Steam Department

A day of steady progress in the steam shop.

The main focus was on refitting the tubes into 1630.  At the moment it is all preparatory work to ensure that we can establish a "production line" process when we do the actual fitting.

·         The major step, with considerable assistance from Bob and Joel in the wood shop, was the production of a measuring beam.  This is based upon Tom's experience from the last overhaul.  The problem is that the distance between the front and rear tube sheets is about 17 feet and the sheets are not perfectly even.  Each tube needs to have a fairly accurate 1/4 inch projection beyond the tube sheet each end and the variation between the shortest and longest, due to the variation is the sheets, is around 1/2 inch.  So, to cut all to a standard length and grind down to the exact length would be a VERY slow process.  Also test fitting each tube into the boiler in order to mark where to cut is very hard work.

Tube measuring beam

So, based upon Tom's experience the beam provides a much simpler approach.  It was made with a hook at the rear end which, when passed thru the hole in the rear sheet, will hold the beam accurately to the face of that sheet.

Hook for rear sheet

(Don't worry, this was taken before the hook was finally tighted onto the beam!)

The other end is marked with colored bands at 1/8th inch spacing.  We simply note which band is visible at the front tube sheet, mark the hole with that color, and repeat for 180 holes.  We can then cut tubes to 4 lengths (1/2 inch longer than the measurement) and fit to the holes based upon the color codes.  It will take some time to mark up the whole tube sheet but will save a great deal of time overall.

Color code for front sheet

The other challenge that we confirmed in this exercise is a little anomaly with 1630.  Normally the pattern of holes in the front and rear tube sheets is the same, which means that you can simply count vertically and horizontally to match where to place a tube.  Snag !.  Somewhere along the line, probably when the rear sheet was replaced in the late 1930's, 1630 acquired sheets that do not match front to back in some areas.  This means that we have to be very careful in matching the holes when measuring and then number them at each so that we can place the tubes correctly later.  It will be a LOT easier to make sure we have everything matched using a timber beam than to try and match using heavy steel tubes !.

·         Production of ferrules continued steadily.  We produced about 40 so we should have the supply in hand by the time the length measurements are complete. 

Set up to cut ferrules

New ferrules await final clean up

The objective will be to place all the ferrules in the back sheet in a single exercise once we have done the measurements;

·         Glenn and Jerry cleaned up the ends of the tubes that we swaged last week.  This points up a learning.  The mill scale on the new tubes is a lot more difficult to remove once it has been heated and swaged.  So, in future, we need to wire brush the new tubes before we swage.

Jerry cleans up the swaged tubes

In other areas:

·         Work progressed on the set up of the "new" house air compressor.  New is a relative term as it is an EMD locomotive compressor of 1950's build acquired from a Milwaukee Road shop.  However it is an important pre-winter task as we will use a lot of air in tube fitting and riveting the patch.  The existing compressor is getting "tired" and past experience is that digging the Sullair out of a snow drift and starting that up makes for a slow start to work on a winter morning.  This is a major enhancement that is being funded from the annual Sanfilippo benefit. 

The compressor site has now been cleared and work is starting on set up. 

New air compressor WiP

The site is subject to review.  There are concerns that the compressor will be too noisy when running in the shop and it may be best to site it outside.  However that could not be done until Spring to coordinate with B&G work on the shop.  As very little change would be needed to piping or electrics between the two locations, we will set up inside now and decide, based upon experience over winter, if this is the permanent location.

·         Bob and Stu worked on the wiring for the water supply that we need to change to make it more readily usable next year.  (It was a little embarrassing that the Leviathan team ended up using a fire truck to get water as the water system was so tricky to start).

So a reasonable day of progress on several fronts.

Nigel

Well I'm glad to say that after the problems last Saturday we were able to move forward very well this weekend.

Glenn did a great job during the week in getting the starter of the Sullair rebuilt and refitted.  It may be overkill but we added a battery isolator on Saturday !.

On 1630 work on rebuilding the boiler proceeded well:

·         Collin and Jeff made great progress on painting the boiler shell.  After final cleaning, almost all the interior of the boiler barrel was painted.  If all works to plan, Jason and Eric will be in Sunday to deal with the tube sheets, dry pipe and the last area around the exit.

·         After a few tests, swaging of the new boiler tubes started in earnest.  My initial intent had been to do 5 that we could test fit them to the boiler.  Having done the first couple, Tom checked them and confirmed they were good so we went straight into production. 

The first batch of tubes ready to use

We now have 24 swaged at one end and annealed at the other, so ready to test fit to the boiler, cut to final length and then start expanding into place.  Only another 150 to go !.

Swaging area now active

The swaging area now shows a good quantity of finished tubes on the "output" side.  No photographs of the process as I seemed to be the prime candidate for working the furnace and swager, which made photography a little tricky!.

·         Tom and Stu worked on methods for cutting ferrules from copper tubes now we know that we cannot buy them.  A series of approaches using band saws, pipe cutters or a lathe failed as the result tended to be egg shaped or had ridges that it would make fitting difficult.  However plan D worked.  Using the large band saw with a stop set at the required 5/8 inch length, two people can cut them reliably in less than a minute each.  A little work is required to take off the rough edges with emery cloth but we now have the means of mass production and produced the first ten.

·         Ed continued the boiler pipe work.  We now have the first of the new pipe runs largely in place.

Progress on fitting new pipework

·         Mike continued forming the second test patch.  This is now pretty much formed and ground to size and the next step will be drilling the rivet holes and fitting.  So far so good.  If the next stage works, we will be able to start on the patch itself.

Dennis was back after a busy summer and was able to progress some of the welding tasks:

·         On the Shay, the new retainers for the springs were fitted to the bolster so we can now start planning the reassembly of the truck;

New spring retainers welded to the bolster

·         Jeff worked with Dennis on the design for the a boom and lift cage for the fork lift that will enable us to use it for lifting large parts such as the throttle and dome cover on to the top of the locomotive;

·         Bob worked with Dennis on fitting the reinforcing sections to the gear of the wheel lathe.  These are now complete so when Dennis is next available in a couple of weeks, we can hopefully finish this gear and reassemble this part of the wheel lathe.

Also on the Shay, Tom and Stu drilled the tell tale holes on new stays and test fitted these to the firebox.

A number of tasks were progressed in preparing for the winter:

·         Rick, Bob and Glenn worked on clearing the area around the new large compressor in preparation for set up and testing;

·         Bob cleared the area around the cab of #428.  One of the cold weather tasks will be to complete the riveting of the cab so that it can be refitted to the locomotive.  Not only will this be a big step on #428 but it will free up a big and useful area of the shop for fabrication work;

·         Bill and Stu worked on the water supply in the boxcar.  This will need to be winterized soon but we wanted to ensure that it was operating since it was reported as inoperative when Leviathan visited.  In the event it proved to be fully functional.  However it takes an inordinate time to clear the air from the pipes and draw water from the underground tanks.  Hopefully we can make some modifications to install a non return valve and avoid this issue.  Once the air locks are cleared it certainly moves a lot of water quickly.

Nigel

It will be a short and late update this weekend as I went on the Zephyr trip today.  What a great day.  Tremendous effort by the team.  Well done guys for making it a such great experience for those of us who just had to sit back and enjoy ourselves.

As regards Saturday at the steam shop hopefully all the bad things for a while happened this weekend!!.

First, the most critical job now to be done is painting the interior of the boiler, which can only be done by a small number of our team who can fit thru the access hatch to work inside the boiler.  Unfortunately one is facing a serious family health problem and the rest had other commitments so we were unable to progress the painting this weekend.

So we focused on setting up to prepare the tubes for fitting.  Each tube must be swaged (reduced in diameter from 2 to 1 7/8 inch at the firebox end), annealed at the smoke box end and then cut to exact length.  The original game plan was to complete the set up and then try a few test runs before maybe doing the first few tubes.  Sadly this was not to be.  We brought the first tubes in without problem

Bringing in the first new tubes

However when we tried to start the Sullair compressor, to drive the furnace and swager, the starter solenoid stuck causing the starter to burn out!!.  Having disconnected the battery and put out the fire, investigation revealed that the nose of the starter must have fractured a while back and just got into a position where it caused the solenoid to stick. 

No doubt why the starter failed

So we wait one week to rebuild the starter and hope we can start swaging next week.  Anyway, the area is now ready and the first 40 tubes were brought in and set ready for work.

Swaging set up now ready to go

Another piece of bad news was about the ferrules.  As noted last week, we received ferrules but they were 2 inch ID versus 2 inch OD.  The bad news proves to be that the supplier no longer makes 2 inch OD.  Unless someone else makes them we will have another very tedious job.  The alternative, if we cannot buy them ready-made, is to cut 150 5/8 inch long sections from 2 inch copper tube.  A perfectly practical but dull and time consuming job.

To complete our woes for the day, Ed and Bob were continuing to the fit of the pipe work.  The simple job of heating a nut to remove it from the stud to allow the pipe bracket to be adjusted to the new pipe took a good part of the day.  What first seemed to be an empty acetylene cylinder proved to be a regulator than had gummed up and will need to be reconditioned.

On a more positive note we went thru with B&G the plans for grading in front of the shop and preparing to install the new air compressor to feed the new shop.  This will allow us to rivet (and swage) without relying on the Sullair.  We were also able to work with Jeff on the layout for the air supply in the new shop.

So some overall progress despite a number of setbacks.  Let's hope for better this week.

Nigel