Judging from Google aerial photos, those two freight cars were in a line of equipment that also included two old "Bridge cars" and one of two extant Baldwin-Westinghouse Class S steeplecabs. I wonder if those are on the scrap list.

Who are you calling "odd"?

Good stuff as always from your crew! I am always amazed at the craftsmanship of what you do at Strasburg.

Once again thank you for your updates and photos.

Question about the old Porter boiler. Just how old is it that boiler design? Appears to have the steam done right over the crown sheet like many of the very old Civil War boilers? Just struck me as odd when I saw the picture. That is one large hole that far back. Or am I missing something obvious? Happens a lot but I just had to ask. Or is this just a different design that I am not familiar with?

Was looking at a picture recently from I think the 1920s of a boiler on a flat car that had the steam dome in same place. We all agreed that this particular boiler was not a railroad locomotive boiler do to a number of inconsistencies. Now this large hole in similar place has me wondering. Obviously I am not a boiler guru.


Regards, John.

Kelly,

Thank you for the very interesting report and photos.

The PRR flat car looks like a model F30a? Many years ago a gentlemen I knew, built an exact replica in S scale in styrene. He became obsessed with the project and the detail and craftsmenship was phenomenal. As I recall he won an award at one the PRRT&HS annual meetings. I believe he was a dental tech or assistant. His meticulous attention to detail really came out to replicate the one-piece casting. He also researched prototype cars to accurately reproduce it in miniature.

Great find!

Sincerely

Randy

Frank,
I have it on good authority that the steeple cab locomotive was, indeed, cut up.

Kelly, would you please provide more detail about the plates and their attachment?

I wonder if the URTX car is actually an insulated boxcar, as I do not see hatches on the roof. IRM recently scrapped a similar car in a little bit worse condition.
I suppose it is possible that this car may have had advertising for some company, under several layers of paint.

Olin -

Yes, I think that URTX 26671 is more likely an insulated boxcar rather than a reefer. Either way, it's a nice save.

As for Randy Musselman's thought that the flat car might be a Pennsylvania F30a class car, the 1,500 PRR F30a's were numbered 473765-475264, so that puts number 474265 into that series.

Both cars are great additions to the Strasburg roster and will look wonderful on future vintage freight trains.

Les

It's a 1931 built ice reefer that was rebuilt as an RB (Refrigerator, Bunkerless essentially an insulated boxcar) quite late in life. The plug door is not original to the car... very 1960ish.

Not trying to get off topic of the great works of the Strasburg RR Shops, but recently saw this older picture of a boiler on flat car. I thought the picture was fabulous to look at, as many others did too. The location of the steam dome confused me. Then the picture of the Porter boiler going under repair at the Strasburg shops with what seems a similar design. Back channel I was told that this type of steam dome location was not nearly as rare as I thought. Was under the impression that the "big hole" on top of the crown sheet would be a source of weakness so I never questioned it further and accepted this as "undeniable fact". Wrong once again or is that called learning? Anyway thought I would share the photo link so maybe my question and confusion might make sense? The two boilers in question are quite different in many ways but the location of the steam dome appears to be a similar design. I really like the overhead crane in this picture. Regards, John.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/23403?size=_original#caption

We have had to deal with many boilers of this style. I believe that the Porter dates from the 20th century, but you are right, it is a very obsolete design, and poorly thought out, the main issues being that the crown sheet below it still needs to be supported, which means that the dome is full of staybolts, making fitting the throttle into the dome very hard to accomplish. Also, the staybolts ahead of the dome preclude an inspector crawling inside the boiler to inspect or work on it, so no access to the waterside, short of cutting out a flue sheet.



Here is a boiler we built in 2016, a wagon top boiler to back date the engine into one much older that what was correct for the locomotive.

This is a Farquhar portable boiler that we have been hired to overhaul. Another case of the dome over the firebox, and no access to the water side without cutting a man hole into the flue sheet.
Those problems all go away by moving the dome to just ahead of the fire box, and that is how they were built on most locomotive boilers in the 20th century.


There is not much to it. The 3/8" plates are made a .002 press fit on both their o.d.'s and i.d.'s, pressed into the pistons, then staybolt holes are drilled, tapped, and countersunk to line up with the large holes in the pistons, then welded to the staybolts that have been screwed in.

Many portable steam engines (not locomotives) such as Farquhar, Frick, Enterprise, and others used the "dome over firebox" design. The wrapper sheet is rolled in the traditional manner, and there is NO "big hole" under the dome. The staybolts from the crown sheet pass through larger oversize holes in the wrapper sheet up into the dome, where they attach to the dome top head. The wrapper sheet under the dome is called a "neutral sheet" as it has steam pressure on both sides of the sheet. The steam produced by the boiler travels through the oversize holes in the neutral sheet up into the dome.

There is no access inside the boiler, and there is no throttle valve in the boiler (of portable steam engines) as it is in the exterior piping.

Thank you both for the interesting information. I had no idea about the "neutral sheet" or how it worked. And the older design Porter is a pretty fascinating picture as well. Really appreciate you guys taking the time to educate.

Regards, John.

There are many words of praise for what we see. . .and seeing what's going on elsewhere, including what Strasburg has been doing for Florida East Coast's 148, there is simply no praise that can be added!