Riding the M-1 Brill Motor car is worth the trip.

The car was built in 1927 from a kit supplied to EBT by Brill. It's a scaled down Brill Model 250 designed for EBT's 3 foot gauge. t's a fun ride. Some of the seating is folding chairs in the baggage apartment.

And the engine is the original 1927 gasser.

Phil Mulligan

The tough part is those who planned in advance and allocated their precious vacation time and non-refundable travel. Not EBT's fault, but still painful. Thankfully there are other destinations nearby that can be substitutes (Strasburg).

Well said, Sammy. Thank you, Ross Rowland

Hi
This is a setback for the EBT,, my friend and I were lucky enough to ride behind the # 16 this past October.. Hopefully the shop at Strasburg, can fix the problem of making a new wheel center...If not maybe the company that was suggested on another post,, can Cast a new Center... .

Please don't forget we are dealing with a piece of machinery that was built 108 years ago,, in 1916... also this is the main reason for inspections,, to find the problem,, and correct it... The one thing the EBT does not need to see,, is the locomotive pulling the passenger train,, and have the drive center fail,,or break,,..... As I said it is a setback,, and the EBT will overcome this .... Pat.

To me it makes sense to fix it now, and fix it right, and make reasoably sure the problem won't recur.

I wasn't aware there was an effective method of 'welding' cast iron that didn't impose more stress on adjacent material than it helped. That's even if you heated the casting to a temperature very near liquidus and then allowed it to cool very, very slowly in controlled atmosphere. I would also suspect that the most usual method of 'repairing' cast iron, metalstitiching followed by high-temperature braze, would work well ((or perhaps be cost-effective) for this situation.

Driver spokes are thin sections and probably, as Kelly noted, susceptible to casting defects like slag and blowholes in part of their cross-section. Likewise as Kelly says, getting the cracked driver on and off its axle involves considerably more stress to the aged metal, and I don't know whether NDT has been done to see where other 'stress raisers' or developing cracks might be.

'Recasting' using the old wheel to make an appropriately-scaled pattern would be what I'd recommend. And it takes the time that it takes.

One issue of concern is raised in other posts. EBT has to be 'conservative' in the usual sorts of ways about how long the repairs will take -- we all know 'they'll be done when they're done, and any time extimate has to be doubled and a safety factor added -- so they could always surprise by getting the job done earlier than 'expected'. But then all the people who have had to revise their travel plans and expenses may be able to switch them back now that 'opportunity's knocking again'.

The tough part is those who planned in advance and allocated their precious vacation time and non-refundable travel. Not EBT's fault, but still painful. Thankfully there are other destinations nearby that can be substitutes (Strasburg).[/quote]

In addition to Strasburg, which is of course a great destination for Steam, there are many options nearby as well, just check for motive power schedules if that is a priority -

Deleware River Train
Wilmington & Western
Northern Central (formerly Steam into History)
Black River & Western

It's possible to ride the Deleware River, Black River & Western and Strasburg in the same day! I know from experience! :)

Any weld or brazing repair on cast iron has to assume that the iron itself is of good quality, something that castings from locomotive builders typically were not. You can take a premium welding rod for cast iron, and weld a broken machine tool part with it, and it is easy, looks good, and will hold because iron poured by machine tool makers was typically of good quality. Take the same rod to a steam locomotive part, and it will sizzle and pop, look like the surface of the moon, and will fall apart in your hands.

When I was doing work at the EBT in the '80's, they had an independent welder working there doing boiler and other high end welding. As he told me one time, "I am a nuclear qualified welder. I can go into any weld shop or power plant, show them my credentials, be hired on the spot, and ten minutes later they are sing my praises. I come to the EBT, show them my credentials, get hired on the spot, and ten minutes later look like a complete fool! What in the hell kind of metal did they make these things out of? A lot of it can't be welded!!

If the defect in question is a simple break across one end of a spoke, a technique that we have used is to remove the tire, drill a hole from the tire seat down the center of the spoke and into the hub. Counterbore the top end and tap the bottom end, then install a high strength socket head cap screw, installed at high torque, compressing the break back together, and giving the cast iron spoke a steel core. Letter punches are then used to stamp the outside face of the rim to call out that the spoke in question has been repaired by pinning.

Kelly your spot on from my point of view. The quality of the cast iron is paramount to getting a decent weld. What kind of rod is almost moot. A number of years ago a fellow member and I welded up the spokes and one center on cast iron driver wheels. Funny the wheels were inspected by wheel shop who put tires on it and touched up the axles and they said the welding was good. I was so stressed welding those crappy cast iron wheels. You'd be going along and all was well,then you hit a sand pocket and your world disappeared. We chased a crack on one wheel center almost to the axle. I hated to continue grinding away but the crack just kept showing up. It is like pounding sand. The wheels were rebuilt and new tires set and I hope never ever to be asked to weld on cast iron centers again. I had an old camelback drill press that got rough handling by previous owner. I welded the original belt drive for auto feed back together with E6013. Looked almost as bad as the wheel centers but it held much to my surprise. The casting quality on this drill press was very much like RR castings, poor quality. Metal stitching is an interesting approach to a lot of industrial cast iron repair. Regards, John.

On a stock Baldwin outside frame 2-8-0, wheel center came off in two halves when tire was removed. Oops. After redesigning the dimensions of the counterweights for the different weights per volume, new centers cast in steel and installed normally. Last I heard, doing fine in service. Your mileage may vary.

I rode the EBT as a young boy in the mid 1960's. Even then I recall seeing crack in the spoke and a chunk that was seemingly held in place with the driver tire. I was just a kid at the time, totally interested in trains, but still it must have been fairly obvious for me to notice it. I also noticed how much the coaches flexed as we went down the line, bending from side to side. So this definitely isn't a new problem.