I was looking over a website dedicated to one of the Ffestiniog Railways Fairlie locomotives when I came across an article detailing some boiler issues they were having. They needed to remove one of the steam domes due to leakage but weren't all that keen on removing all of the tubes and the tube plate in order to replace them. As a semi temporary measure they used what they call carrot bolts. Apparently these are tapered bolts that can be used in place of rivets.

Is any one familiar with these? Have they been used in the states? Would they be legal?

I do not have anything in particular in mind with this, but I had never heard of them before.

You can find the rather interesting article here: http://www.merddin-emrys.co.uk/Pages/Boiler-Woes/Pages/boiler-woes.htm/

Roger

If anyone knows the answer to Roger's question,

Do you think that these "carrot" bolts could also be the same or similar to the "tapered" bolts used on frames and frame attachments on many locomotives?

A quick Google search shows the term is mainly used for a type of drive-in anchor used in rock climbing. Most of the references to it are from Australia. Doesn't sound like a type of fastener which would be used with pressure vessels.

Maybe the Australians adapted the term from another use?

I'm thinking probably something akin to our "patch bolts", driven in to make "soft patches" on boilers temporarily (yeah, right....) until riveted ones can be applied.

dave