Moving the Big Iron
Steam Team Work Session 7, May 5, 2007
By Hans Brandes- Photos by Rich Currie
MNGRR Steam Engineer
Today was our seventh work session of 2007 and what a day it was. This was a memorable day in that the call had been made by our Steam Operations Manager that #8 was to come out of the house for work to be done.
Another well attended session by the following: Rick Knight, Roger Merrow, Joe and Jay Monty, Gerry Bagley, Rich Currie, Brian Durham, Mike Moulison, Don Sanger, Steve Kohut, Bob Meckley, Richard Bock and yours truly. John and Michelle Roppel also stopped by (many thanks to Michelle for making the burger run)
Hans, Steve, Rich and Brian all arrived at 0800 to start what was to be a significant switching operation. Moving almost 90 tons of iron, namely #4, #7 and #8 is no small task. Getting #8 out required that #8 and #7 swap places. Rich and Steve fired up #1 while Hans and Bob took down the tarp and framing around #8.
Since #7 and #8 had not been moved since last year, the next order of business was to get out the oil cans and grease guns and go at it. This took quite a bit of time as every cup and oil point needed to be serviced before a wheel could be turned. As Rich said: “If it turns, oil it, if it slides, grease it.” First #8 was heavily greased and oiled as it was the first to come out of the house, followed up by #7.
The big iron was pulled out of the house as #7 and #8 had their positions switched to facilitate work on #8.
With switching finally completed by 1130, the first order of business was to finish putting #4 back together and performing the hydro. Rick lead a group and reinstalled the steam supply line to the lubricator while the boiler was filled up. A fire was light to warm the water. The pressure was pumped up to 185 PSI. This time, no leaks. Everything was sealed tight. Having successfully completed this, the front end was put back together and the fire was stoked to make steam.
In parallel, Joe, Steve and Hans worked on getting the throttle (at the head of the dry pipe) out of #8. This was necessary in order to perform some ultrasonic testing as requested by the FRA. It involved removing 5 nuts and bolt assemblies in a very confined space. No regular tools worked so Joe did some forging and modified a couple of wrenches so that the could be used. Very ingenious Joe. Once completed the fitting came out allowing the testing to be performed. This testing will be done by Brian Fanslau from the Boothbay Railway Museum. Brian has done this type of work for us on a volunteer basis in the past. MNGR is very appreciative of his skills.
In parallel, Bob and Richard took on the dirty task of working inside of #8’s tank. Bob donned mask and suit and went on in to scrape and grind. The tank has a lot of loose rust on it that will have to be removed in order for it to hold paint. A cleanly painted tank is very important so that the water source remains free of particles that can plug up the supply system.
#4 continued to build pressure when Michelle came back with a box of ‘round steaks’ and fries from McDonalds. They like it when we show up and order 20+ burgers.
After lunch came the really tough work. Rick has mentioned for quite a while that the wheels and axles inside of box car 70 needed to be moved. These are tons of iron sitting in the middle of an old box car resulting in sag to the point of breaking if nothing were to be done. Gerry got the loader so that Steve, Hans, Rick, Richard and Rich could move these parts. Each part was very heavy requiring at least 3 guys per move. Who knows how many tons of iron were moved, but it was a lot. Moving this iron is a prime example of thought and work being done with regard to caring for equipment. Box car 70 is now breathing a big sigh of relief. Thank you Rick for making us do this.
#4 continued to build pressure and was finally ready to roll. The first steam up is a time where one carefully listens to see if anything is not quite right. Today, everything was right. The blue flag was removed and #4 with car 102 (being painted) were backed out of the yard on to the main line for coal loading and some test runs.
Steam from the cylinder cocks is a sign that #4 is back under steam for another year.
The runs were made and #4 and #8 were put to bed after a long day. Fortunately Mother Nature allowed us to perform a large amount of work outside.
This is our last scheduled work session for a little while. Our resources will now be turned to car painting and track work. Both are very important not only in terms of our presentation to the customer but to the safety of operations.
Our spring track weekend is in two weeks and we have 100 new five foot ties to put down on the mainline along with building the siding in front of building 7. In addition we will now be able to start replacing the variety of nuts and bolts being used with industry standard hardware.
Yes, it’s been written in previous articles and is now written again…we continue to have a lot of talent and will power inside the engine house. But we can only do as much as money will allow us. We still need money, it’s that simple. Cars can only stay in service if there is sufficient funds to perform the required maintenance and repairs. Our superintendent, Brian Durham, along with the rest of us would be very grateful for any contributions, large and small to help keep our fleet in operation. We are very creative when it comes to stretching a buck with many people digging into their own pockets to keep MNGR rolling stock going.
Please help us by contributing what you can so that we can provide safe and presentable equipment to our public. Thank you.
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