New England Steam Corporation is prepping the big Pacific for a move to take place sometime in the next year. "When" will be determined by the allignment of donated services and continued growth of the capital fund. Recent foundation awards and the generous response of the railfan community. Maine retailers have also supplied tools, equipment, and lubricants.

Over the past few weeks, volunteers have met at the locomotive to begin applying rust penetrant and oils, in this case, a mixture of acetone and automatic transmission fluid. Two weeks ago, we began by applying it with brushes to every suraface that should move. Yesterday, the effectiveness was only too clear. the rods have opened, there is some "little" movement, and we could began loosening up the joints. A rental office in Waterville donated use of a power washer and Pan Am allowed us to use their spigot to give 470 its first cleaning in sixty years. A three man team spent four hours washing out debris, broken glass, and probably a thousand pounds of ballast from the frame, ash pan, and every tight space where it could accrue. Some material was bagged for removal.

After the washing, a second team arrived and reapplied rust breaker lubricant. They got into crevices which were painted shut and filled with matter only two weeks before. Several journal boxes had been filled with storm water and generous helpings of stone ballast. Drain holes were drilled and the water piddled out. Workers went in with gloved hands and scooped out the stones. The bearings will be inspected, cleaned, and re-lubed. The holes will be tapped and plugged. Eventually donated roller bearings will replace the friction surfaces, but maintained to appear as historically shown.

New England Steam Corporation is very careful with donated funds, but we wanted to show supporters that progress is being made and we are in the "positive column" with regard to restoration. The lubrication program will continue indefinitely as prepping for removal from the park.

Please check us out on Facebook and at our website http://www.newenglandsteam.org .
Your donations (funds, parts, materials) make a huge difference. NESCo is a tax-deductable 501c3 .


Removing grit accumulation from tight spaces.


Cleaning the pilot deck.


Tight running gear overlaps get cleaning before lubrication.


Ash pan is relieved of grit, broken glass, and hundreds of pounds of ballast.


Tender brake linkage is lubricated for the first time in six decades.


Remember when the Tin Woodman says, "Ahhhh! That feels so good!" I swear we heard that same expression.


Crossheads are get a great deal of attention.


Skilled volunteers remove ballast and broken glass.


Rust penetrant is liberally applied to all moving surfaces as a rule.



Journal boxes which have been filled with storm water for years are finally drained. The boxes will be jacked, cleaned, and re-oiled in a few weeks.

Great to see the progress.
I just witnessed ex D&RGW #491 come back to life after 46 years.

470 will be just as spectacular

Ira Schreiber
Aurora, CO (and Maine too)

Glad to see progress on the MEC steamer. If those rods aren't coming off for the move, I hope they continue the lube job on them. Also, watch those cylinders..

Ryan

The side rods will likely stay in place when she's moved. The main rod will come off.

We have cylinder plugs but haven't installed them yet. We want to use a fiber optic scope to look inside the cylinders and get an idea of what to expect. The plugs have been missing for decades and no doubt, we'll find rocks inside the valves. The cylinders themselves are a crap-shoot. We won't know until they are opened, and that won't be until she's prepped for removal. We can hope they're smooth, gray, and shiny, but realistically...who knows?

Pan Am employees on passing trains or leaving work after their shifts have given us thumbs up or stopped by to share enthusiasm for the rebuild. Their good will keeps us pumped.

There will be another lubricating session in two weeks. We are seeking technical diagrams for the Sunbeam dynamo, the Nathan cross-compound pump, the headlight, tender light, lubricator, power reverse, and every component that can be rebuilt. Digital copies are welcomed. newenglandsteamcorp@gmail.com . We can accept Google drive for transfer.

Just a quick update. These are appliances on 470 for which we would like tech diagrams and specs. We can accept digital copies on Google Drive or paper copies at our mailing address.

New England Steam Corporation
P.O. Box 302
Winterport, Maine 04496

Coffin Feed Pump and Feed Water Heater http://coffinpump.com/company/history/
Sunbeam RE-3 Turbo-Generator
Detroit Lubricator Model A, Number 35703
Nathan Lubricator (on the compressor)
Hancock Inspirator Type H
Westinghouse 8½" Cross Compound Air Compressor
Locomotive Booster Type C-1 (470’s looks like a C-2) Franklin Railway Supply Company
Westinghouse No. 6-ET brake equipment
Standard Stoker B-1623 and HT-1 http://www.multipowerinternational.com/stoker.html

Another update,

We went down to 470 yesterday to do the usual lubricating, but also inspected her bearings. We checked all but two of the tender bearings, and the ones we checked looked spectacular. The local ABC affiliate showed up, check out the video

Did every visitor over the years toss a few ballast stones into the firebox?

Those visitors who did toss in ballast, tossed in more than a few pieces. We extracted bottle Pepsi bottles, rocks, pop-tops, and just about anything else you can name. That doesn't account for the tender which will have to be cleaned by people in haz-mat suits.

The journals, however, were a treat, being clean and shiny. We will next be attacking those portion which were submerged with Scotch-Brite, then relubing.

Please visit http://www.newenglandsteam.org

We are in a major funding campaign at present. People wishing to receive the brochure can contact us at newenglandsteamcorp@gmail.com .

Check this report while it remains online:

http://www.foxbangor.com/news/local-new ... ation.html

Next time you jack those journals up, you might want to place a piece of plywood or rubber between the jack and the bottom of the journal. Metal-to-metal contact is slippery.

An acquaintance of mine now has a slightly shortened finger when the jack slipped off the journal due to an incident many moon ago whilst "jacking & repacking" a journal.

Good to see substantial progress being made.

Actually, your not jacking the journal up. The axle doesn't move. The axle box is what is being jacked.

Bob D.

@Bob D

You are, of course correct. You do jack the box.

The point being is to avoid metal-to-metal contact when jacking......

Sometimes however, the axle will rise up with the box & has to be restrained by a widget which goes under the jack & hooks over the wheel plate just above the tread to prevent the wheel from moving.

Good morning all! Two weeks past, and we're back on the journals of 470, and a few new surprises.


CMO Leverett Fernald, uses a tool to polish the surfaces of several axles, to clean and resurface prior to the onslaught of winter. These have been polished some, bathed in oil, and with receive a protective coating of a thick "Cosmolene" type substance, used in machining.



Before wiping clean, the results are implied in this photo.



The crosshead guides have been severely weathered in the past 60 years, but after multiple applications of acetone/automatic trans. fluid, and a little time, we are beginning to see progress. The old paint is dissolving and grit and rust are beginning to give way to lubricant.







Saving the best for last, the brass bushings on 470's rods are being revealed and lubricated for the first time since June, 1954. These are enormous, and oil just disappears into the new openings. Each lubricating session presents a little more satisfaction in this respect. The newly freed surfaces will be coated and covered over the winter.

A full day work session is scheduled where the firebox wrapper will be gridded and u/t sounded by professionals, creating a full map of that portion of the locomotive. The rest of the axle bearing surfaces will likewise, be polished, and the lubricating will continue. All this is slow, dedicated work, but if it was easy, it would have happened before now.

New England Steam recently received two foundation grants adding $25,000 to the funding freely donated by railfans, Maine businesses, and other supporters, including some regular contributors from RYPN. A reminder, all donations go directly to the locomotive fund. You can follow our progress on Facebook or newenglandsteam.org .

Check out the new "American Made" tee shirt!






$20@ , soon available on our website.