Steam Department

Another year draws to a close and there is a lot of activity in the steam shop.  I had expected the day after Christmas to be fairly quiet but there was a good turnout and work proceeded on many fronts.

On #1630 we are progressing along what is now the standard plan for the Winter with the normal annual inspection work, which is substantially boiler focused, running in parallel with “catch up” work to improve the overall mechanical condition of the locomotive.

Aside from some smaller items, the major focus this Winter is on the valves.  It has been apparent for some time that there is wear in the valves leading to lower efficiency and leakage that can be demonstrated when the valves are set in specific positions with steam applied.  As with most backlog work, the initial hope that we could get away with a quicker and simpler repair has proved sadly misplaced!.  Guess we should not be too surprised.  When doing the initial stripping we found some tags set behind the valve chest nuts that indicate when last stripped for overhaul – SLSF Springfield shops 1947!.  You really have to question the quality of the work when we have to do it again after only 68 years!!.

The findings so far are a mixture of good and bad news.

The valve chests have liners in which the valve spindles run.  These are press fitted to the casting at each end and the ports leading to each end of the cylinder are in these liners.  In this view of the ES valve cylinder with the valve removed you can see the front liner including the ports with the live steam chamber behind it (and the rear liner and ports behind that)

Inside the valve cylinder

The movement of the valve, which has sprung rings bearing on the liners, opens these ports to the steam supply (center) or the exhaust (outer ends) as the spindle is moved back and fore by the valve gear.  Wear on the rings and/or liners results in leakage and deteriorating performance.  Here you can see the valve itself.  In use the central section feeds live steam while exhaust steam is released ahead of and behind the outer faces of the valve body.

ES valve spindle

Here the rear of the ES valve cylinder shows the space where the valve spindle has been detached from the crosshead and removed from the gland but the crosshead is still attached to the combination lever.

Crosshead with valve removed

Then the crosshead was detached from the combination lever and removed.

Crosshead split from combination lever

The initial hope was that the problems might be corrected simply by fitting new rings, of which we do have a substantial supply acquired with the locomotive.  Bad news.  Having opened up the valve chest and measured the bores, which should obviously be perfectly round, they are worn out of round to levels significantly outside acceptable tolerances.  So replacing the rings would not be expected to fix the leakage.

The next standard level of repair is to re-bore the liners.  Here the news was good.  On these locomotives the liners start at a 12 inch internal diameter when new and can be bored in 1/16^th increments to a maximum of 12 3/8 inches, at which point new liners are required.  It looks as if #1630 must have received new liners when the job was last done as one measures 12 inches and the other 12 1/16.  So this says that, unless we hit unexpected problems in the boring, we have plenty of metal for a cut of 1/8 or 3/16, which is the current estimate of what is required to bring the bores back to round.

Yesterday the stripping continued.  The yolk that supports the valve crosshead on the back of the ES valve cylinder was removed.  Sounds easy but this thing is a solid lump of steel !.

Crosshead yolk removed

With this removed the rear end of the cylinder and the liner are clearly visible.  A substantial number of the studs came out of the casting rather than the nuts coming off the stud.  Not altogether surprising.  In 70 years exposed to steam and heat in this position the nuts were heavily rusted to the studs.  This is now substantially ready to start mounting the boring bar that will be used to re-bore the liners. 

Looking into the back of ES valve cylinder

Work has started on preparing the boring bar that is required to re-bore the valve cylinders.  This is a huge piece of equipment in its own right.  Luckily we have a full set of this equipment although it has not been used since the cylinders on #428 were bored in the 1980's.

In parallel with the valve work, a lot of other tasks have been progressed.

Lots of unpleasant and dirty work has been done in clearing the tell-tale holes in the stays as part of the annual inspection.

Phil has been working on ensuring that all the wedge bolts are free and working correctly.  At the moment this is more in preparation for the program for next Winter when we hope to do a full check on the alignment of the drive axles.

The spring loaded buffer between locomotive and tender has been removed and inspected.  As suspected the heavy springs that take up the slack are slightly compressed with the result that there is a little slack apparent on the footplate as you start to reverse.  This is being corrected by adding some spacers that will ensure the buffer always retains contact between loco and tender.

The stoker discharge / fire hole door casting has been detached in preparation for remaking the fire cement seal between this and the fire box.  Some smoke and fume could be seen leaking thru this joint during last season.

The FS injector starter valve has been removed for machining of the valve seat.  This has been subject to repeated minor but annoying leaks and has been lapped a number of times.  Hopefully re-machining the seat will give us a more permanent repair.

On the Shay, work proceeds steadily.

Probably the most critical aspect is temporary work.  Dennis has been fabricating steel  backing plates that will provide a rigid surface against which the bucking tool can be braced to allow the rivets for the smokebox to be formed.  These are critical as a number of rivets must be driven in locations where there is not sufficient space to brace manually.  (These are rivets that would normally have been driven with the boiler at least lifted if not completely out of the frames).  This is a critical step as, once the rivets are in place, a whole bunch of other work can get under way.  Aside from the obvious work on the front end, once she can be taken off the jacks, it becomes possible to reconnect the tender and third truck.

Supports for rivetting

A lot of work has gone into needle chipping the firebox so that this can be properly painted.

Work is well under way on setting the wires around the boiler to which the insulation will be mounted.

Wires to attach insulation

Jane has been hard at work on removing rust from the back of the boiler cladding and then painting this.  At this point she will look a lot better INSIDE the boiler cladding that outside!.  Brian is planning on doing a really good paint job once she is complete so only the hidden areas are being painted for protection at this stage.

On #428

The cab riveting is now complete and work has moved on the filling the last holes and then painting in preparation for making the wooden cab lining.

On shop services, the large compressor is now fully plumbed in.  As soon as we can get the power connected to it we can test and adjust it ready for the state inspection.  With luck this will be ready when we want to rivet the smokebox of the Shay.

So a lot of activity but a whole lot more to be done if we are to be ready for running at the start of the season.  So, Happy New Year to all and watch this space!.

Nigel

What a difference a few days makes in Illinois!!.  In the last few weeks we have been working steadily thru the jobs needed to winterize #1630 and the support equipment while enjoying a long warm Fall.  Then this weekend Winter arrived with a vengeance.  Small problem, this was the weekend we had a rather critical activity scheduled!!.  So, neither rain nor snow etc.  (Also you don’t have to be mad to work in the steam shop but it sure helps at times.

The  critical activity was the FRA observed hydro test of Shay #5 which was scheduled for Sunday.  Clearly large quantities of water do not mix well with temperatures falling into single digits.  However we managed.

On Friday Phil managed to fill the boiler and a reserve container in the shop before draining the bottle car that provides our supply of treated water.  (Just ahead of the night when temperatures plummeted).

On Saturday I managed to get to the shop between the two bands of snow.  Conditions on site were “interesting” and the work team was small. 

Wild day at IRM

Difficult to imagine that this was just 7 days after the shot of removing the dome cover from #1630!!.  Congratulations to Chris and Jon who made it in.  On the Shay the objective was to get the water circulating from the boiler thru the pool heater and then get this fired up so that boiler could be brought up to around 100F and allowed to equilibrate for the test.  This was subject to some significant concern as the heater is outside and, should it not operate reliably, there would be a risk of it freezing and damaging the exchanger.  Much to my relief, despite digging it out of the snow and having to shield it from further driving snow during the day, it started and ran reliably so the warm up worked well. 

Snug inside the shop

Actually, having been used to #1630, it is startling how much quicker #5 warms up and it seems to even the heat out much more effectively because of the relatively short barrel.  In the shot above you can see the inlet from the heater feeding into the dome and the return running from the blow down back along the shop to the North.

Cold but pretty

Sunday was a very pretty day, even if it was 8F when I got back to the shop, and the team could get to the site without problems.  The heater restarted without issue and the boiler was ready for testing by mid-morning when the FRA inspector was scheduled.  The pressure was raised slowly to 240 psi (125% of the 190 psi at which she will operate).    Jason, Phil and Collin worked with the inspector to check parts of the boiler for any sign of leakage but she proved extremely tight.  One small area of a seam and the head of one stay will need minor peening but we have an acceptable pressure vessel!!.

This opens up a whole lot more work for the Winter (which is why we were so desperate to get this done before it became impossible to work with water!).  The boiler can now be lagged and the various accessories and their pipework fitted.  The smokebox riveting should be done soon and then the smokebox can be completed and the truck refitted.

Technically there is no reason that she should not be operational next season.  The biggest barrier is MONEY!.  The response to the Summer appear was disappointing ($600 plus $600 in matching).   Funds for #5 are now low and her operation in 2016 is going to depend heavily on donations in the next few weeks.

So, aside from this weekend, what has been happening in the last few weeks?.

#1630

Work progressed as planned.

The boiler was washed out when the weekend weather was reasonable and she then waited for the completion of #938 to free up her space in the shop;

Last weekend the switch was carried out with #938 going outside and #1630 coming into the North end of the shop.  The switching involved some coordination with Frank and the track team as they were using the last good weekend to replace ties in the switches leading in to the steam shop.  Thanks to Frank and his team for this.  Some of the ties were getting very tired and none of us fancy the idea of lifting #1630 out if she were to fall into the switch because of this!. 

Almost a ceremonial end of season ritual is the removal of the dome cover to allow her to fit into the shop.  Thanks to Max who did this lift with the boom truck;

Removing the dome cover

Once into the shop, the switching continued to split the loco and tender and remove the drawbar for its annual inspection;

This weekend we have continued stripping in preparation for the annual inspection and planned Winter work.

The small team yesterday removed the safety valves, firebox lagging and gauges to enable routine annual inspection work;

Today Jason and the team were working on measuring the valves and crosshead shoe.  The major maintenance activity for this Winter is the inspection, and probably fitting new rings, of the valves on both sides and the fitting of new babbit to the upper shoe of the crosshead on the fireman’s side as this has excessive play.

#5 – Shay

I am sure that Brian will provide a more detailed update however a lot of progress is apparent leading up to the test today.

The broken stay, identified in the first water test, was removed and a replacement machined and fitted.  Then the heads were formed.  First the outer end of the stay is bucked to prevent movement (while Phil is working in the firebox to form the head there)

Bucking the stay

Then he moves outside and forms the outer head in the same way.

Forming the stay head

Work then progressed thru the iterative process of applying some hydrostatic pressure to the boiler, spotting any leaks, correcting those leaks and moving to a higher pressure;

Much progress on the backhead

Once it was demonstrated that the tubes and super heater flues were watertight, their ends were formed and beaded;

The boiler as then tested to 240psi to prove it was ready for inspection.

#938

Phil and his team completed the Summer work by painting all the wheel and lower areas that have been stripped and primed.  She looks a great deal more presentable and will hopefully be able to go under cover once the new barns come into service.

Looking much better

#428

With the cab now riveted, Jon has been working on painting the interior and planning the woodwork that can now be fitted.

Compressor shed

Jeff and Jerry have made huge progress on the pipe work for the new compressors.  Max has set up most of the wiring.  The smaller of the two compressors is linked in and workable.  All the main pipe work for the large compressor, including the cooling loop has been installed.  The one remaining item is the flanges to connect the large compressor to the pipework.  Once these are made the whole set up should be in a state to test.

Before it can be commissioned a state inspection is required so we cannot put either into operation until the whole set up is complete.

So a busy and successful couple of weeks.  Now we head into a busy Winter with the objective of completing two locomotives for next season.

Nigel

In many ways this is a depressing time of year in the steam shop.  In the Spring there is a substantial buzz as you turn the large dead mass of steel that you have worked on all Winter into an active steam engine.  The reverse process in the Fall is less fun but just as necessary.  However, aside from the regular work on 1630, a great deal has happened in the shop and it promises to be a very exciting Winter.

The end of season was celebrated with a department cook out.  Everyone had a good time.  Many thanks to Jeff who came up with the idea and organized the food.

A good time was had by all

Comfortable seating in the steam shop

Tom and Jeff share a joke

On #1630 a lot of work has been done since the last operations at the showcase weekend.  Over the last three weekends:

tender was emptied and cleaned;

boiler drained and all the washout plugs removed and stored;

brick arch taken down and removed;

smokebox, tubes and firebox washed out.  (This is a really fun job involving a lot of time in confined spaces with a high pressure hose so that you end up stiff wet and black.  I did a lot of this last year and was not sorry that I had to be in the UK when it was done this year!);

the locomotive was run on air the weekend of 10/10.  This is an important step to remove water from all parts of the mechanism and accessories.  The boiler is pumped up with the Sullair compressor then the locomotive is run back and fore a number of times to clear the cylinders, valve chambers and super heaters.  The all the accessories, injectors, air pump, generator, etc. are operated on air so any remaining water is removed.

The remaining job is to finally wash out the boiler.  Given the low temperatures this job, originally scheduled for this weekend, was delayed.  This is another job that guarantees the operators a good soaking so not at all pleasant at 45 degrees!!.

#1630 will come into the shop in a couple of weeks once work is finished on painting #938.  For this Winter we have scheduled the usual mix of annual inspection and mechanical improvement work.  This Winter is not planned to be as demanding as last (time will tell!!).  The main target, aside from the annual inspection, will be an inspection and overhaul of the valves.  Hopefully, unless something unexpected is found, this will require fitting of new rings to the valves and casting of a new babbit bearing for the fireman’s side crosshead, which is getting close to maximum allowable tolerance.

This weekend there was a very good turnout and many jobs were progressing at once.

Obviously the biggest focus after #1630 has been Shay #5 and this will continue to be the case.  Much has been achieved in the last few weeks and Brian arrived this weekend for a major work session over the next couple of weeks.

Substantial progress has been made on the smokebox.  The holes have been drilled for the rivets into the front ring.  These are now bolted into place, which makes the fit so tight that the smokebox bottom is largely watertight (as we found this weekend – see below);

Drilling done for front rivets

Now for the back

The holes must now be drilled for the rivets into the boiler barrel and then the process of riveting can begin;

Many valves, gauges, injectors and the water glasses have been fitted all in preparation for the big milestone of filling the boiler;

Backhead fittings in place

On Saturday the throttle body was fitted into the boiler.  This is a very tricky task as the large and heavy unit is a close fit on the opening in the dome and must seal where the long vertical pipe seats on the elbow of the dry pipe.  So moving the pipe as you try to position it risks damaging the critical seal, on which the throttle body sits.  After much effort it was successfully fitted and the next big step was started;

Throttle body is lifted

Final adjustments in the dome

Easing into place

Fine adjustment from the fork lift

The boiler was filled with water for the first time since 1999!!.  With a couple of stops, to address leaks as they were identified, the water level was raised into the dome.  Overall the result was very encouraging.  A major problem with #5 was a number of badly blocked stays, some of which were behind the frame or motor and would require a great deal of stripping to replace.  Huge effort has gone into clearing these but the risk is that this could have cracked some of them.  To this point we have found one stay where this has happened but it is in a nice accessible position, so no issue to replace.  Experience is that a stay broken in clearing is most likely to leak even without pressure so the fact that only this one revealed itself is a cause for growing confidence;

Water shows in the glass

Full into the dome

The broken stay was plugged temporarily with a nail and a number of tubes that showed minor leaks were rolled to seal them.  In the next couple of days the dome cover will be fitted and the water heated to test under pressure.

So a LOT of progress.  Watch this space!.

Glen and Stu were busy South of the shop and succeeded in starting and testing the traction motor of the Bay City crane.  That should now be close to being able to move under its own power again.  They also replaced a union in the fuel line of the “critter” (the 4 wheel diesel that can provide switching power at the South end of the shop).  This is a useful unit but has been very unreliable in starting.  Glen has found and fixed a whole bunch of blockages and defects in the fuel supply so that it is becoming much more serviceable.

A number of us were working on the new compressor set up.  Jeff is hoping to spend a couple of weeks on this to get it close to, if not fully, operational.

Max was running the conduit to bring in power for lighting and outlets;

The 480V supply was disconnected and made ready to move the ducting to bring it into the compressor shed;

Rick was completing the wall facing to allow the pipes for the cooler to be mounted.  The large compressor is sufficiently powerful that a 60ft cooling run is suggested.  This will be on the wall inside the shop and will provide a useful source of heat when this unit is used in the Winter;

Walling over the old door

The placement of the pipework was agreed and a detail parts list developed.  This should be delivered in the next few days so that Jeff can move ahead with the installation;

Now to plumb it in!

Dennis was working on the flanges needed to connect the compressor to the cooling array and air intakes.

On #428 Ed has substantially completed his exercise of identifying and fitting the myriad of pipes originating in the cab.  One pair of copper pipes proved extremely frustrating as they did not seem to relate to any identifiable equipment although we did have some pictures that indicated roughly where they were when the locomotive was stripped.  The most likely answer after much forensic work is that as late as 1947 the locomotive had a hydrostatic lubricator but, when retired a few years later, it had a Nathan mechanical lubricator, which it still has.  Ed now believed that these pipes are part of the feed from the old hydrostatic lubricator that were never removed as they were under the lagging.   No wonder we cannot find anything that they connect to!.

Ed fits another piece of pipe

The above picture shows both Ed’s recent task and his next one!.  After completing the pipework he will start rebuilding the reverser air cylinder.

Throughout the Summer Phil, with assistance from anyone who looks underemployed / he can rope in, has worked on de-rusting and priming the running gear of #938.  Huge progress has been made and she is looking a great deal better.  In the next couple of weeks the priming and painting will be completed so that the areas that have been de-rusted do not deteriorate again.

Phil at work on the rods

So a very busy time in the steam shop with a lot of progress.

Nigel