I don't have any reference materials handy, but I have read several articles on 1940's era U.S. steam locomotives that suffered from unexpected cracking of their nickel steel boilers.

I don't know any details about the exact composition of the steel. It was stronger than conventional carbon steel boiler materials and allowed the boiler plates to be thinner and therefore lighter for a given size/pressure boiler. (An old mechanical engineering handbook I have mentions that the weight of a riveted nickel steel boiler was approximately the same as an all-welded carbon steel boiler.) I also recall reading that some WWII steamers were built with carbon steel boilers due to restrictions on war-essential materials. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

One book in particular that mentions the problem is the softback series on different steamers; I believe it was "Classic Power". The edition of this series on the Pennsy's Q class mentions the problems with cracking on the Pennsy's Q-2's boilers and states this is one of the reasons they were retired early.

AFAIK nickel steel boilers were never "banned", they were just known to be troublesome.

Dear Robby:
Sorry, we didn't have an chemical composition, just the tensil as per the FRA Form 4. Remember, this was prior to 49CFR Part 230 being revised and the requirement of a 1472 day inspection. Back then (read: bad old days), the Form 4 was one page, often (nay, usually) copied from the prior owners Form 4. The FRA didn't require a copy of the calculations to support the conculsions on the Form 4. Now, of course, we must use "real time" dimensions and perform a full analysis of all the parts of the boiler to fill out the Form 4.
Another couple of comments:
Stress Corrosion Cracking can be caused by several factors: metalurgy, workmanship, stresses and water quality; individually or in some combination thereof. Were I to guess (and I do), the problems with the CPR G-5s were initally the first three and later (Steamtown Foundation era) water.
Back in c.1974-75 I did the initial dismantling of No. 1293 in preparation for the Vermont Bi-Centennial Express. This locomotive had run very little since CPR ownership and the inside of the boiler and firebox were in excellent condition.
The G-5s were built with "nickel" fireboxes, 5/16th inch thick when new. You could still read the "heat numbers" of the steel on the fire side of the fireboxs.
When I returned to Steamtown as CMO in 1981, No. 1293 was already out of service and I was responcible for their (then) current running locomotives including No. 1246, which I cared for until 1985. No. 1246 had seen years of service in Vermont and exhibited a variety of stress corrosion cracking problems which I attribute to a variety of "water issues" and stress (due to fast fireups, etc.). Remember, all three Steamtown G-5s came to Vermont as "zero mileage" locomotives, so theoreticly should have been in similar condition.
J.David

A chemical analysis from the date of construction would have been done prior to the ability to reed tramp elelment contamination. I was hoping for something latter but anything would have painted a picture. In Dr. Stafford's Failure Analysis class at UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso) he has failure samples that have a chemical analysis from the late 1940s and one from the early 1990s when the gas pipe failed today and you can see how are ability to test for various elements has improved. It would have been interesting to see if there was one. Thanks for your time and thoughts.

Robby

Having never seen 1246 or 1278 without their jackets I have to ask what kind of patches they have to correct this problem.

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

John Bohon

1246 has an outside patch at the bottom of the joint between the first and second courses. This is at the location of the waist sheet bearer angle. It was applied in October 1949 at Ogden Shops (loco was built June 1946).

With two of the G5s having been built new with welded boilers (1216 and 1231, as I recall-- were those nickel steel or carbon steel?), it is interesting that 1293 was reboilered in 1950 with a riveted boiler. The two things that would have made the G5s even better than they are would have been cast engine beds (complete with cylinders) and welded boilers. The CPR motive power dept. was known for being quite "thrifty" in their design practices (one light bulb in the cab for all gages and deck lighting, for example).

Howard P.

I've no "inside" information regarding the CPR and 3101 but have now read that the CPR is also looking at the 3100.

TH