A bit of a quandry here. I'm sitting on one side of the fence, I'll admit.

Early in January, my wife and I stopped by a little town to see their 2-8-0 that they had stuffed and mounted.

The locomotive was actually in very, very good shape. Other than gauges and a missing injector in the cab, it looked fantastic. Not bad for a park engine. People obviously care for it; its well painted, in a great, clean, location, you can climb up, but the cab is wired off with that thick expanded mesh "wire". Compared to 90% of the park engines, this was one of the lucky ones.

So. I am doing some research on Handcock Inspirators for a talk that I have to give. There, right in front of me, thanks to the google web search engine, is a reference to the above locomotive's inspirator being sent to another 2-8-0, which has just returned to steam.

Ok. So, it is nice to see another locomotive return to steam. That's the plus side. On the negative, we now have yet another park engine missing a difficult to replace part.

When does the "pillaging" of park engines end? Is this not like cutting off your own future?

Sometime down the road, both 2-8-0s will have the need for inspirators; one will just need the cones, but with this attitude, neither will be running.

I have not mentioned locomotive numbers nor groups, because, not only do I not know the whole story, (maybe it is a loaner???) I wonder, if I had a locomotive 95% complete, would I raid a park engine????

I note that the Brits seem to have recognized that manufacture of replacement parts is an important industry. When do we get to that point here on this side of the atlantic?



ovlsme@mainframe.dgrc.crc.ca

Actually, it's already happening here. Strasburg makes replacement parts for Sellers injectors, Backshop Enterprises makes parts for Westinghouse air compressors, and there are quite a few other producers of steam parts.

For a list of steam repair vendors that I've been able to find, please see the link below. I have no finanical interest in any of them. Information on other suppliers is always welcome and I'll be glad to add it to my site.

Good Steaming,
Hugh Odom

> I note that the Brits seem to have
> recognized that manufacture of replacement
> parts is an important industry. When do we
> get to that point here on this side of the
> atlantic?


the Ultimate Steam Page Repair Links
whodom@awod.com

I think that real question is whether or not most restorations are properly funded prior to being started and are most operations viable per se.
It so happens that Back Shop Enterprises has offer new Hancock non-lifting inspirators for years, with very few customers for them due to the cost. Strasburg makes two (a lifting and a non-lifting) injectors and I sell a variety of Chinese injectors that are based on Nathan designs. The Valley Railroad just spent $12K on making patterns, castings and machining on ten sets of injector nozzels for the Nathan Simplex Type "R" No.9, our "standard" injector. We didn't need 10 sets right now, but to keep costs down made extra sets. We have offered these for sale at cost, with no takers. (End of shameless commercial message and I'll get off my soapbox now).
Few outfits have (or want to spend) the money for new parts. It is far easier to "borrow" them from park locos. Eventually we will run out of these, but meanwhile we can continue to complete restorations and keep locos running (read satisfy ourselves and/or stay in business).
J. David

jdconrad@snet.net

Something that was brought up at this past year's ARM/TRAIN convention was the fact that in the steam business, there is very little if any room at all for competition. Strasburg specializes in making Sellers Injectors, Bernie Watts and his Backshop Enterprises makes locomotive air pumps from the original Westinghouse drawings, as well as builds new dynamos and rebuilds old ones, and also builds new Hancock injectors, Scott Lindsay does locomotive wheel work, Mr. Conrad and his crew do many other things as he has said as well. So, choose wisely, because as some of us do this for "fun", and although they must enjoy it some as well, this is part of their job description. I think we all are in debt to them for taking the initiative to look into building new steam parts and accessories. With that, and hopefully a new generation to work on them, steam will be alive in the 21st Century.

(stepping off of my soapbox),

Hayes Smith Jr.



Teen Association of Model Railroaders-SR Div.
cookiemonster@rrmail.com

John, This inquiry heads off in a different direction than the other posts. When I was an engineer on the Mt. Washington Cog Railway in the 60s, the engines were fitted out with Hancock Inspirators. About half of the engines had composites and the others singles. They were lifting and I think were #6. Starting one could be tricky and was a learned skill. If you got too anxious and opened up too fast, the injector would break instead of start. On one occaision, the shop found and installed a Sellers. Almost no one could make the Sellers work reliably. Of course we all used the "Hancock" technique. My question is, what is the essential difference between these two units (inspirator vs injector) and if we had used a different technique in starting the Sellers, would it have worked better?

wrj494@aol.com

John,

You happen to be talking about my favourite engine! My grandfather worked with it for many years. It's not in bad shape for a park engine but it has been vandalised and stripped of parts over the years and the coal bunker is rusting out. I think that parts selling is alright provided the purchaser is documented in case someday the owner decides to bring the engine back to life. In the meantime, the money can be used for cosmetic upkeep. But if I were rebuilding an engine, I think if new parts could be obtained cost-effectively, I stick with the new ones. It all comes down to money which is invariably in limited supply.


jason.whiteley@sympatico.ca

Jason;

> You happen to be talking about my favourite
> engine!

From your email address; probably. I got an incredibly nice email from someone close to hand, explaining why they gave away the inspirator.

1) they think the locomotive is a tourist draw.

2) no rail lines within 60 miles, or so (I may have this figure wrong, but...)

3) the old roadbed is now owned by many individuals.

4) hell will freeze over before they give the locomotive away (tourist draw)

5) hell will freeze over before they restore the locomotive to running condition. (no money, no rails)

6) giving the inspirator to a working locomotive group helps others in need.

All valid points.

I have dibs on the air compressor, safeties, lifting injector, bell, the new driving wheel tires, and brake stand. :-)

JohnS.

ovlsme@mainframe.dgrc.crc.ca