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Friday, July 5. 2013Steam Department Update 07-03-2013An interim update this week as I was at the shop on Wednesday with my son who is visiting from the UK. With additional work sessions Sunday and Wednesday a lot was achieved. On 1630 the primary focus is on the remaining tasks to get the boiler water tight for initial testing. · Phil has now finished caulking the rivets inside the firebox so the rivets are now complete subject to hydro testing; · The major remaining task is fitting the two new flexible stays into the patch. These are steel rods with domed heads that must be threaded into the inner firebox and tightened so that the domed head makes a seal with the socket in the outer firebox. Here
you can see the holes in the inner firebox into which the stays will be
screwed. The end of the thread cutter is
projecting from the right hand hole.
Viewed
from the outside we can see the two sockets.
The one on the right is empty and, thru the socket, you can see the hole
in the inner firebox into which the thread will be cut. The guide and cutter are in place in the left
hand socket ready to start cutting.
Here
Tom is setting up one of the stays to cut the thread on the stay itself.
Here
the thread is being cut. This also gives
a good view of the overall shape of the stay with the thread being cut at one
end and the ball, nearest to the camera, which will seat into the socket. The slot in the ball is essential to allow
the stay to be screwed into the threads in the inner firebox.
Here
Michael is manually cutting the thread into the inner firebox sheet.
Good progress was made and by evening the stays were being screwed into place. This is not a "one-time" operation as the threads must be carefully adjusted so that they are tight but not excessively so in the threads of the inner firebox when firmly in contact with the socket. Once this is achieved the inner end is to be peaned over and caulked to complete the sealing Another major task completed Wednesday was the hammer and hydro-testing of the three air tanks. All were successfully tested to 180 psi and have now been partially stripped of paint. Paint stripping will continue so that they can be repainted before fitting. A lot of preparatory work was required for the hydro-testing, which has commissioned and tested the equipment needed for the boiler testing in the next few weeks. The water for testing both tanks and boiler must be warm. The heating is achieved by circulating thru a pool heater. Preparing the pump and heater system for use after winterization requires several hours work. This was successfully achieved and the system is now tested and ready for use in the boiler testing. I will not be at Union this Saturday so will look forward to an update myself on Sunday ! Nigel |
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Comments
Mon, 09-08-2025 08:22
Good job on the Burlington Nortern 9976. OK.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:56
No new news that I have heard of thus far.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:53
I'll also be doing another update on it soon. Keep en eye out for that.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:47
A little work was done to it for Diesel Days this year. You'll see photos floating around for the temporary short term job that was done to make it [...]
Wed, 08-06-2025 13:01
Is steam car CN 15444 going to be coming to museum several times it was to be moved to muesum
Sat, 07-19-2025 18:56
Yeah, sadly it's still there as of 7/19/2025
Thu, 06-12-2025 19:14
Its been 14 years guys, where is the unit? Like really? Did you guys misplace it? Or are repairs taking that long? At this point be might we will have [...]
Wed, 04-09-2025 17:40
Jamie Thanks for the update. She's gonna shine like every thing else you guys do! Smeds
Thu, 03-06-2025 16:28
Yes, there is a wye. Those two have been MU'ed on diesel days a year or two ago.
Wed, 03-05-2025 14:04
7009 number boards look good. Is there a way to turn a locomotive around at IRM? In case you ever had a mind to connect 7009 and 6847?
Fri, 03-29-2024 21:26
We're slackers and spend more time working on the equipment in the shop than keeping all you readers updated. We'll work on it, but I'm sure updates [...]
Thu, 03-14-2024 08:02
What happened to the Department Blog? It's been over 2 years and I still regularly check for updates, but nothing comes...