Rainy day here in central Pa.

Got some work done on 67.

Removed sludge from the journal boxes and added fresh oil.

The soft coal is removed. Burning it outside my house right now!

Will bring plenty of anthracite to reload the hopper and stove tomorrow.

Speaking of the stove. It wasn’t bolted together or mounted to the floor. Oh, well. It’s bolted together and mounted now. I bought some pipe and will light a fresh fire in it.

Will report back tomorrow.

Middle picture is the whistle valve. Rusty and soaked in water. Needs some love.

Got the stove finished and did some cleaning today. Will order a new seal for the brake cylinder tomorrow.

Looks very good. Nice fire in that stove!

Howard P.

Thanks Howard.

Heading into winter. Figured I’d fix the stove first so I’m comfortable while restoring the interior.

Mark

Smart man! In terms of mechanical work - wheels/frame, etc - what needs to be done to get this on the rails at the Stewartstown?

As always. Thanks Big Jim.

The running gear on this thing is in great shape. Brakes, wheels, and linkage look perfect. Operation on our line will come down to the air brakes. Safety first!

They look good also. I’ll rebuild the air cylinder and we’ll figure out how to best rebuild the triple valve.

Then it’s “in service” and safe to operate, but still ugly nevertheless.

I’m currently learning this part of restoration. As a mechanic by trade, I don’t normally worry about cosmetics. I make the machine safe and reliable. Forget how it looks….

I’ll need to mix the worlds of function and aesthetics to make this work.

Learning new things everyday, and I’m grateful for it.

You don't let any grass grow under your feet.

BTW this website has the best discussion I have seen of bodywork and painting (I say that as someone who has never attempted anything of this scale). In particular note "other bodywork". http://sp9010.ncry.org/restoration.htm They haven't updated it for a few years and mostly update on facebook these days, but most of the painting was finished five or so years ago anyway.

Thanks PMC.

I’ll check out that website.

As I said, I’m very new to learning paint, coatings, and such. But I do notice patterns, most of the nasty peeling paint I see is directly on top of the steel’s mill scale. Never seems to stick to it. Maybe the mill scale has to get removed, maybe a more aggressive primer should be used. This is the best part for me.

Figuring it out.

Oh my!

I just did a quick search on painting over Mill Scale. Looks like I have my answer. Don’t do it.

Blast it down to clean metal then coat it from there.

Makes sense now all the paint I see peeling off on all this old RR equipment. What a shame that the parts weren’t prepared properly.

Mark

You should do fine with a SP6 commercial blast to clean up the metal. Recommendation: You can paint just about anything over epoxy primer and it sticks like crazy. Whatever you use for the finish coat, make sure the color coat binder and pigments are UV stable. I’m familiar with a red caboose that is starting to bleach out after a couple years. Coating itself is perfect, pigment not so much.

Found an interesting picture that the University of Pittsburgh has. The guys are standing in front of the Caboose #. But if you zoom in…sure looks the top of a 6 and a 7.

I read somewhere that it was in a grade crossing accident and that’s why they added the whistle.

Looks like this is that accident.

https://www.ydr.com/videos/life/2023/10 ... 157616007/

The local news guy came out to talk with me the other day. I’m nervous and twitchy, and even got the donation date wrong. It’s 1989, not 1988. Here ya go.

Kappy, what a great find! I read something about the EBT has the test benches to do older brake valves. But that caboose is "new" enough that Buncher/Multi-serve in Leetsdale Pa could do it and are great to work with also. Love the picture you found. The railroaders are surely discussing who's gonna get the blame! Reminds me of the only time I hit a vehicle at a grade crossing. A semi hauling brine from the oil and gas wells in far southeast NM swerved at the last second completely missed the crossing and ended up high centered on the tracks. My train of potash weighed 8700 tons and I was doing 27mph. The SD-50 hit the semi right at the fifth wheel and the truck didn't come apart and flung the truck and trailer into the track side ditch. The lucky truck driver survived apart from having to change his drawers! I think the New mexico DOT cop who showed up first was pissed and issued the driver and the trucking company at least 8 violations.

No, don't try to paint over mill scale. Technically you could chemically etch it, but not worth the environmental, let alone the procedural hassles.

Blast it with some medium that produces 'tooth' in the surface -- not smooth media or beads or whatever. Then brush the surface down to make sure none of the medium stays embedded in the paint. Use rust converter on any actual 'rusty' areas (to phosphate the oxide) and then prepare the surface finish if needed for the epoxy self-etching primer. Then topcoat the primer with your finish of choice...

Multi-Service Supply told me a few months ago that they are phasing out servicing older valves - your typical AB and ABD. Dunno about D22. They were real convenient for me to drop off and pick up. Oh well. Pittsburgh Air Brake still does them as far as I know.

I’d usually recommend that the valves be rebuilt/exchanged with a certified brake shop. As fastidious as I am repairing things, those are something I won’t touch since we don’t have a test stand.