There is nothing in the photograph that I see needs to be replaced, just blacksmithed straight again. The side plates of the expansion link are probably going to be about the hardest thing to straighten up and correct, since they have fitted bolts at each end needing to align precisely with the holes in the link. Hopefully the link itself has not been distorted.

Given the age of the engine, it is doubtful that any of these parts are made of particularly high carbon or other high alloy steel. Therefore, with care every part shown should be able to be straightened out and salvaged for further use.

Ex GTW #4070 threw an excentric rod on an excursion with ex Reading 2102 on Horseshoe Curve back in the latter 1970’s. Funny, people in the preservation community didn’t completely lose their minds back then. Complex antique machinery can and will break down.

In the 1970s, you also had mainline railroad management that didn't act paranoid about passengers, that didn't act paranoid about steam, and didn't act paranoid about railfans in general.

For better or worse, we have become intolerant of failures, even when they are relatively minor in nature. And one of the unfortunate effects of this is to increase the fragility of our business.

It's part of something larger we have to deal with, though not in this thread.

Oh, but the consequences of the Steam Tours failures with the early Conrail trips in the mid-1970's poisoned the waters for steam excursions on Conrail for the better part of the next decade. The Midwest Railway Historical Foundation #4070 crew was able to find a large machine shop in the Pittsburgh area in the week between the Horseshoe Curve trips and get the engineer's side eccentric rod straightened out and reinstalled. My memory of the incident was that a cotter key holding the rod on broke and allowed the rod to fall off. There is a dramatic photo of the incident happening taken by John B. Corns that appeared in Trains in, I believe, the August 1977 issue. John was riding the running board of one of the helper Diesels and got incredibly lucky in snapping a frame at just the right second. That particular trip lost hours getting going again and got back at something like 3 am the next morning. The train broke knuckles in two places and left potentially dangerous gaps between vestibules. I remember talking to someone who was on the trip and standing at an open vestibule door when the train went into emergency and grabbed a woman just about to cross between cars that parted and pulled her back to safety.

Kelly,

I agree. Now, I know this is impossible to surmise without being there in person, but what do you think the likelihood is that the crankpin is bent/distorted?

Best,
DC