Thursday, June 11,2009 will be the official return to steam of ex-Canadian National Railways 2-8-2 no. 3254. If you don't already know, she resides at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, PA. A fire was built in her firebox on Tuesday, and the safety valves were set earlier today. This is her first run since Jan. 17. While that doesn't seem that long ago, each of her drive wheels have been turned to match one that had been wearing faster than the other 7. To fix the suspension problem which caused this uneven wear, a new Bissell post and bearing for the post was made. Other work was performed on the loco to keep her road worthy for the 2009 season.
Here is the bissell post close up. It's bearing is like an upside down crown. This had to be specially cut to ease some weight of the frame from the axle bearings. This should slow down the driver wear.
Another angle on the same matter. The bissell post acts as a weight on the lead truck (pony truck) to keep it from bouncing all over the rails as it goes through switches and (could it be?) uneven rails.
3254 will run yard duties and possibly have a break in run on the main before her excursion to Delaware Water Gap's Founder's Day celebration on June 27. The schedule for 2009 is available online at http://www.nps.gov/stea/