Steam Department

This Winter is becoming a bad joke !.   Today was the official start of Winter but we have been in the deep freeze for several weeks.  Amazing to look back and see that this time last year we were working outside on the KCS tender that had recently been unloaded.  This year we had a crew much reduced by a forecast of a substantial ice storm reaching Union in the afternoon.  In practice, although the forecast caused several  people to leave in the early afternoon, the air temperature held up better than forecast and the last of us were not driven out until 7, when the rain started to freeze on the cars.

Setting foot outside the shop was an adventure all day as the ground was well below freezing and any unsalted areas were simply sheets of ice which built up further as the rain fell.

Anyone for skating ?

However, in the shop we were able to progress steadily.

On 1630:

Jane, assisted at times by Stu, made good progress on priming the sheet metal in the cab.  The assistance was often dipping the brush in paint and passing it to her as the only way to paint some areas along the sides is to squeeze into a space so confined that there is no way to take a paint can with you;

Collin had detached the large copper pipe feeding the water column during the week and then worked with Phil on Saturday to remove the safety valves, which allowed the pipe to be removed from the front of the cab.  The safety valves will need to go away for testing / setting;

Jerry and I located the “cattle trough” that provides a water bath into which the large pipes can be quenched as part of the annealing process.  It is not clear that quenching makes any difference when annealing copper.  However it certainly causes the surface scale to come off so has some advantage;

Vince and Evelina worked on cleaning off the front platform, air pump and steps in preparation for painting.  The ideal way of painting would be to thoroughly clean the whole locomotive, remove all the dust outside and then put it into a good dust free area to paint it.  Given the reality of the steam shop and the weather, the game plan will be to thoroughly clean an area, paint that and let it dry before moving on to the next one !!;

Vince prepares the air pump

While Evelina prepares the steps

Jason, Phil and Collin removed the regulator for the air pump and, with considerable effort, managed to open the steam side of this.  A good deal of varnish, arising from lubricant subject to steam temperature, was found.  This may well explain why the regulator appeared not to run smoothly.  A good deal of soaking and polishing had it running more smoothly.  This will continue over the next couple of weeks to get it really clean;

Jim and Jerry worked on the spray equipment in preparation for the first painting tests.

On the Shay, Phil and I worked with Tom to plan the next steps on refitting the front truck.  Six large bolts need to be acquired and fitted to secure the casting in which the bolster of the truck pivots.  The holes for these need to be reamed to allow the long bolts to be fitted.  Phil will caulk the rivets that were placed several  years ago so that Dennis can go ahead with refitting the smokebox bottom sheet.

Elsewhere in the shop:

Jane finished painting the press and the planer;

Stu and Bob, with my ?able? (what sort of idiot can bend a barrel pump!) assistance filled the planer with oil.  This sounds simple but the darn thing has around 50 gallons of oil divided between two reservoirs, both of which must be filled thru filters that greatly reduce the flow and cause substantial leakage if you add oil to fast.  One reservoir took around 90 minutes to load 20 gallons of oil.  However, the machine is nearly filled and then comes the tense time of starting the motors and seeing what happens.  This is a rather serious operation as the main hydraulic circuit operates at around 2000 psi. !

So more steady progress despite the weather.

Nigel

The weather this weekend certainly had a major impact. Steady snow in the morning made me very doubtful about the long drive out of Chicago but, after a rather slow and slushy drive, it became apparent that the forecast was correct and the snow was less to the West, around Union, than it was in the city.

Early Winter at Union

It was a very select crew, aside from myself, only Phil, Jane, Ed and Jerry made it to the shop.  However, we managed to get a number of jobs done on 1630.  But first, Phil made sure that the traditional Steam Department decorations were in place.

Christmas in the Steam Shop (1)

Christmas in the Steam Shop (2)

Merry Christmas from all at the Steam Department

Jerry has been working steadily on the insulation during the week and continued Saturday.  The sheet metal is now re-installed along the boiler, after the work that was done to fix the steam leak, and the steps and pipework are back in place.  This area is now ready for painting before the banding can be reinstalled.  In addition he has now largely completed the firebox sides.  The engineer’s side is complete and in place.  The fireman’s side is complete aside from one piece of sheet metal that is set aside to serve as a test piece for the painting.

ES firebox now fully lagged

I hydro tested the equalizer tank, which tested at 150 psi with no issue aside from slight leakage from the small brass water drain cock.  That was lapped and re-installed so the tank is now complete.

Tested and ready to refit

Feeling like suckers for punishment, Phil, Jerry and I then set about re-installing it !.  After a couple of hours of crawling under and into the loco and much cursing it was back in place.  The parentage of whoever thought of locating this tank in among all the pipework under the cab floor was questioned many times !.  The tank is not particularly heavy – maybe 40 pounds.  However it has to be squeezed thru a hole on the back of the frame on the fireman’s side, turned thru 90 degrees and then moved over to its location on the engineer’s  side by reaching thru holes in the plate work of the frame.  Having done that, you then use timbers and hands, at considerable risk of getting squeezed, to lift and position it so that the threaded ends of the ½ inch securing rods can be coaxed into holes in the frame plate and nuts attached.  The end result of all that effort would not be noticeable to the average person standing by the locomotive.  But it is there!.  (The small shiny object the end of which you can just see hidden behind all the pipework).

You would never guess what it took to get it here

Jane made considerable progress on painting.  The cylinder and valve end covers are now primed on the inside and ready to refit.  The area around the reservoir for the reverser was cleaned and primed.  The objective is to get this painted so that the tank, which needs to be refitted  urgently so that the valves can be moved, will not need to be removed again.

Preparing to refit the reverser reservoir

Ed started work on removing the pipe leading to the water column.  This is the last of the large copper pipes that needs to be annealed and re-lagged.

So steady progress despite the weather.

Nigel