Does anyone know the status and of 786 and the repairs being done on her?

Rick

rbd@mail.utexas.edu

> Does anyone know the status and of 786 and
> the repairs being done on her?

> Rick

Rick:
The repairs on 786 are going well.The tender was recently removed from its trucks for the installation of roller bearings. The boiler was chemically washed out to remove all possible sludge from the boiler. All appliances have been removed and stored,and the throttle should be removed from the dome soon. Relatively little work remains to remove the boiler from the frame and remove the cylinders for repair.
While the boiler is off the frame,it will be reflued,and superheaters repaired.

All other appliances will be repaired as needed. We HOPE to have her back together for test runs late this year. If you want to come out and help,we can use all the help we can get,or if you want to contribute money,go to our website and you will find out the information there. Thanks for the question!

Kenneth Cotton
Locomotive Engineer
Austin and Texas Central railroad


kbcotton@flash.net

Ken: Has any evaluation been carried out on Mikado #771, in Victoria? She appears to be in good shape for a park loco.

glueck@saturn.caps.maine.edu

Kenneth:

What is the latest plan for repairing your damaged cylinder? Are you still planning to weld-repair the existing cylinder, or are you now leaning towards fabricating or casting a new one?

I hate it that something this bad happened to yall, but hopefully, whatever process you establish for the repair will be helpful to other operators in the future. If we're going to have steam running here in the U.S. for the next century, heavy repairs like this are going to become more frequent and the means need to be developed to make them.

Regards,
Hugh Odom

> Rick:
> The repairs on 786 are going well.The tender
> was recently removed from its trucks for the
> installation of roller bearings. The boiler
> was chemically washed out to remove all
> possible sludge from the boiler. All
> appliances have been removed and stored,and
> the throttle should be removed from the dome
> soon. Relatively little work remains to
> remove the boiler from the frame and remove
> the cylinders for repair.
> While the boiler is off the frame,it will be
> reflued,and superheaters repaired.

> All other appliances will be repaired as
> needed. We HOPE to have her back together
> for test runs late this year. If you want to
> come out and help,we can use all the help we
> can get,or if you want to contribute
> money,go to our website and you will find
> out the information there. Thanks for the
> question!

> Kenneth Cotton
> Locomotive Engineer
> Austin and Texas Central railroad


the Ultimate Steam Page
whodom@awod.com

> Ken: Has any evaluation been carried out on
> Mikado #771, in Victoria? She appears to be
> in good shape for a park loco.
Hello:

The 771 has been looked at,at she looks to be in about the same shape,makbe a little worse,than the 786 was before she was restored.All it would take is money,it seems. The 771 is most likely in a little worse shape because she was used as a switcher in her later years in Houston. At one time there was a gentleman that was willing to fund the restoration of the 771,but he has since died.

kbcotton@flash.net

> Kenneth:

> What is the latest plan for repairing your
> damaged cylinder? Are you still planning to
> weld-repair the existing cylinder, or are
> you now leaning towards fabricating or
> casting a new one?

> I hate it that something this bad happened
> to yall, but hopefully, whatever process you
> establish for the repair will be helpful to
> other operators in the future. If we're
> going to have steam running here in the U.S.
> for the next century, heavy repairs like
> this are going to become more frequent and
> the means need to be developed to make them.

> Regards,
> Hugh Odom
Hugh:

The plan is still to have the cylinder welded in a shop that has done this type work for more than 100 years. They have the knowledge and the expertise to get it done right. We are also considering some sort of clamp that can also be applied in addition to the weld for added strength. We have seen some pictures of clamps applied to some NKP Mikes,so we are also looking at that possiblilty. We believe this will work. Stay tuned!

kbcotton@flash.net

In the "old" locomotive trade journals there were many ads/articles on thermite weld repairs for broken frames, cylinders etc. These guys in essence recast around the broken or missing sections. Has anyone made use of the technology ??


lamontdc@adelphia.net

I think these would be most interesting to see. It would be great if they could make it to the internet. Not sure how to scan big page-size magazines like Railway Mechanical Engineer, perhaps in sections?

In the "old" locomotive trade
> journals there were many ads/articles on
> thermite weld repairs for broken frames,
> cylinders etc. These guys in essence recast
> around the broken or missing sections. Has
> anyone made use of the technology ??


bobyar2001@yahoo.com

Kenneth,

Thanks for the update. I'm sure a shop with that kind of experience can do a satisfactory job.

The cylinder reinforcing clamps you mention seem to have been fairly common on older steamers in the last years of steam operations. Most of the ones I've seen in photos appear to be a big piece of flatbar (maybe 1" thick by 4" wide?) located on the outside of each cylinder (between the cylinder barrel and the valve chest) with a ~2" threaded rod at each end (running perpendicular to the boiler) "clamping" the cylinders together. I don't know how much good these things did, but a lot of engines with 2-piece cylinder assemblies seem to have acquired them late in steam.

Regards,
Hugh Odom

> Hugh:

> The plan is still to have the cylinder
> welded in a shop that has done this type
> work for more than 100 years. They have the
> knowledge and the expertise to get it done
> right. We are also considering some sort of
> clamp that can also be applied in addition
> to the weld for added strength. We have seen
> some pictures of clamps applied to some NKP
> Mikes,so we are also looking at that
> possiblilty. We believe this will work. Stay
> tuned!


the Ultimate Steam Page
whodom@awod.com

> In the "old" locomotive trade
> journals there were many ads/articles on
> thermite weld repairs for broken frames,
> cylinders etc. These guys in essence recast
> around the broken or missing sections. Has
> anyone made use of the technology ??

Well,recasting the cylinder is always a possibility,IF the welding process does not work. We are dealing with a cast iron casting,so I'm certain that other elements have been looked at. Our Mechanical Superintendent has looked at many ways to make the repair,and has consulted several
current steam experts on the best way to make the repairs. We will see how the welding goes shortly............

kbcotton@flash.net

Hugh, our former K&T #10 (a 2-8-2) has such a clamp.

TVRM Shop Updates
aw90h@cs.com

If I might add;
Are you positive that you are dealing with cast iron?
There are several grades of Cast Iron used for castings, each having a different analysis dictating the filler material to be used. Preheat and postheat temperatures for this type of weld are critical to maintain integrity. I am not one, but a welding engineer can help insure the job is done right.


lamontdc@adelphia.net

> If I might add;
> Are you positive that you are dealing with
> cast iron?
> There are several grades of Cast Iron used
> for castings, each having a different
> analysis dictating the filler material to be
> used. Preheat and postheat temperatures for
> this type of weld are critical to maintain
> integrity. I am not one, but a welding
> engineer can help insure the job is done
> right.

I know of one Baldwin that had its cylinder material tested in order to do a weld repair where a cylinder head stud had pulled out, taking a chunk of the casting with it. The test results came back as "cast slag". So much for the builders using high quality materials.

That can happen in large castings where sufficent risers are NOT provided to allow any entrapped slag to float out. It can also happen when ladles are improperly skimmed or not filled enough to allow extra in the ladle so you don't get into the "flux".
Poor casting practice!


lamontdc@adelphia.net

Ken,
Could you post who the shop is, where they are and what type of process and expertise they have. If this is technology, old or new, then everyone who may need it at some point should have the information.

Thanks

robert@trainorders.com