Steam Department

It was a productive day at the steam shop leading to a fairly short update.  We were able to do what we planned to with no significant setbacks, which is always a good thing to be able to say !.

On 1630 the focus was on the tube fitting and the set up for riveting:

·         The remaining 6 super heater flues were expanded into the front tube sheet.  After the problem a couple of weeks back I was in the firebox watching very closely for any sign of movement.  But nothing happened.  They all rolled into the front sheet with no sign of a slide toward the front.  So what happened before .... I have no idea.

·         With those flues in place we moved on to the last 9 small tubes.  These were cut to length, ferrules checked and fitted where necessary, then the tubes were expanded into the rear sheet and rolled into the front.  After 180 we are getting quite good at this !.  So a big milestone, every small tube is now in place and ready for the water test.

Phil rolls the last small tube

·         The one remaining tube to be fitted is the large one that had to be cut out two weeks ago.  This is being safe ended and will be ready for pressure testing next weekend.  We prepared for this by filling the water tank in the back of the truck.  A week standing in the sun should have the water warm for use in testing next weekend.  If the test is successful, we should be able to fit that last tube immediately.

·         Mike, Tom and Dennis worked on fabricating a frame that will allow the bucker to be held firmly against each rivet as it is formed.  It looks as if we are getting close to the set up for fitting the rivets into the patch, which is the last major step before we can fill the boiler and ensure that the tubes are water tight. 

Repair riveting is about as difficult as it gets!.  When the boiler is made or subject of major repair it is riveted upside down or off the locomotive so you have full access to the mud ring.  In this case the trick is to ensure that everything can be placed and held in this fairly confined space.

Work area for bucking rivets

So the area has been cleared ready for riveting and the next stage will be to start setting up the fabricated frame to hold the bucker in place.

·         Dennis repaired the cinder protection plate on the last of the super heater elements.  These simple looking pieces of sheet are most important.  When the element is in place in the flue, the pipes bending up to the header are in the path of cinders being sucked thru the flue at great speed, so would be subject to extensive erosion.  The rough sheets, wrapped around the element  are "sacrifice plates" that suffer the erosion rather than the element itself.  The picture was taken prior to the repair and shows how a hole has been cut thru the protector by the abrasive effect of hot, fast moving, cinders.

Damage to element protector

·         Tom and Cameron worked on machining the guides required to drill the holes for the new firebox stays.

In other areas:

·         The tubes for the Shay were strapped into bundles and moved back to the boxcar, freeing up the space in the fabrication area;

·         Tom continued machining the wedges for #428

·         Stu worked with Phil and Cameron on sizing the rivets for the cab on #428.  This is a job that we will fit in when we have spare resources as it will allow the cab to be refitted freeing up a useful area for fabrication;

·         Stu also continued work on the control system of the planer;

·         .... and beside this we were able to assist the US Army (re-enactment version) with the odd bit of metal bashing to keep their tents upright!

So overall a good day's work.

On a less cheerful note, we talked to Rod, who visited Glen during the week.  He remains in the ICU at Rockford Memorial and was heavily sedated.  The prognosis remains unclear, particularly with regard to one leg which suffered major damage to the knee.  Our thoughts and prayers are with him.

Nigel

A short and second hand update this week, courtesy of Phil and Collin, as I was enjoying myself in New York City last weekend.  It sounds as if good progress was made on a number of fronts.

Unfortunately everything else is overshadowed by the news that Glen, one of our regular team, was seriously injured in a motor bike accident last week.  From what we can gather, he is in the ICU at Rockford Memorial and the path forward is unclear at present.  Our thoughts are with him.

On 1630:

·         The flue removed last weekend, that has to be reworked, was cleaned up and prepared.

·         The jacketing painted last week is now back in store and the last of the jacketing is now down in the shop for cleaning and painting.

·         Mike reassembled the bucker, which is critical to riveting the patch into place.  It was hooked up to the air supply and works!.

The bucker is now complete and tested

·         Phil, Tom and Mike started working with the bucker in the firebox to determine how it can best be supported to provide a smooth and reliable position when riveting.  This is essential as the core of the riveting process is that the yellow hot rivet must be passed into the firebox, put into the hole and the bucker accurately and firmly applied in a matter of 15 seconds.  If the rivet cools too much or the bucker moves, you will get a badly formed rivet and the need for many hours of work to drill it back out again and re-prepare the hole.  So there will be a LOT of planning and practicing ahead of driving the rivets

This is where it must be used

A rivet must be set in each of the holes. So we need to be able to place the bucker quickly and firmly and use it in each position, while still allowing room to place the hot rivet.

On the Shay:

·         Alex used the degreaser and put it on the front truck.  (Sounds like I had better make plans to borrow the steam cleaner from the car shop to finish the process)

Truck soaking in degreaser

·         Alex, Brian, Cameron, and Phil fired up the furnace and annealed the last of the flues.  They are now ready to be put back in the box car.  This was a very positive sign for the future.  The whole team was young guys all in their lower 20's or teens, which makes a big change from the reliance on us old codgers!.

Last of the tubes now swaged

In other areas:

·         Bill, Stu, and Bob worked on the water supply in the boxcar and started on the modifications to the pumping system.  The objectives are to ensure that the locomotive crew can reliably get water with minimum knowledge of the system without risk of damage and that treatment chemicals can be added automatically.

·         A key piece of the planer was refitted. The directional control lever was reassembled. As is common with rebuilding old equipment, this was much more difficult than it sounds.  A pin had sheared off in the shaft and Bob had worked much of last weekend to get it out without damaging the shaft.

So, a good day, from the progress point of view.

Nigel (as scribe for Phil and Collin !)

A fairly short update this week.  It was a long and hard day's work.  But, while we made reasonable progress, not much of it was visible. 

On 1630:

·         Most of us focused on the issue, identified last weekend, of the flues that moved forward as the ends were rolled into the front tube sheet.  All but one were moved sufficiently to provide the required projection at the rear to allow beading.  The one that could not be moved was removed and will be reworked.  Having reduced the issue to one flue, we should be able to keep the delay to a couple of weeks.

·         The remaining flues were rolled additionally in the rear sheet to reduce any likelihood of movement when  these are rolled at the front end.

·         Sean made great progress on priming the cladding sheets.  After his efforts, a satisfying number were standing in the shop to finally harden before being put back into storage ready for refitting.

Lots of cladding ready to refit

·         Tom was working on the lathe to produce the guides that will be used to drill and tap the holes for the two stays that are to be fitted into the firebox patch.  These screw into the caps of the flexible stays, that are already part of the outer firebox wrapper.  They guide the drill to make an accurate hole in the inner firebox sheet, into which the stay is then threaded.

·         Having checked to confirm that everything is working correctly in the water supply boxcar, Ed was working on refurbishing the pipe work for the boiler backhead fittings.

·         The specially made seals for the bucker have arrived at last, so, once they have been softened by soaking in oil, work can begin during the week to get this reassembled and ready for the riveting to begin.

In other areas:

·         Dennis completed the boom for the fork lift.  Here it is upside down to allow the main beam to be welded to the frame that fits over the forks.  This will hopefully be used before long to lift parts such as the dome cover back on to the locomotive.

Dennis finishing the boom

·         Bob and Mike continued work on the planer.

·         Glenn continued building the guards for the drive belts on the new air compressor.

·         Jerry did a great job on clearing the front of the shop.  For those visiting us, we can no longer be identified as the shop behind the stack of debris, drums and disused "A" frame !!.

Next week I will be in New York on vacation, so I am looking forward to finding a lot of progress when I get back in two weeks time !.

Nigel

Turnout was a little thin this weekend at the steam shop and maybe the museum in general.  I think the sudden good weather may have resulted in a lot of calls for yard work !.  It was really nice to be able to open the doors at both ends of the shop and have the warm breeze blow thru.  There was a great deal of activity in the shop and elsewhere.

The central focus is obviously on 1630.

·         Collin, Phil and I managed to complete the rolling the super heater flues at the firebox end.  This provided the opportunity to takes some shots of the process inside the firebox to give a clear idea of the method of operation.

First the projection of the tube is carefully adjusted to provide the required 1/4 inch minimum required  for the end to be beaded once we have proved that the seal is tight.

Setting the correct length

The roller is placed in the tube (after Phil has locked the tube into the front sheet as shown last week).

Roller placed in tube end

The pin is pushed into the roller.  Notice that the pin is well covered with lard, the recommended lubricant for these old rollers.

Pin in roller

..... and then hammered to tighten it into place between the rollers.

Hammered into place

The air motor is attached to the pin and rested on cribbing set on a scaffold supported on tubes lower in the tube sheet.  The air motor then powers the pin, which is drawn into the roller as the tube is expanded.  This step is not shown as I had to operate the motor while Collin kept it in place and there is no space for more than two people.

Ready to roll

The pin is drawn substantially into the roller, as can be seen in this shot.  As it is drawn in it forces the rollers out, increasing the diameter of the tube end as they rotate.

Expansion complete

The motor is then reversed to free the pin and the effectiveness of the expansion is checked.  Once expanded, the tube end can be hammered with no sign of movement and a good solid note that indicates it has become solid with the tube sheet.

·         We then moved on to the front tube sheet.  Collin, Jason and Phil made substantial progress in rolling the tube ends at the front.

The process is very similar except that the greater space allows the motor to be mounted on a reduction drive.

Collin operates the motor at front

A good coat of lard is essential here too,

Phil applies a good coat of lard to the pin

There is rather more space to set the roller and pin into place.

Jason setting the roller in a front tube end

Attaching the long and heavy shaft to the roller while keeping it straight in the tube is less easy

Linking the shaft to the roller is tricky

When rolling, Jason checks the progress of the rolling while Phil bears the weight of the shaft to stop it pulling on the roller.

Rolling in progress

While progress initially appeared extremely good, we detected a problem that has the potential to set us back several weeks.  After 10 of the 16 tubes had been expanded, it was found that two had been pulled toward the front by the expansion process.  This was completely unexpected as the rolling into the rear tubesheet appeared to be solid and also creates a flare on the outer end of the tube.  These tubes are now rolled at both ends, which makes any movement very difficult.  However, if we are not able to drive them back sufficiently to allow proper beading at the back, we will have to cut them out and repeat the safe ending process.  We will try to move the tubes enough to get the length for beading next week but if we are not able to do so this will be a significant set-back.

·         Blanks were found for the two stays that must be machined and fitted to the corner patch and work started on machining these ready for fitting.

In other areas:

·         The good weather also enabled another essential task to be undertaken.  The water system in the box car was brought back into service.  Stu, Ed, Bob and Jerry carried out this work and a difficult repair that was detected during the process.  This system provides to water for any steam locomotives running on the site and will be needed initially to provide water for the hydro testing. 

It is a multi stage process.  First water is taken from the well and run thru a softening process before feeding into large underground tanks.  The pump system draws water from the tanks thru large diameter pipes to supply the locomotive.  The softening is essential given the mineral content of the well water.  The capacity of the well and softening system is such that it must run most of the week to provide the water for 1630 to run over a 3 day period.  Unfortunately, as the system is located in an old boxcar that could not be effectively heated, it must be extensively stripped over winter and recommissioned in the Spring.  We wanted it operating now as we hope that it can be simplified and made more reliable as the crew supporting Leviathan had problems getting water last year.  Anyway, after a hard day's work the team were able to put on a satisfying show with water firing across the tracks to the road.  Unfortunately when I was not there to record the event !.

Stu and Jerry reaching the end of re-assembly.  All of the metering equipment on the wall and the softening system on top of the tank beside Jerry has to be removed over winter and refitted in the Spring.

Stu and Jerry re-instate the water supply

During the reassembly a leak was discovered in the piping leading from the softener down to the underground tanks.  A lot of work at arms length down the shaft was required to cut out a section of pipe and fit a connector to replace the leaking section.  With all the equipment reconnected the large pump that drives the high volume supply could be primed and tested.  This is the large green machine in the center.

Main water pump

·         Another project that I was able to see for the first time was the renovation of the wrecker, that Mark Secco has been carrying out.  This was originally a steam wrecker but converted to diesel in the 1960's.  This very useful piece of equipment has been out of service for a number of years.  While there is only rarely lift work to warrant its 100+ ton capacity, when there is a requirement for such a lift, it can cost the museum many thousands to hire in such capacity.

CBQ 6323 running again

Mark has been working steadily thru it.  The main motor is now running smoothly and reliably.  It is of such a size that it has a decent sized gasoline motor as a starter.  The operation is controlled by air pressure with most of the clutches being double acting (powered both ways).  Most of the air controls have had to be rebuilt.  Some more work is required to enable the secondary hook and refurbish the cables, but it is good to hear it running again.  Having got it fully running, Mark hopes to give it a full repaint and refurbish the runner, the deck of which is currently in poor condition.

Mark with 6323

·         Meanwhile Dennis started work on the boom for the forklift.  This is one of the projects funded from the benefit concert last year.  It will enable us to use the forklift to put heavy objects over the center line of the locomotives.  This will be a big benefit when we come to put the dome cover and throttle back into 1630.

Boom for the fork lift takes shape

So a reasonable week but a lot of nervousness for next week about the tubes.

Nigel

Turnout at the shop yesterday was much restricted.  Quite a few people were tied up all day a with the rules test and a number more, including me, were out a few hours for the annual safety meeting.  Some others, including Tom and Glenn, had to deal with flooded basements at home after the crazy storm during the week.

However a reduced crew made good progress in a number of areas and overcame a few set-backs.

On 1630:

·         We continued with rolling the super heater flues into the rear tube sheet and all 8 on the engineer's side are now done.  This shows the method used to hold the flue in place at the front while the other end is expanded into the rear tube sheet.  Once that is done the flue is held firmly in place.

Locked in the front tube sheet

An alternative motor was located that can be positioned in ways that work around the siphon and allowed us to reach the top pair of flues.  This is "really good fun" as you have to work tight up against the top of the firebox.  But it works!.

Progress was limited by a few set-backs.

Working in a confined space, yours truly managed to drop the expander, when removing it from the tube we had just expanded.  Unfortunately the little rollers jumped out when it landed on the grates.  So we spent quite a while digging thru the track bed under the loco to find them.  However we did find them and, after re-assembly, everything is worked fine on the next two flues.

Despite all the checking a couple of weeks back, one flue proved to be marginally short of the required length.  Luckily the adjacent one was slightly over length so we could cure the problem by removing and switching the two adjacent flues.  At the same time we double checked all the remaining flues to ensure we have no such problems on the fireman's side.  With this done, both flues were rolled to complete the engineer's side.

We also found an issue with the steel spacer fitted around in the top right flue.  The spacer is a perfect, lathe cut, ring of about 5 1/2 inch diameter but the tube sheet is not perfectly flat in this area.  So the ring could not fit flush to the tube sheet all around the flue.  The beading will not work properly if there is a significant recess or projection anywhere around the ring.  The solution involved Collin crawling into the boiler so that he could driver the spacer out to be flush with the tubesheet at its lowest point.  This was quite an effort as the space with the tubes in place is a tiny fraction of what it was when the tubes were removed. 

Well done Collin !

However, once this was done, the ring could be carefully ground flush with the sheet all around the hole.  This all had to be done before we can safely expand the flue.  ASfter all this effort, it should now be ready to expand next week.  This shows the spacer with the flue inside.  The spacer is now flush to the tube sheet while the face of the flue shows how the spacer has been ground to align with the face of the sheet.

Spacer ground to fit

·         The remaining small tubes were annealed and brought up to the locomotive for Jerry to finally clean ready for installation.  So everything is ready to get the last tubes in.

Elsewhere:

On the Shay

·         A small but determined team started by annealing the 7 tubes for 1630 and then annealed the 43 tubes for the Shay that were swaged last;

·         Having taken a break, after 2 hours working on the furnace, we decided that we were real suckers for punishment, moved the tubes around, and swaged the remaining 45 Shay tubes.  So all the tubes for the Shay are now swaged and, once the last batch are annealed, will be ready to go back to storage until required for fitting.  A big bonus is that we should now be finished with the swager and can free up the access to the heavy work area.

·         Dennis was able to start on the smokebox welding.  First step was to make good holes and weak areas on the section that is not being replaced.

Weld repairs to smokebox

One of the areas being reinforced is around some of the holes for bolts that secure the front of the smokebox.  These have been reinforced to ensure that we have adequate strength in around the bolts.

On the machines:

·         Bob Rugg continued with wiring the planer; and

·         Bob Milhaupt, who we have not seen in a long time, located and fitted the guards around the backhead drive of the wheel lathe.

So, good progress this week despite the limited number of people available.

Nigel

Luckily there are days when things go better than planned and yesterday was one of those.  There was a good turn out and several teams were able to work in parallel to get a lot done.

On 1630:

·         Eric and Collin worked on the ferrules in the front tube sheet and successfully ground all those fitted last week back flush with the sheet.

Eric grinding ferrules

·         The last remaining flue, which we knew to be significantly over length, was loaded, carefully marked for the required length, and then removed to the large band saw, where it was cut to length.  After cutting it was reloaded into the boiler.  So, with this one in place, all the super heater flues are back in the boiler.

Last SH flue is fitted

·         After this Eric and Collin fitted the remaining ferrules and ground these back flush with the tube sheet, making everything ready for the final stage of fitting the flues, expanding the ends into place.  Given the "fun" we had with small tubes moving during the expansion process, we approached this exercise with some trepidation!. 

·         The set up is in place to expand the tubes into the front sheet.  This will be done using a long, universal jointed, shaft driven from a large gearbox now mounted outside the smokebox.  In this case the shaft may be a bit heavy to position and care will be required to ensure that it does not pull the expander out of line.  However the drive can be mounted once and is already in place.  However, it is the firebox end that we must do first.

Drive in place on smokebox

·         In the firebox there is no room to fix a drive as we have at the front.  The (large and heavy) motor must be positioned to attach directly to the expander for each flue.  The game is to set up a support structure of pipe and timber cribbing that will support the motor behind each flue, with the added challenge that the siphon severely restricts the positioning of the motor.  So there was a great deal of grunting and cussing as Phil and I positioned the motor for each flue.  Having done this for the first flue, we set about the actual expansion with great care.

Setting the flue exactly to length is easy, involving no more than tapping the flue to drive it into the sheet until the depth gauge shows a minimum projection of 1/4 inch.  Jeff and Jerry, at the front, then locked it into place and watched carefully as we started the motor and expander.  Everyone watched for any sign of the feared movement of the flue.  But there was none.  Having found no great tendency for the flue to shift during rolling, three more were processed quite quickly, with the main effort being in moving the motor between tubes.

The way in which this roller operates may explain the lack of movement.  As can be seen in a finished tube, this roller carries out three processes in one operation.  The tube end is expanded into the hole in the sheet, but the rollers are not simple cylinders, having a recess in the area of the tube sheet.  This causes the tube to be expanded more on either side of the sheet.  The result is a flare at the open end that will be hammered to form the bead, once we have tested the expansion of the tubes into the sheets for leakage.  It also carries out the "prossering" step where the tube is expanded more inside the boiler to secure the tube both sides of the sheet.  You can see the groove created by this process.  It seems this roller, by starting to deform the tube outwards either side of the sheet first , is effectively locking it into place early in the expansion process.

Tubes rolled into rear sheet

So 4 of 16 done at the rear.  Just hoping the rest go as well as the first four!.  The results can be seen by comparing the four lower tubes (expanded) with the ones above where the ferrule can still be seen around the tube,

First four rolled into rear sheet

·         Meanwhile Brian did a great job on the cladding sheets.  The better! weather ( hard to believe a year ago how hot it was) allowed the work to move outside, albeit with a good deal of warm clothing.  This is one of the many dirty and repetitive parts of the work but he made good progress and much of the cladding is now ready for priming.

Brian cleaning cladding sheets

An increasing number are done

·         Ed made good progress identifying and cleaning the pipe work for the backhead fittings in the cab.  The objective here is to have as much as possible lined up for fitting as soon as we can complete the initial hydro test and prove the boiler is water tight again.

·         As part of the swaging described below, the remaining small tubes were swaged so that we have them ready to fit into the holes between the super heater flues once those have been rolled at both ends.

·         The one set back was that the bucker is still not back from repair.  The latest information is that it should arrive next week.  Let's just hope that is correct !.

Elsewhere:

·         A very successful swaging exercise in which the remaining 7 tubes for 1630 and 43 for the Shay were swaged in one continuous operation.  I have come to believe that the swager is moody!.  Some days the jaws do not move smoothly, valves stick and it takes a lot of time and effort to get good results.  Others, like yesterday, it starts smoothly, the first (test) tube was no problem and 50 more tubes were swaged as fast as they could be heated, with consistent quality all the way thru.

Phil, Jerry and Jeff work the swager

Into the jaws for a few seconds

and the end is formed !

·         There was a good deal of visible progress on the planer this week.  First the rebuilt pump was carefully lowered back into its position on the bed of the machine.

Positioning the pump

Then it was secured into position relative to the motor and the valve block.

Pump in place

By end of day much of the interconnecting pipe work had been fitted.  Progress will not be so visible for a while now as the next job is to drill into the floor and fit the anchors.  Given the way that this machine operates (the large table with substantial blocks of metal mounted on it, for a combined weight of 500 pounds plus, being propelled back and forth by the hydraulics), it is considered a good idea to have it securely bolted down !.

Pipe work fitted

So, excellent progress this week.  If only we can get the riveting under way I will be a lot happier !.

Nigel