<P>I've heard that when the boiler inspector first did a hydrostatic test on LIRR G-5 #39, he remarked that the boiler was one he'd fire up on the spot. Of course, that wouldn't happen without careful inspection and testing. Have there been any other park or display engines which were reclaimed for operation with little or no rebuilding?<br>Was that the case with K-4s #1361?<br>




aurora7@juno.com

<P>I was involved in 1978 when the first hydro test was done on LIRR 39, while it was still sitting at the Carriage House Museum in Stony Brook. We used a pumper from a local fire company that one of the guys was in, and took it up to 100 lbs.<p>The flexible caps on top of the firebox were badly eaten away (some had no top at all), and they geysered water. The interior of the firebox was dry. The backhead sheet was badly wasted away along the fireman's side vertical corner, and along the top, due to the cab roof ventilator being left open for years.<p>There was nothing that couldn't be repaired, but "fire up on the spot" ?? I don't think so.<br>

<P>certainly some engines could be fired up on the stop. But not with the FRA's blessing. Those days are long gone - just as well, I say!<br>