Posted: 2007-11-17 08:50:47.333 by Trevor Heath
The English Magazine "Steam Railway" is reporting that the Canadian Pacific Railroad is to restore the 1928 Canadian built 4-8-4 3101 with a budget of 1M. The above story is not quite correct: I called IPSCO this morning (November 16 2007) and this is what they said: "The locomotive is privately owned by us. We purchased it for scrap in about 1960 and decided to display it rather than cut it up. Yes I can confirm that we have been approached by the Canadian Pacific Railroad and have agreed to allow them access to the locomotive to perform a feasibility study to ascertain if restoration to operating condition is possible. The locomotive currently remains in the ownership of IPSCO. It is standing outside and is deteriorating. We fully support the Canadian Pacific in their endeavor" TH

I have heard it oft quoted that the CPR northers were banned from US service because of their nickel steel boilers.

I have never heard the details of why. After all, there were US locomotives with them, as well as other Canadian locos.

Can anyone shed light on why these particular locomotives were supposedly banned?

Rob

Rob;

I just read some commons on the steam_tech form that nickel steel boilers suffered from minute cracking around the rivet holes when they were punched. This cracking lead to premature failing of the boiler shell; many steam locomotives with nickel steel boilers had to be retired early because of this (PRR Q class were given as an example), more quickly ushering in their diesel replacements.

Carbon steel boilers did not have this problem. So maybe that is the reason why.

Greetings:
I had some experience with CPR steam locomotives with "nickel" boilers while working for Steamtown Foundation.
The class G-5s were built with boilers using "modern" materials. Nos. 1246 and 1278 both have their original boilers, Both have large patches due to cracking in the circumferential seams.
No. 1293, built in 1948, recieved an entire new boiler in 1950, paid for and supplied by the builder, Canadian Locomotive Co.
I was told that the earlier G-5 boilers were patched when they cracked, the later ones were replaced.
Chris Ahrens (another former Steamtown Foundation CMO) might have more/better information on this subject...
J.David

Greetings:
I had some experience with CPR steam locomotives with "nickel" boilers while working for Steamtown Foundation.
The class G-5s were built with boilers using "modern" materials. Nos. 1246 and 1278 both have their original boilers, Both have large patches due to cracking in the circumferential seams.
No. 1293, built in 1948, recieved an entire new boiler in 1950, paid for and supplied by the builder, Canadian Locomotive Co.
I was told that the earlier G-5 boilers were patched when they cracked, the later ones were replaced.
Chris Ahrens (another former Steamtown Foundation CMO) might have more/better information on this subject...
J.David

There were also a rash of failures in the U.S. in the pre/post WWII
time period from nickel steel boilers which were just coming into use.
I believe the cracking problems with these were also blamed on
caustic embrittlement but also on the use of inappropriate
manufacturing techniques. Rivet holes were commonly punched using
hydraulic presses, a technique which had worked fine on normal carbon
steel boiler materials. However on the tougher and unfortunately more
brittle nickel steel, this caused microscopic "tearing" of the metal
around the holes. The microscopic tears served as stress risers
leading to severe cracking around the rivets.

I don't know if the Niagaras suffered from this ailment, but I do know
the contemporary Q-2's on the Pennsy did, which was one of the reasons
for their early retirement.

Hugh