We hope in the near future to abate the asbestos on ex-B&M 494, a 4-4-0 on display in White River Junction, VT. This will mean the removal of the sand and steam dome covers. The covers sit on a heavy cast base, have straight cylindrical sides and a rounded top. There is no obvious feature like a nut or bolt holding the covers in place although, by this time after 60 years of display, there is plenty of rust and corrosion holding everything good and tight. Before charging ahead and possibly doing some damage, can anyone who has a done it, tell us how the parts are held together and how they come apart? For views of the locomotive, see the photo gallery at www.connriver.net/Photoark/494/494/site<br>

Well you have two domes you are talking about. For your job you will not have to remove the steam dome cover. That only opens up the inside of the boiler and there will be no insulation in there. The steam probably has somekind of metal shroud that covers it. You will need to remove this. They are just set on top and hald into place with some small fasteners or just by virtue of the pipes and fittings that might go through it. <p>The sand domes have a sheet metal top that is removed by removing a few small fasteners and then it is just pryed off. After you do this you will find two long studs that attach to the boiler and go through the entire dome. You will have to take the nuts off the ends of these studs and then lift the dome off with a crane.<p>You should go out and soak down all hardware every couple of days with penetrating oil starting now. It will be a big help. Trust me I have done this before. Also you should clean out any sand still in the sand dome if this is the case.<p>Tom Gears<br>



tgears@dca.net

The best stuff you can get for taking old, rusty stuff apart is call Kroil. I redid an old Cagney locomotive that had been sitting out in the rain for 40 years and Kroil got it apart without any breakage. If you can't find it where you are shoot me an email off list and I will hook you up with some. Good Luck and be safe!<br>Ken



Steam-Locomotive.com
steamloc@steam-locomotive.com

Ken you are right. I swear by the stuff also. it is made by a company called Kano Labs. You gotta look around for it a little but you see it is great stuff. It is often called Kano-Kroil by guys in the shop.<p>Tom Gears<br>



tgears@dca.net

<br>Kroil is manufactured in Nashville, Tn <br>by Kano Laboratories, 1009-X Thompson Lane, Nashville TN 37211-2627. Phone 615-833-4101, Fax 615-833-5790. Web site is www.kanolabs.com. have an introductory kit which is a steal and should be ordered. I have used many of their products and all are excellent. No distributors- go to the maker for product.<br>



Fuzzymoney@worldnet.att.net

In addition to penetrating oil (Kroil or whatever), heating any rusted-together joint works wonders. Rust has a different coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) than steel, and different metals have different CTEs (copper CTE > brass CTE > steel CTE), so heating with a rosebud torch (or for small pieces, even a propane torch) dramatically improves your success rate. A few cautions however:<br>1. This can be tricky on cast iron; if not heated uniformly and slowly, it can crack.<br>2. The heat will discolor and/or burn off paint. Do your feather-sanding-and-color-photos and save-sample-paint-chips before heating.<br><br>



doug.w.debs@lmco.com