I'd send those M3 feed valves to Westinghouse heaven or hell, your choice, and find an un-employed F-6 and see if things improve. In addition to looking for the cracked pipe bracket, I'd make sure all my gasket sealing surfaces are clean...

Charlie

I had similar problems on a 44 tonner turned out to be a bad feed valve and the rebuild shop swapped it no problem, but it sounds like you have been down that road.

A related question for the experts out there. When I swapped out all our valves last year the train brake handle on the k-14 valve assembly is very stiff. We hoped that it would wear in and loosen up over time but so far it has not. Does anyone have any tips for loosening the movement up a bit?

Our last K14 had a similar problem. The independent was even worse. I greased the spring loaded detents on both handles, and spread a thin coat of white lithium on the detent surface. Works like a dream now.

I tried greasing the detentes and it does help some. I was wondering if there us a tension adjustment between the plates or a way to lubricate them without disassembling them. With my luck I would loose an important spring or check ball.

I think we fixed the issue! Everything points to the dead engine valve. This was left open by somebody (who knows when) and was in a lovely spot buried under the floor. We ran a 26 mile freight run with no air problems at all. Now I just have to deal with some small electrical gremlins. Thanks for the help.

Glad you got it fixed, They were not very good at labeling those things back in the day and even if they did they are illegible or have fallen off.

We have a few Engineers who when they have problems will just start turning valves to see if it fixes the issue.... Just makes it worse as then I have 2 problems to fix