I will apologize and explain the timing. The engine became operational. I have be trying to get hold of Dennis for permission to post photos sent to me months ago. Dennis was in Europe involved with an altercation with an escalator that won, requiring medical attention and an extended stay. Many attempts to contact Dennis over the last 2 months were fruitless until last night. I have repeated my conversations I had directly with Ms. Huron in 2007 and have had no contact since. I have not seen the calcs, prints or the boiler. All the information I have is second or third hand except Randy confirmed through his sources the boiler is not ASME certified. I am not challenging Linn's design or Chelatchie's workmanship. What I am questioning are the lines seperating responsibilty between design and workmanship. These lines are clearly drawn by the ASME Code process. Where do they exist in this situation? Perhaps the legal beagles can chime in.

EDITED;

Guys this was my trashed post....go see the Code Shop Discussion, I re-wrote and posted there.....sorry about this trashed note......my fault I guess?

230.23 Responsibility for general construction and safe working pressure.

The steam locomotive owner and operator are responsible for the general design and construction of the steam locomotive boilers under their control. The steam locomotive owner shall establish the safe working pressure for each steam locomotive boiler, after giving full consideration to the general design, workmanship, age, and overall condition of the complete boiler unit.

That Mr. Austin is something I could explain. Let me do some resarch in the issue, while I do products liability defense (a boiler is a product after all, isn't it?), I am intrigued by what defenses, if any, ASME or other codes would provide, etc. Given the fact that even large boilers are custom products these days, I want to see if that imposes any wrinkles in the law. Of course, your jursidction may vary, and others, such as Mr. Anderson would be able to provide better insight into the FRA and regulatory bodies.

My gut reaction (without resarch) is that ASME stamped or not, if the boiler goes BOOM!, you as the designer are going to be hauled into court by a plaintiff's attorney as a co-defendant along with the operator, maker, supplier, and just about anyone else they can think of. Of course, you, and every person that touched that boiler as a defendant doesn't boil down to the real issue.

Give me a few days, I'm traveling for business, and I'll see what I can put together.

In all the discussion about certification of the boiler, I haven't seen anything about what the Customer wanted. I assume that the Museum must be aware of the type of certification required. I am guessing that a number of you saw the bidder's package. What did it specify?

Sec. 230.8 Definitions.


Person. An entity of any type covered under 1 U.S.C. 1, including
but not limited to the following: a railroad; a manager, supervisor,
official, or other employee or agent of a railroad; any owner,
manufacturer, lessor, or lessee of railroad equipment, track, or
facilities; any independent contractor providing goods or services to a
railroad; and any employee of such owner, manufacturer, lessor, lessee,
or independent contractor.

Sec. 230.4 Penalties.

(a) Any person who violates any requirement of this part or causes
the violation of any such requirement is subject to a civil penalty of
at least $650 and not more than $25,000 per violation, except that:
Penalties may be assessed against individuals only for willful
violations, and, where a grossly negligent violation or a pattern of
repeated violations has created an imminent hazard of death or injury to
persons, or has caused death or injury, a penalty not to exceed $100,000
per violation may be assessed. Each day a violation continues shall
constitute a separate offense. See appendix A of part 209 for a
statement of agency civil penalty policy.
(b) Any person who knowingly and willfully falsifies a record or
report required by this part may be subject to criminal penalties under
49 U.S.C. 21311.

John,
You probably got timed out by the board. Next time click the "keep me logged in button".
Happened to me a few times.
Matt

Guys...a helpful hint;
Timing out or getting bumped offline when you're on the last paragraph of a long and well-thought-out post is about as frustrating as it gets...usually cause for some intense verbal blasphemy. To avoid this, just pull up a notepad screen (available on nearly every PC and I think Apples have something similar). Write your composition in Notepad, then when it's all written, proofed etc., simply copy & paste it onto the RYPN message screen. You'll have plenty of time to add jpg's, quotes, HTML edits etc. And you'll have an offline copy of your work for your files that you can refer back to any time.
J