looking gauge to fit.

Dennis cuts the new mesh

Rick removed the sander discharge pipes as these would be in the way of spraying the cladding sheets of the boiler. He then wire brushed these ready for painting.

Rick prepares the sander lines

On 428:

Ed worked on the sander manifolds.  He showed me an interesting feature.  The inspection plugs of the sand channels are filled with lead.  Apparently this wears better under the force of steam driven sand than does iron or steel.  One of the plugs needs a new lead filling.

Ed works on the sander manifold

Dennis and Phil worked on one of the brake rods.

In other areas, a major milestone was reached last week on the planer.  I understand that, after much investigation and adjustment it is now effectively operational.  Critically, it was adjusted so that it now moves on the cutting stroke at an adjustable speed and then returns for the next cut at a surprising speed for such a large machine.  In addition, features that were not previously understood are now seen to operate.  For example, a small hydraulic cylinder actually lifts the cutting head at the end of the cutting stroke so that it is positively lifted above the work as the table returns.

The planer is working

All of this is second hand from the team as the machine was not operating this weekend.  A number of leaks were identified in operation so a couple of seals will be replaced and some connections remade to bring it to readiness for routine.

So a week of steady progress.  Now what we need is the Spring!.

Nigel

Welcome back to the IRM Steam Department skating rink. A few days of thaw during the week were a mixed blessing.  The snow mountains are a little reduced but not much of the water went away.  So it has now formed thick ice.  Blacktop roads around the site could be ploughed effectively and so dried out.  But the unmade roads around the shop now have an inch or more of solid ice.  Pauline’s passenger car shop blog has some great pictures of the conditions around the site.

There was a good turnout and most people sensibly kept to the shop once they had carefully slithered their way in.  Quite a lot of cleaning and painting had been done during the week and it was generally decided that we would have a “dust free” day so a lot of people concentrated on applying primer or topcoat to the lower regions of 1630.  Since we have no separate painting area or dust extraction we have to focus on cleaning and then paint all areas we have cleaned before making any dust anywhere in the shop.

With so many people involved it was difficult to keep track of the progress.  Indeed this is an interim update as I left early to go to the Soiree and I will wait to see what happened after I left.

The major focus was on the frames, both inside and out.  The confined space just behind the cylinders is probably the worst part.

Not an easy area to paint

Brian put in a lot of time in this area.  The trick, that he achieved pretty effectively, is to clamber into the space from the rear, carefully paint all around yourself and leave an exit so that you can clamber out without damaging your work.

Brian painting in a tricky place

Further back, just ahead of the firebox, there is rather more space.  Jerry is hard at work on the inside of the frames on the fireman’s side.  This gives a good indication of how fast things are moving.  The inside of the springs on the engineer’s side are now primed while the outside of the springs on the fireman’s side are already in topcoat.

Jerry at work just ahead of the firebox

Brian, Phil and I refitted the ends of the valve chambers that had been removed for measurement of valve rings for potential replacement in 2015.

Brian refitting the valve chamber ends

Later in the day, the ends and cover sheets were all fully fitted and the painters had already come by and primed the areas around them.

All back in place and primed

Jim was back at work on Sunday and sent me this picture.  The cylinder ends and all the section behind the pilot is now finished.

All back in place and primed

Jim was in early Saturday working on the engineer’s side.  Later in the day, the engineer’s side wheels, frames and motion are well in the way to completion

Engineer’s side largely complete

The fireman’s side is progressing well with much in topcoat and priming well under way.  The lubricator now looks really nice.  That was a lot of work.  A significant exercise now is quality control, i.e. looking at it from all angles and spotting any gaps.  There are so many projections, crevices and angles that this is no small exercise.

Fireman’s side well underway

Dennis worked with Jane on welding, particularly areas of the coal bunker that showed small leaks.

Jane degreased and pressure washed underneath the boiler of the Shay.

Stu, Bob and Mike worked with Rod on the planer.  When I left the hydraulics would move the table in one direction but were showing remarkable reluctance to push it back the other way.  Much analysis was continuing of old manuals and drawings to investigate possible reasons for this.

So a very productive day.

Nigel

Back again after a week’s gap.  Last weekend was the worst yet.  Saturday working was cancelled on February 1^st as the forecast suggested so much snow.  In retrospect that may have been overkill as we did work yesterday when more snow fell than actually arrived the previous week ….. the forecast just did not seem as bad!!.

I have been out at the museum more this week as I take on the role of museum Treasurer.  The museum site is an incredible Winter wonderland.  Dave and the B&G team have done a great job keeping the roads open.  He was saying yesterday that the plough truck has run about 220 miles so far this season simply clearing on site.  However each working day we have to dig our way into the shop, clear drifts to get to equipment like the compressor and any idea of moving equipment or getting at boxcars or containers is a joke.  There are considerable drifts or barriers of ploughed snow everywhere you look.

Anyway, Phil and Tom braved the elements last Sunday and did some work on 428.

This Saturday I was heavily involved in the Board meeting and some follow on Treasurer activities so was not very productive in the shop.  However, there was a good turn out and substantial progress.

On 1630:

The major step forward was reaching general agreement of the plan for painting.  This does not sounds much but is actually rather complicated.  We have two (or effectively three) methods of painting different areas.  Large parts of the loco will be sprayed.  However, there are substantial areas that are so confined and irregular in shape that it seems impossible that a decent finish could be achieved with a  sprayer.  So brush painting seems logical for these.  (The third category is areas in so deep and covered in grease that the logical approach seems to be leave well alone, for example the leading truck frame).  The whole process is complicated by the fact that, while everything is painted black, it is expected that the two painting methods, using different materials, will show shade differences.  So we do not want the two methods used directly next to one another. 

The final plan is that the wheels and frames will be brush painted while the upper works (cab, boiler, tender) will be sprayed.  The wheels were a particularly tough choice.  There is no doubt that 4 and 5 could be sprayed.  Also 3 could be sprayed, but would require several moves of the loco to get at all the spokes.  However, 1 and 2, heavily concealed behind connecting rods, cross heads and slide bars would be a near impossible target for spraying.  (The picture below of #1 is taken looking vertically down behind the slide bars so imagine getting at this with a substantial sprayer!).  So all will be brush painted as the likelihood is that a shade difference would be very obvious if we sprayed just the ones we could. 

With this done progress started to become visible.

Jim had brought in a much more powerful pressure washer.  He and Jerry did a further degreasing run on the frames, wheels, and everything that  was not in the leave well alone category.

Inside the frames now grease free

#1 driver grease free but behind the slide bars

Following this preparation much of the lower part of the locomotive is now assessed as ready to be primed once dry or requiring just a small amount of wire brushing to allow priming.  (A key part of the need to agree how each area is to be painted was that the spray epoxy does not require a primer while the brush applied finish does).

Substantial areas were dry by afternoon.  So painting began with priming the wheels.  While Jim did most of the work, our General Manager came by the shop and spotted the need to fill in a gap.  It is a rarity to seem Jamie at work in the Steam Shop so we have recorded this event as our ceremonial first painting on 1630.

Jamie does the ceremonial first painting

By end of day three wheels were primed.  The ability to start painting created a lot of enthusiasm.  I received the picture below from Jim.  By Sunday several of the wheels are finished with the black top coat.

Impressive progress by Sunday

On the superstructure, part of the preparation for spraying is removal of pipes that will create shadows when spraying.  One of these is the steam supply for the air pump that runs from the governor high up on the fireman’s side of the firebox.

The pipe runs from the union at top down the join between firebox and barrel

Collin needed to re-lag this anyway so he and Paul managed to release a union and remove it.  As with lots of things on an old steam engine, one thing leads to another.  It was obvious that moisture trapped in the lagging had caused some corrosion on the steel pipe.  After thorough wire brushing and hammer testing no obvious failures were found but it was clearly not in good condition so the decision was made to have a replacement fabricated.  In matters like this we want to avoid any doubt and there is currently time to have the replacement made before the season.

Collin removes the lagging

Paul removes the rust and scale

Jason and Phil worked on the manifold for the stoker.  The casting was damaged and Dennis fixed this some time ago.  The threaded holes into which fit the steam connections had to be recut and then the steam connections fitted.  By end of day the manifold was ready to refit.

Stoker manifold repaired

As a “British” fireman who has never seen a stoker in operation I learned something.  The stoker on 1630 is not operational at present as the screw drive in the tender needs work.  So I had assumed that the steam manifold (which controls the jets fire the coal around the box from the distribution plate) was simply decorative at this time.  It seems this is not so.  If the fireman is feeling tired he can put coal onto the distribution plate manually and then use the steam to fire it up to the front of the firebox.  You live and learn!.

I did my penance for spending most of the day out of the shop by crawling into the firebox to test fit a sample of the new fire brick.  Although I spent days in there when fitting tubes, fitting the fire hole door casting has made this a whole new experience.  What used to be a simple exercise is now more like getting toothpaste into a tube for one of my build.  Anyway the conclusion after Jason and Phil had put in a few more of the arch bricks is that the shorter F5 bricks, that are readily available, cause only a marginal lift in the arch bricks so should be usable.

On the Shay, Phil took advantage of the degreasing set up for #1630 and did a thorough job on the truck.  Hopefully, once dry and examined, this will also start to see new paint applied.

Truck degreased for painting

On #428 quite a lot was happening:

Dennis started the long job of building up the axle boxes.  The first step, on which he was working yesterday, is to build up the damaged areas that will be behind the plates which will be added to the box castings.  Once built up, these areas will need to be finally ground to shape so that there is a solid surface to which the plates will be mounted;

Dennis starts building up the axle boxes

Mike was back after his trip to Arizona and restarted work on the air pump.  Not much visible progress today.  The first big step was to locate the many substantial parts of this 3 dimensional jigsaw and work out exactly how they must fit together.  What fits where is only part of the challenge.  It is immediately clear that it would be very easy to assembly a lot of it and then discover that a key part should have been fitted earlier in the sequence!.

Jane was hard at work on the frame binders that join the frame at the bottom of each axle box guide.  Dennis has done a good deal of repair work on these and they now need to be cleaned off, ground smooth and then machined to fit accurately into the frames.

Jane works on the binders

In the shop in general:

It was a worrying day on the planer.  Mike, Bob and Ed worked on preparing it for a further test of the hydraulic drive system while Jane completed painting the machine.  Unfortunately a second attempt to start the hydraulic pump caused a blow in the gasket that failed last time, although we are now confident that the surfaces are flat after surface grinding.  This leaves us with a puzzle.  Documentation of this machine is distinctly limited.  We know it should operate at a high pressure (suggested around 1200psi).  The key question is whether this seal is failing at a pressure at which it should not or if some blockage or error in assembly is causing pressure to build substantially above the intended level.  Needless to say there is no tapping that would allow us to fit a gauge.

So back on the job and a lot was achieved in the day.  I am off to Mexico for a week so will miss next weekend but look forward to seeing a lot more paint when I get back

Nigel

Well, I am glad to say that the continuing atrocious weather seems to have increased the determination of the steam shop volunteers.  We had an excellent turnout on Saturday and made good progress on some items that have been holding us up for a while.

On 1630:

One large team focused on preparing the cab for spray painting.

The edges of the cab sides where there were signs of blistering in the paint were all needle chipped.  This revealed a few areas where Dennis will need to make good some holes and cracks.  Nothing too major but we do want to get this thoroughly sound before we paint;

Removing unsound paint

The arm rests were removed from the window frames … and identified another job.  The wooden base of one of them looks more like sponge than timber.  That will need to be remade;

A section of the inner cab lining on the fireman’s side proved to be corroded thru.  This was cut out, the rust and scale removed from between the inner and outer sheets and the whole area primed.  Dennis can now weld in a new section of sheet metal;

Rick cuts the bad area from the cab

The cab sides were rubbed down ready for painting.

Cab side substantial progress

A big area of concern has been preparing the frames and wheels for painting.  Ideally it would have good to have blasted the grease and oil from these using the high powered steam cleaner.  Unfortunately the extreme weather is against this.  There are serious doubts around the practicality of using the steam cleaner in the shop and the obvious concern over how long it would be before there is any chance of moving outside again.

Jim, Jerry and Vince decided to try the liquid degreaser that was obtained for the Shay truck.  This proved very successful.

Jim and Vince degreasing

One or two passes with subsequent washing off using a small pressure washer took large areas of the frames and wheels back to bare primer that we had never seen before.  We are unclear whether these areas were not previously painted black or if the top coat was so badly adhered that it came straight off with the grease.  However, it is certainly clear that the method is getting back to a sound and grease free surface.

and Jerry then removes the grease

Hopefully a second session next weekend, with a more powerful pressure washer to do the final washing off, will bring much of the lower part of the locomotive to a suitable condition for painting.

Jason finished testing all the cab gauges and also trained Phil in this operation.

Jason sets the gauges

One of the gauge faces is much worn.  It raises a question of how it was originally painted.  All the black lettering is indented, even the fine detail of the maker’s name.

I wonder how this was done

On the Shay:

Eric and his Dad worked steadily thru the job of fitting the long bolts thru the frame and truck pivot casting.  By end of day, all six of the bolts were properly fitted.  Nuts are noticeable by their absence !.  Tom did not make it to Union because of the weather but a telephone discussion indicated that supplies of 1 inch nuts were likely to be in the container.  Ah Yes!.  That thing sitting out behind the 3 foot snow drift at 10 degrees in a gale !.  Nuts will be for another day;

The bolster was turned over and Eddie cleaned the other face to allow it to be primed.

Eddie prepares the last face of the bolster

In the shop in general:

Stu and Bob finished painting the planer, which Phil and Jane had progressed over the last week.  Unfortunately it was not possible to reassemble the valve block and test the machine.  The distorted face of the valve block has been surface ground to ensure that it will seal but was in Tom’s car in Chicago.

They then worked on rebuilding the lubricator for another of the machines.

Phil has now made a big difference to the storage area and is planning what to do with the adjacent areas..

So overall a pretty successful day.

Nigel

What a year!.  Another Saturday somewhat disrupted by the Winter weather.  There was a reasonable turn out at the shop but a lot of people left at lunchtime as the rate of snowfall increased.  For those of us that stuck it out, the snow did cease by evening and the slither down US20 to the expressway was what we are becoming used to.

It was definitely a day for work inside the shop and the absence of some key people and parts meant that testing of the paint sprayer could not proceed.  However work progressed in a number of other areas.

On 1630:

Brian did a great job in cleaning out the rust scale from the tender tank.  The treatment applied a few years ago has not proved successful and a layer of rusty metal has largely scaled off the bottom of the tank.  During the test steaming we had some issues with blockage of the water flow to the injectors.  From Brian’s handiwork it is clear why this happened.  As the rust and muck lifts it tends to be drawn forward to gather in the area from which the water is being drawn by the injectors.  After several hours of work in the tank he had extracted a couple of gallons of rusty debris.  This was a foul job.  We can use the ducted fan to circulate air but you still have to work in clouds of rusty dust;

The reverser reservoir is now back in place so that the valves can be moved using air pressure;

Small reservoir back in place

Jim continued the job of masking the lettering and this is now largely complete.  After all this effort we are wondering if we should stay with blue lettering !;

Lettering masked ready to paint

Matt primed the area of the engineer’s side walkway that was cleaned off last week;

On the Shay:

Phil is progressing well with the bolster for the truck.  With the lugs for the springs now completed, it has been primed and now painted on one side at least.  Now we just have to turn it over and do the other side, once it is dry.

The bolster part painted

We made good progress on the bolts that fit thru the frame and truck pivot casting.  We had been working on the misapprehension that these simply secured the pivot into the frame.  Jeff reminded us that some of them also secure the large fabricated draw bar that runs down to the wooden front beam and on which the coupler is mounted.  Having made that connection, we found that new bolts were acquired a few years back and stored with the drawbar.  Each hole needs to be cleaned and reamed slightly to allow the bolts to be fitted.  However, with the parts in hand I was able to fit the first of them by end of day.  Looking at the front of the frame member, the bolts in the 4 outer holes secure the drawbar while the 2 in the middle (which are currently occupied by locating pegs) only secure the pivot casting to the beam.  The drawbar fabrication has a recess that fits around the nuts of the two center bolts.  The first of the new bolts is in place in the lower left hole and the holes for the remaining five can now be reamed to allow the bolts to be fitted.

First bolt fitted

In the shop in general, some significant reorganization was achieved:

With the swager gone, we were able to relocate the air pump for #428 so that it can now be worked on while allowing free access thru the door.  (It does not look like free access in the picture but the forklift is actually standing in the exit with a pallet of parts ready to drive out to the boxcar ……. Once there is not 6 inches of snow and ice in the way !!);

Work area and way out

Phil did a great job sorting and cleaning the steel stock storage area.

So overall a successful day despite the weather.

Nigel