I was browsing the changes on steamlocomotiveinfo.com site and happen to be reading the notes on FEC 148. Along with the notes of the boiler condition it stated that while in Travers City, MI it was determined the frame was crystallizing. This is the first I have ever heard that term used referring to a locomotive frame. From what little I did learn years ago about metallurgy this is not something that happens. Maybe some of the others here can shed some new light on this.

http://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomo ... isplay=302

This is just something I was looking for general info and clarification on as it sounded strange.

Mark A. Frazier

Maybe they mean "Work Hardening".

Work hardening comes from heat generated from machining. When I think of crystallizing I associate that with the changing of the molecular structure. I would think that would take extreme heat and the introduction of other metals.

Mark A. Frazier

Another potential is fatigue cracking. Given that fatigue cracks break down material along crystal boundaries, they give a crystalline appearance. It has been attributed in the past to "crystallization" which as we know happens when the material cools after thermal processing, rather than during service.