Steam Department

It was a day of great progress and one very significant milestone in the steam shop yesterday.

The activity was largely on 1630:

Tubing progress 02/23/2013

·         Fitting of the small tubes progressed very well using the methods established last week, with teams working both ends at the same time.

o   Collin and Eric ground the projecting ends in the firebox and all of these are now ready to flare once they are sealed into the front sheet.  As noted below, work on tubes in the firebox ceased for very good reasons in the afternoon;

o   Phil cut replacements for the two tubes that had hit problems and these were fitted and expanded.  So all the small tubes, other than the few that are in between the super heater flues and must be fitted as part of installing the flues, are now in place;

o   Most of the ends that are to be beaded in the smokebox were also ground to length. 

Brian and Eric grind the tube ends

At times Brian and Eric were working simultaneously on this with an impressive rate of progress.  Just a few on the fireman's side remain to be ground to length.

o   Brian is rapidly becoming our expert on the tube roller. 

Tube rolling in progress

Once the grinding of the engineer's side was complete he started again with the tube roller and worked steadily to the point that we are now substantially more than 50% complete in rolling tubes in the smokebox.  Everything on the engineer's side and much of the lower area is now done.

·         With installation of the small tubes nearing completion, Phil made good the paint (actually a specialized boiler treatment) on the 16 super heater flues to ensure that these are ready for installation.

·         Phil also spent a couple of hours on the sand blast cabinet in the car shop cleaning up some of the rivets needed for the patch. ........... which brings us to the major landmark of the week;

·         Dennis returned after a couple of weeks absence, due to illness in the family, and work restarted in earnest on the firebox patch.  The tube fitting team moved out to allow full access to fit the patch.

o   The patch was bolted into place, the last two rivet holes were drilled and bolts fitted thru them.

Jerry and Collin secure the patch

o   After more cleaning, degreasing and tightening, the patch was finally secured in place and Dennis was preparing to weld when I left for the Soiree.

The patch finally in place

o   I later received pictures from Phil.  By the end of day the patch was fully welded into the inner firebox sheet !!.

and now part of the firebox

o   This is a huge step forward in correcting the problem that caused the locomotive to be pulled from service.  It mean that we now have one more really tricky job to do before the repair is complete.  All the bolts currently holding the patch must be replaced by rivets, which are 7/8 diameter and about 6 inches long.  This will be a "fun" exercise but, once this is done, we will be close to the point where this part of the boiler is ready for hydro testing.

In other areas:

·         Dennis completed welding the gear for the back head mechanism on the wheel lathe.  Once the holes are drilled out and bolts fitted we should be able to assemble this part of the lathe and test it.

Dennis in action

That looks complete

The finhished gear

·         Bob continued work on the planer;

·         Dave machined new parts for the spring hangers on 428; and

·         Jeff was able to install the first sections of the new compressed air supply to the South shop.

Installing the new air supply

So, overall a very significant day for the steam shop.

No update next week as I am going to the UK on business.  However, a lot is now in progress so I hope that there will be a lot more to report in two weeks time.  I am hoping that there may be the opportunity to see some steam activity in the UK while I am there.

Nigel

It was a productive day at the steam shop although the weather was rather unkind, given our priorities.

On 1630 the whole focus was upon continuing the fitting of fire tubes.  As noted last week, our first priority was on trying to make the smaller air motor work with sufficient power to drive the tube rollers and so avoid trying to handle to the large motor in confined spaces.

Moving the Sullair to the North end and rigging a holding reservoir to assure minimal pressure drop as the motor works should have been simple.  It took Phil and me rather longer with a few challenges such as melting the wheels out of huge blocks of ice that had frozen it to the ground !.  However, Glenn's good work over the summer paid off.  The compressor starts well even at 15 degrees.

The effort was a success.  The smaller air motor with this enhanced air supply will successfully drive both the straight and flaring tube rollers.  This unimpressive looking reservoir, close to the locomotive, proves invaluable in maintaining pressure as the tube is rolled.

A reservoir close to the tool is critical

 The results were impressive.  We were able to both largely complete expanding the tubes in the firebox and reach about 25% completion of rolling at the smokebox end.

Tubing progress 02/16/2013

We now have just two tubes in the main area to refit.  We decided to expand all tubes before addressing the ones where the ferrule "popped" during expansion. Only one did so this week.  So we have that and the one from last week to refit before we have all fitted (aside from those between the super heater flues).

Rolling the tube ends is now a rapid process but is driven by preparation for the next step, which is flaring those tubes that are to be beaded after the first hydro test.  These need to be fairly accurate to 1/4 inch projection at each end and the flaring is more effective if the length is adjusted before this is done.  So, next week, a number of tubes that have excess length will need to be cut back to 1/4 inch with the angle grinder before flaring.  This was expected.  The tube sheets are not flat so each tube length is unique and must not provide less than the required projection, so you cannot hope to get each tube correct to 1/16th as they are fitted.

Tubes rolled into front tube sheet

Here you can see some of the tubes (for example the two just left of the lowest super heater flue) that project further and will need to be trimmed before flaring.

Tubes rolled into front tube sheet

Hopefully in the coming weeks we can get two teams working.  Once the smokebox end of a tube is rolled, the firebox end can be flared.  So it should be possible to have teams working in both firebox and smokebox at the same time.  The developing number of tubes with blue paint marks is an indication of substantial progress

In other areas:

·         The move of the McCabe was completed.  This location will allow it to be used without further movement but keeps it out of the way.

McCabe in it new location

·         Jeff managed to get the scissor lift moved to the shop despite the icy conditions.  This will allow work to start next week on installing the new air system into the South shop.

Scissor lift ready for use

A demonstration ride on the lift provided a rare opportunity for a look at work in the shop from above.  Looking the length of the shop, Jerry is relocating material to make way for the McCabe and, at the far end, work continues rolling tubes into 1630.

Aerial view of the shop

Looking toward the West wall, the team is working on the shaper.

Aerial view of the shop

·         Stu and Mike worked on reassembly of the planer.  Sorting out how the levers should link to the hydraulic control block appears to be a challenge judging by Stu's expression!

Do we have a problem?

So, overall another week of good progress.

Nigel