.

Kelly,
We always used Interlube Steam Cylinder Oil and it always worked fine for us. Never found any carbon and it was very tenacious (sp?). We bought it by the drum from Interlube in Cincinnati.

The 3751 uses Cylesstic 1500. Reason is that it is a compounded oil and with a Worthington SA feedwater system you have to use the compounded oil to prevent foaming.

We use Green Velvet on the stationary steam engines.

The D&SNG is currently using Green Velvet. I have also used Baums Castorine out of Rome, NY when I worked at the Nevada Northern. Can't complain much about either. I think the Baums was significantly less expensive than the Green Velvet.

At Greenfield Village we have always used Baum's Castorine out of Rome, NY. The price we last paid was $600.60 in September of last year.

Dave Sutter
Steam Neophyte

Here on the Wilmington & Western we use Exxon Super Hecla. Been using it for about 15 years now with no complaints.

While on the subject , lets extend this if Mr. Anderson doesn't mind. What brand hard grease and water treatment is being used out there too.

WGHSEA 643 has been using Green Velvet since restoration was completed in 2006. We are also looking into new water treatment options and would be interested in what others are using.

Good luck finding hard grease that will work in extended mainline running. We found a cache of Texaco Hy-Tex 8 that kept us in the game. I can't believe that in today's world there isn't something even better out there.

The hardgrease put out by Steam Services of America works very well even in mainline service. The 261 runs with it every trip!

I thought the 261 was a roller bearing engine???
We didn't use the Texaco hard grease as pin dope, just in the driving boxes.

261 is roller bearing. On the axles.
Rods use the hard grease mentioned above by Jason. It works very well.
Mark D.

That's what I thought.
We never had any problems with Hytex 8 in the driving boxes, but until we got it, we were never happy with the other stuff we had been getting. Over an extended run at track speeds it left something to be desired.
The other stuff worked fine as pin dope, so that's what we used it for and kept the Texaco product in the driving boxes.
We would have killed for a roller bearing engine. Everything on 1522 was roller bearings except the driving boxes.

The grand canyon railway used SSOA hard grease on the driving boxes. The grease is "blended" with a product called Militec, a sort of metal conditioner. During my 2 years there a hot box was never had due to poor lubricaation on the journals...and that is some pretty intense service.

San Luis & Rio Grande runs Green Velvet, as did the Grand Canyon. Never had a problem with it at either operation. What I like about it is that it is truly a steam cylinder oil. It is the exact same thing they ran in Niagras and Js and T1s and Big Boys back in the day. "Lubricants and Lubrication" by James Clower (McGraw-Hill, 1939) and the November 1942 issue of Texaco's "Lubrication" magazine both tell me Green Velvet is the best thing on the market today. As the old saying goes, oil is cheaper than machinery. Anyone that has had to set up an Underwood portable boring bar knows that's the truth.
-Chris Zahrt
Machinist, San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad