FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 17, 2007

RAILROADERS MEMORIAL MUSEUM
TEMPORARILY SUSPENDS K4 RESTORATION

ALTOONA, PA. -- The Railroaders Memorial Museum today announced that it has temporarily suspended daily restoration work on K4 1361 due to delays in expense reimbursement from the Commonwealth and concerns regarding the structural integrity of the K4’s boiler. Daily shop work will cease within the next 10 days.
“We certainly regret having to make this decision. However, based on the information provided by our current employees and contractors, as well as our financial constraints, our only option is to drastically slow the pace of the K4 restoration project in order to properly complete the necessary engineering work on the boiler,” said Scott Cessna, president and chief executive officer of the Railroaders Memorial Museum. “This will allow, once and for all, for the proper testing, repair, and documentation of the work necessary to bring the K4’s boiler into compliance with Federal Railroad Administration regulations.”
“There has been a change in reimbursement policy in Harrisburg as it relates to this project and we continue to work with the appropriate people there to obtain the reimbursement now properly due us in order to settle outstanding balances with our vendors. Those vendors who have already performed work on behalf of the project will be paid. This existing funding is secure and only the reimbursement method to obtain funds to pay for work already completed remains to be worked out with Harrisburg. Any level of additional funding over and above what we already have committed is tied to current budget negotiations in the Commonwealth,” commented Cessna.
Cessna continued, “The Museum’s Board of Directors has decided that when daily shop work resumes in earnest on PRR 1361, it will be done in Altoona at the new Harry Bennett Center, the Museum’s roundhouse complex currently under construction. This will allow for more effective and efficient oversight of the project. It has been an insurmountable challenge to manage the project effectively while the restoration work was being performed in Scranton.”
The Museum has completed the turntable installation and will shortly award the contract for the completion of the roundhouse itself.
During a recent examination of the boiler’s roof sheet, the flat outer metal sheet on the roof of PRR 1361’s Belpaire boiler, it was determined that portions of this sheet were too thin to allow the required safety factor for a boiler operated at pressure. The roof sheet must be in compliance with FRA regulations in order for the K4 to operate under its own power.
“I have the utmost respect for the current crew and contractors whose integrity demanded that they take the time to do the necessary calculations, examinations and measurements to catch this flaw before the boiler was completely closed and tubes/flues reinstalled.” stated Cessna. “The Museum does not wish to rush into a fix simply to avoid further delays in an already long-delayed project. It is important, and required, that this be done properly, carefully, and within the safety guidelines established by the FRA.”

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Thanks for the update Scott.

I haven't been out since April - how is the roundhouse coming?

The roundhouse was designed, put out for bid, and the low bidder identified and then we had issues with the Commonwealth's budget negotiations. We are in the process of remedying that and hope to break ground soon. It should be something less than a 7 month construction contract. See the aerial photo at this link:

http://www.railroadcity.com/gallery/index.php?cat=49

The roundhouse will start at the GG-1 and wrap toward the gravel pad behind the original museum building.

Thanks

Wow... that's depressing news. I hope someone writes a book when the restoration is finished about the whole process.

It is depressing news, but Cessna is shooting straight, and I think we all agree that a firm hand in the action has been called for. The Museum is much bigger than just the K4s, although for many of us, the K4s is our reason for the Museum. While very much saddened by this turn of events, I think everyone will agree that is has become a decision necessitated by a n overly long stream of events. It's time for the dog to wag the tail, not the reverse.

I hope I'll live to see the locomotive run. THe K4s design is my all time favorite steam locomotive.

This is sort of a good news/bad news story. I'm glad that the work will be done correctly, but have to wonder that in all the time the engine has been down that this hasn't been discovered earlier on an ultrasound.
Then too, I don't have the whole story and will be glad to see the final result (I ain't gettin any younger guys). K4s are a classic engine even if they aren't Frisco.
Good luck guys.

Not an uncommon situation when more than one hand is on the throttle of a complex job. Each brings his own set of points of view based on specific personal experience, comfort factors regarding different aspects of the job, areas of depth of understanding VS areas of ignorance, etc. Multiply confusion exponentially when a public sector sponsor is involved, particularly if they attempt to control things by importing outside third parties of variable competence and qualification to provide "advice".

I'm in a situation that is evolving faster than Scott's, but in an operating environment. My hat is off to him for taking control of all he can, which is the only way to get the job done effectively. If the commonwealth limits its involvement to providing support and getting out of the way, it will be done sooner, better and more cost effectively.

dave

I agree that having the K4 closer to home might make management of the project better. one thing bothers me though. To this novice, it sounds more and more like all this time, money and effort has been spent, and just now the boiler has been checked? wouldn't that be the first thing to be done? please correct me if I'm wrong.

Dave:

Here is a report from Joe Michaels (which I think was previously posted on here) from a non-railfan site. This may answer your question. The report was posted in 11/2006.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/cgi-b ... 002789;p=0

[i]"I have been doing the mechanical enginering for the locomotives at Steamtown since 1996. To answer a few questions and bring everyone up to speed, here is what is going on:

Locomotive 1361, the infamous K4-S. This engine got me started with Steamtown. It is a saga or horror story. This engine was placed on outdoor static display up on the Horsehoe Curve outside Altoona, PA in abut 1957 or thereabouts. rainwater got into the boiler insulation and the wet insulation severely corroded and wasted the rivet heads on a lot of the boiler seams from outside the boiler. The engin ewas moved down off the Horsehoe curve sometime in the 1970's or early 80's for its first restoration. This was done, and the engine was put in steam and used to make a few runs over the Conrail or Amtrak mains. On one of those runs, the engine derailed. This got the attention of a number of entities and the s--t hit the fan, bigtime. Aside from problems with how the wheel treads and flanges were machined, there were major issues with the boiler. Suffice it to say, the engine got a hard looking-at and a number of parties and entites wanted to know exactly how and where the bear s--t in the buckwheat. The engine wound up in the Altoona shops of Conrail. It was stripped down and the FRA, amongst others, asked that a Professional Mechanical Engineer be brought in to look over the boiler and make an assessment. I got the call and went to Altoona in October of 1996. I spent two full days climbing and crawling over and in that boiler as its flues had been removed. What I saw convinced me that the boiler had been put in steam in an unsound condition and caused some wonder as to how it had held together. Places on the backhead were so thin you could have busted through them with a slag pick.

I prepared my report with repair recomendations for the boiler. These included making an entire new backhead, flanging it to meet the lines of the wraper and roof sheets, then tying it in with full penetration welded seams. The front and rear flue sheets were also to be replaced as was the inner door sheet and partial side sheets and the foundation ring.

In the early part of 1997, 1361 was moved to Steamtown on depressed center cars and work began using an outside countractor. The work progressed, and a new backhead was made up to my design. Work continued for perhaps three years. I was out from time to time to do isolated engineering matters, but I was not retained to look after the job. One matter which did surface was the condition of the dome course of the boiler. The steam dome sits on the "Belpaire" course of the boiler, a uniquely formed section. The dome base rivets were badly corroded and heads wasted as I had noted. I directed these rivets be removed and re-rivetting done. That is when it got interesting. As the rivets were removed, it became apparent the dome was under some strain and never had seated properly on the boiler barrel. I ordered the dome removed for inspection. Sure enough, there were cracks radiating from every dome rivet hole in the dome course of the boiler. The dome flange had never "saddled" properly onto the boiler barrel and that had put the rivet sin a bending condition frm day one (1918 or so). We found cuttings from the original reaming of the rivet holes in the dome flange & boiler barrel jammed between the barrel and dome flange. This should have been good bearing contact. We did some additional NDT and determiend the extent of the cracking. This resulted in a section of the dome course of 1361's boiler, including the dome manway hole, being cut out. I designed a patch. This is known as a "flush patch". Since it was to go into an "unstayed surface", it required thorough submittals of drawings, weld procedures and similar to the FRA for approval. I detailed what was to be done, and a separate welding engineer qualified welding procedures for welding new A 516 boiler plate steel to the original boiler plate. We went with a double vee groove weld, open root, using E 6010 electrode for the root passes, back grinding, and then GFCAW with E71T1 flux cored wire for the stringers and cover passes. Boilermakers were certifed to this weld procedure for all positions. A patch was made up of new A 516 grade steel plate, rolled to the contour of the boiler. I ordered th patch be full furnace annealed prior to final fitup and installation. The patch was fitted and welded in per the procedures. The patch and a band of the surrounding boiler were then stress relieved by resistance heating. We then had Radiographs ("X rays") shot of the welded seam on the patch, one set "hot" and one set "cold" after the stress relieving. We had a good, sound seam weld and should have been on the way from there.

Instead, an unauthorized party decided to do some additional welding on the cover pass of that seam weld. This party was neither certified to the procedures, nor had he any business welding on a seam which had passed visual inspection as well as radiography. This party took a GMAW welder ("solid wire MIG") and proceeded to slobber on some additional passes onto the cover pass of the accepted seam weld. He then took a helper and they proceeded to heat the seam and his additional welding with rosebuds, then attempted to pen the snot out of it with rivetting guns. They then finish ground and polished their handiwork.

I was notifed of this development by other parties involved with work on the 1361. I notifed the FRA of this development. Their first impulse was to ask that the entire patch be burned out. I was able to get FRA to agree to a procedure for non-destructive testing, investigation and repair of the cracking. When the nature of what had happened became known, the party responsible was terminated from work on 1361 and removed from the property. If the s--t didn;t hit the fan previously, it did after that development. Suffice it to say that there was an investigation and I was aksed by offical entities to prepare an engineering report of what went on and the conduition of the boiler. This meant a few days of inspection. What came out of it was worse yet: the discharged party and his helpers had driven over 900 bad rivets. They had driven rivets improperly heated and improperly bucked. They had attempted to cover their tracks with deft manuvers using the infamous solid wire MIG and a rivet set, amongst other tricks. I had detailed partial replacements of the outer wrapper sidesheets (firebox area of the boiler). I had called for vee groove ful penetration welds using E 6010 root and E 7108 stick electrode. I took a look at the weld seams this party had run and knew he had simply butted things together with no bevel or root gap and fired up his MIG machine. We cut out windows and this was confirmed. the foundation ring of the boiler had become an abortion in its own right.

In short, I wrote my report, got with FRA on the repairs to the dome course flush patch seam weld, and waited for reviews and approvals. All this took a year or so. Somewher ein this process, another boilermaker contractor was retained and set to work.

Eventualy, FRA accepted my procedures for investigation and repairs of the cracking in the dome course flush patch seam weld. More radiography was done and the seam weld- what had been a good, sound weld- was ful of cracks thanks to the unauthorized welding, heating and peening. he cracks were "dentally excavated" with die grinders, and dye pentrant checking was done to be sure we were down to sound metal. Repair weldingusing the old tried-and-true E 7018 stick welding was then done, little stringer beads and dye penetrant testing of each pass. We got good repair welds. The entire seam was then radiographed and found to be sound- again. It was then fully stress relieved- again. It was then radiographed when cool- and found sound.

FRA came out to Steamtown in October of 2005 and I mwet with them. We spent half a day reviewing records and on and in that boiler. They accepted the repair job on the dome course flush patch seam weld. The steam dome, having never fitted right, was sent to an outside heat treaters and full-furnace annealed. It was then saddle donto the boiler and the dome base flange was locally heated and worked down so it saddled properly onto the boiler. Finally, the dome was re-rivetted.

Meanwhile, back at the firebox end of things, the degree of bad workmanship was such that the inner and outer side sheets (firebox side sheets and out wrapper side sheets) had to come off. Temporary shoring, made from wideflange or I beam was put in place to support the crown sheet and roof sheet.

1361's boiler is coming along slowly. It is a function of funding and manpower. Concurrently, the contractor is working on the frame, spring rigging and brake rigging. the tender is pretty well back together with a mostly new body.

A new smokebox is on 1361's boiler as is a new front fluesheet. A new foundation ring has been made up and this is one heavy hunk of steel. The new inner door sheet and backhead were being hung on the boiler to allow fitup of the sidesheets.

Over 900 rivets, including the bad ones the previous contractor had driven, were removed and re-rivetted. In some instances, it was necessary to go oversized. The mudleg washout handholes were an abortion, courtesy of the Pennsy shops last efforts. These were replaced with new ASME code forged handhole rings and handhole plates.

1361 had been rushed out of Pennsy's Juniata shops when she was built. Forget what you heard about oldtime craftsmanship. The attitude was something like: "get the thing done, steam tested and out the door and into revenue service". One such matter was the throatsheet of the boiler. Inspection of the throatsheet revealed the surfacehad very fine, shallow cracking. Most of this was very shallow and could be polished out with no significant material oss. This brought up the matter of how the cracking occurred. the throatsheet was heated to a red or orange heat and hot flanged over dies when it was made. Putting my mind in a 1918 mindset, I came up with a possible explanation. The Pennsy probably had coking ovens at the Juniata shops and made coal gas to fire their heat treating furnaces and flanging furnaces. Coal gas has a very low heating value and is mostly carbon monoxide. If a piece of steel plate wer eputinto a flanging furnace fired on coal gas and the flame were run slightly rich, to aovid scalign the plate, it would also be capable of carburizing the surface. Once the plate was at temperature in that fire, it likely soaked up a load of carbon from the coal gas flames. the plate was taken out of the furnace, thrown into the flanging press and formed into a throatsheet. That done, it was likely put aside in the boiler shop to cool. If the boiler shop was like most old shop, and it was winter, it was cold and drafty. A cold draft hitting the hot, curburized throatsheet would produce a localized casehardening. This resulted in the fine cracking we fund. The Pensy likely was not going to take any more time than necesary to make the boiler sheets, so putting them back into the furnace to soak up heat and letting them at least normalize was not in the work plans. They saw no reason for this extravagence, probably figuring the service life of a locomotive boiler was such that they would be reboilering the engine before the throat sheet cracking was ever an issue.

Over the years, some of Pennsy's designs were such that things like feedwater check valve pads could never be kept steam tight. The boiler is deeply grooved in places from attempts to recalk areas that would stay steamtight. Pennsy did repair welding int he 40's and 50's and it was real birds--t welding. This all had to come out. Add the efforts of the first restoration and the next contractor and this engine had seen some brutal workmanship.

OK: with all the boiler work that needed to be done, why wasn't a new boiler made ? Look at a big locomotive boiler and you will see why. To add to this, the K4S used a Belpaire type of firebox. It required the forming of the roof sheet in a four-post forging press with special dies. These no longer exist. So, the alternative was to repair the boiler.

When will 1361 be in steam again ? I do not think int he spring or summer of 2007.

3. Other works in progress at steamtown: The Boston & Maine Pacific. This restoration is getting started. Thus far, I have the drawings in my shop. A longitudinal crack in the liner (double plate) around the steam dome manway hole was found, as was evidence the Boston and Maine had attempted repairs. I have proposed some investigation and done some design calculations for welded repairs. This engine is in otherwise better shape. Its boiler is gettign new staybolts and some fairly predictable repairs.

If anyone has ridden on trains pulled by the 3254 and the 2317, they rode on engines that I did the boiler evaluation and calculations on.

As far as "doing more with the rolling stock they have there now": remember that Steamtown is part of the US National Parks. They are at the mercy of whatever budgeting processes go on in washington. With the war in Iraq doing a good job of balloning the national debt and other more essential matters to be dealt with, it would seem that the National Park Service is not a high budget priority.

I hope this clears up some of the questions as to what is going on in Steamtown's back shops.

Joe Michaels "[/i]

Two comments/suggestions about this situation:

1. For the Railroaders Memorial Museum: Please, please, please stop making annual pronouncements that the engine is going to steam back into Altoona this year. You are damaging your reputation by doing this.

2. Is the museum going to take a fish-or-cut-bait look at this project? For example, if it will cost another $500,000 (or more) to finish the engine, does it make sense to purchase or trade for another engine to restore that's in better shape? Some that come to mind are B&LE 643, Reading 2100, C&O 2716, and H&BTM 12. Or maybe to trade the 1361 for the K4 1737 at Strasburg? While these aren't Altoona's engine they did all operate in the general area.

Chris.

Chris,

I cannot substantiate this, but from what I was told 25-30 years ago, the boiler on 3750 is also shot. At one time, there was talk about exchanging 3750's boiler with that of L-1 520which was said to be in much better shape. That never came to pass, so we may have to wait for 1361. I still expect to see it run in my lifetime (at 58, I'm not getting older, just chronologically enhanced). It won't be this year, or maybe the next two or three, but I'm not planning on heading to that great roundhouse in the sky anytime soon.

Kevin

1) I think that fact has finally sunk in, especially in light of the recent news.

2) Considering the amount of money already invested in the 1361, I could not imagine a greater waste of money then swapping engines and having 1361 sitting at a museum. The engine would have to be in really - really -bad shape to consider leaving all the dollars, grants and dontations sitting in what at this point has become nearly a replica rather then a restoration. Altoona was the HEART of the PRR, the railroad MADE Altoona what it was. Running steam not even related to the area would be as out of place as Canadian steam at Steamtown. If you are going to suggest other engines, perhaps the list is no further then the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. One option might be to swap out (large) parts from sister 3750? I suggest we wait to hear more from Scott and others regarding just how much "extra" work and repairs are involved.

It's funny you should mention the K4 #1737, BTW. This engine, the first ever K4 built was actually scrapped. The 3750 was substituted by the PRR in disguise but the true identity has long been uncovered and the surving static K4 is sitting at the Museum in Stasburg.

/Mitch

Hello,

The preceding report was a substantial piece of work and brings up some very fundamental points. Joe's comments bring back many experiences I had in my early career just out of college. I worked at a large central PA company that made, amongst their offerings, machines that incorporated stainless pressure vessels for the pulp and paper industry.

Those in this board may have read Joe's dissertation and considered it intense engineering babble that maybe regarded as overkill; be very careful to not judge this report harshly unless you know your business. Although I did not perform ASME calculations, I worked with engineers who did it. It is rigorous and extremely intense. If you don't have the calculations done properly, the local board can reject your design. That is only the head-end design aspect. You also have witness testing, approvals, etc.

I worked on the K4 in Resto I. Doyle McCormack was contracted to perform the first restoration. With his tenure and past experience, there is no doubt he knows his business. My involvement was brief but I do recall an instance where I was on top on the Belpair roof sheet directly above the firebox and noticed the severe pitting on the boiler surface. Albeit, I assume the boiler was properly inspected at that time and received a full grid ultrasound? But would an ultrasound pick up the cracks under the dome flange that Joe mentioned? I don't recall if ultrasound is strictly for measuring shell thickness or can it identify cracks?

On large riveted boilers, how many cracks are buried and not seen? Are they time bombs? I have always had respect for boilers due to their enormous destructive potential if they explode. The owners and care takers of large boilers have the moral responsibility to not only themselves and their staff but to the general public.

Many of you may recall the traction engine explosion in Ohio some years back. It was a Case 110 HP, their largest volume produced engine weighing in at about 20 tons ready for the field. The entire firebox crownsheet catastrophically failed instantly launching the engine in the air. This was in a local fairground and there were reports of tree branches lodged in the rear wheel spokes. The findings showed the boiler was in deplorable condition. This cost the owner and I believe his son, their lives.

Mechanical repairs are one thing, but boilers are in a totally different realm. If you don't know your business, you are not trained or you are not certified......stay away from repairing them.

Owner-operators are now under more pressure since there is no massive infrastructure to support maintenance. You must be a jack-of-all-trades. Steam locomotive restoration is not for the light hearted and lazy. Lives depend on the quality of the repairs.

This is not a flame or assessing blame, it is a word of strong caution. The condition of your boiler is your responsibility, if you 'know' the boiler's true condition and you know where your water level is at, you really don't need to focus on the fear of an explosion. That huge book of calculations on the shelf will help you sleep at night.

Regards,

Randy Musselman

I was at Steamtown yesterday on other business and took the opportunity to visit the 1361. I spent several hours getting the "real skinny" from the folks who've been directly involved with the effort,and a comprehensive overview of what remains to be done to return her to service. Suffice it to say that she's still a LONG LONG ways from making steam!!!
I offer my sincere condolences to Rep. Rick Geist,Dr.Andy Mullholland,the ARRMM BOD and all those who have contributed over the many years to this effort,and thank them for trying. As a man who has had his fair share of failures I applaud them for their tenacity and intent, and hope that in the years down the road they'll have the emotional and financial wherewithall to give it another try!!
I fully agree that next appropriate step is to pack up the pieces and move her back "home" to Altoona!!
IMHO-Ross Rowland

I am reminded of Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea:

"When the world is ready for a new and better life, all this will someday come to pass, in God's good time."

To err on the side of caution hurts nobody.

Good call, Scott.

MX