The ultrasound revealed potential need for partial Crown Sheet (CS) replacement on our Baldwin prairie. It is estimated to involve 180-190 stay bolt replacement to accomplish the work. Two questions: If only a small portion of the CS is determined as too deteriorated what are the pros and cons of replacing a portion or the full crown sheets? Secondly, if we replace the portion and the attendant staybolts, what would be the range of $$ we could expect to pay a boiler repair service for materials and labor?

Any thoughts would be helpful. I don't have anything more specific than the number of staybolts involved.

wyld@sbcglobal.net

Go through your Form 4 calculations from start to finish, to generate the table of minimum thicknesses for your boiler. Then make your best educated guess as to how much thickness you expect to lose between now, and the next 1472 day inspection. The minimum that should be replaced should encompass at least the area that will be too thin 1472 service days from now, not just enough to slide by today. By doing this, you will be covered in the case of an intermediate UT thickness check that would raise red flags if surrounding areas dropped below the minimum.

The rate of deterioration will certainly vary from RR to RR depending on how much you run your engine, how hard you run it, what kind of fuel you use, what kind of water treatment program you use vs. what is needed, and how you store the engine between uses.

If you get ten different bids from boiler companies for this work, you will get ten different prices ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. I wouldnÂ’t even want to guess on a figure with the information given.


kelly@strasburgrailroad.com

Agreed with Kelly on all counts - BTW, there is a major materials cost difference between flexible and rigid bolts. Some folks like to weld bolts in, some prefer to stick with threaded. Too many variables for meaningful advice on probable cost.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

You may not find as many as ten places that can repair a locomotive boiler. And, be careful in getting someone familiar with locomotive boilers, not just boilers in general. We had to go out of state to find someone to repair our Mike. It takes a long time.

Work with whomever you choose to determine how extensive a repair to do, whether it is a patch, small area replacement, or total crown sheet, or whatever. The person(s) chosen will then need a sample of the sheet to analyze the steel components and search for replacement material. All boilers are not made of the same material. If the material and appropriate thickness cannot be found, it will have to be manufactured. Then when the repair is done, a Hartford Boiler inspector will have to be on site to inspect and ok the work done.

Much to our dismay and consternation, we have been trying all summer to get our boiler repaired. It is still not repaired, but expect it to be in early October, after our operating season. In our case a 100 sq. in. area of the door sheet has to be replaced. This has forced us to use our wood burner all season.

With the exceptionally dry season throughout the West, running the wood burner has been a real headache. Normally we would have shut her down at the end of June. We have even discussed converting her to oil.

dan

svry@attbi.com