Looks like Kent and his crew have made great progress on 401. He told me that they hope to have her under steam by the end of the year. This is 385s twin sister. Both engines are H-4 classes, the last two of their kind. Would be nice to see 385 like this someday.


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Sorry about the links but I can't figure out how to make them show up in the post.

I know that the 401 has a new boiler. Is that a new tender too? If so, what happened to the old tender?

Les

They used the under carriage and frame but the rest is all new.

Tenders seem to be one of the things most of us forget about when we think about restoring a steam locomotive. While it is not as fussy as a boiler or running gear you still have to have one that will hold water and the pressure it gets from moving with all that water in it. I remember when the #1385s replacement tender came to Mid Continent in the early 1970s. It had been in work train service hooked up too a CN&W steam Pile driver. Well it held water but one of our shop guys went inside to look around and he was worried and for good reason. At the time the bottom foot or so was rusted so bad and had pits so deep that we wondered how long it would last. We swapped the valves from the original tender to this one as the new tender no longer had the water legs to go to the locomotive. We needle scaled the inside of the tender and then painted it with some toxic paint that is still probably in my lungs. That tender held together for quite a few years. Now that tender along with every one on the property is rotting out beyond further repair {kind of like fubar}. Unless one is lucky you almost can plan on having to replace the tender on your next restoration. When retrieving the Copper Range #29 a few years back I put much of the loose parts and piping in the tender when we shipped it to Wi. It was a way to keep the parts with the engine and not loose things along the way. That tender looked ok from the outside, but the floor and side sheets are almost gone too. Lucky I didn't make a hole in the floor when tossing the piping inside of it. I think these tenders go to hell when they sit without water in them and collect condensation. I would like too know what modern coatings are out there so we could coat new tanks so that they will last 100 years like many have already.

I have not had the pleasure of seeing the restoration in person but I have heard they have done a bang up job on it. If I were going to build a new boiler for my locomotive I would go talk to them and see what you could learn from them. Not just as easy as getting a blue print and building one, then slapping it on the frame and put the piping back on. I would think there would be a lot of re-engineering involved by the time your done with a project like this. Congratulations to Monticello group on fine job. Cheers, John.

Tender rebuild seems to be pretty straight forward. I don't want to sound like it easy but you are really not worrying about too many moving parts, unless you are dealing with an auto feeder. But the price of steel for the walls will be a expense.
385s tender is a total loss. The top is rotten thru. The under carriage and wheels seem to be good and most if not all the parts are there. I don't know how much Whippany is going to do with her.

Speaking of tenders, I seem to recall seeing a photo of an oil (not coal) tender where the bottom had rotted out and the railroad just turned the tender over and used the top for the new bottom! Or maybe it was just a bad dream I had!

Les

I don't know is that was the idea behind it, but Westside Shay number 8 has a flipped tank. I was looking at her in Colorado, and noticed that some of the old paint was visible under the new, and the lettering was upside down. I guess it wasn't all that uncommon.

Thanks, Taylor

Les,
Isn't there a shot in "Twilight of Steam Locomotives" of a former SP 0-6-0 in a gravel pit in Louisiana that also had a "flip job" done on her tender tank?

Don C.

Don -

Perhaps that's where I saw the photo. I don't have the book however, to check it out.

Les

We used a product called "Apexior" on the 1522's tender after needle scaling and carrying out a ton of crap. It's mean stuff, so keep a good air circulation going and wear protection.
They make different grades, one being for insides of boilers and one for "cold" water vessels. Good stuff!

Great photos, thanks for posting -- the 401 looks terrific! Definitely need to stop by this summer for a visit.

Thanks! Kent and his crew have been working on her for quite awhile. To bad 385 is dead, get them both under steam and what a photo shoot that would be!

385's tender


385 delivered to Whippany

I recently ran across this photo of 2-8-0 #400 and I thought readers of RyPN might be interested in seeing it:

http://www.srha.net/public/photos/photo ... p?ID=53285

Number 400 is a sister to the 401; both Southern Railway H-4 class Consolidations. Unfortunately #400 didn't survive, but hopefully MRM will soon have the 401 pounding its way over the high iron once again.

Les