12riccal, I think a saw something that the wheels from 3254 needed to be turned and that is done, maybe someone can confirm, but the shop has them stored for later use.
The management at Steamtown is really making great strides on improvements. All three overhead cranes are getting fixed and they are really making the place a to visit.

Seems to me if the locomotive frame swapping takes place in addition to all the other swapped parts, the resulting locomotive/tender will be more original 3377 than 3254.

Well, the frame swap is really only in the planning stages and ideas that the shop is looking at. It's really nothing any of the railroads did in the past. How many reports to we see on here of crews finding parts marked for other engines so which are long gone! So in reality how many of the steamers that are left still have all of their original parts? Heck, we have seen new boilers made for steamers as of late so are they the same engine? Yes I do believe that we should keep them as original as possible but steam is steam. So how we get there is sometimes more important than keeping original parts on the engine which can cost you more money.

Well that's just interchangeability and econoics. When an engine went into the shop, if a given part was defective, rather then waiting for that part to get fixed, they would simply grab another of the same part from the store room. And once that part got fixed, it went back into the pile.

Railroad history #147 mentions that the Grand Trunk Railway interchanged a number of boilers of its pacitics during a modernization program from 1913-1920

Canadian National Steam Power mentions that the two members of the S-1-j class of Mikados were built with spare reconditioned boilers from two other Mikados, which is why despite the fact they were built in the Pte.St.Charles shop, they have MLW boiler numbers.

Further more, CN loved swapping tenders and did it quite often with a variety of motive power. Even 6167, for a short time ran with a different tender.

1 These were cut out to save the "artwork" for reference. These will probably be stored for future reference.

2 3377 will always be a parts engine for the 3254. Probably never put back together. If it will be reassembled, the parts for the engine are still on hand, wheels included.

Not to turn the varnish into the siding, but my observation is that the Chlorides level in groundwater has increased by a factor of 3 to 4 over the past 10 to 15 years. My take on the situation: increased use of calcium and magnesium chloride brines for freeze protection on the highways. Chlorides will, of course, concentrate in boilers and corrode the living daylights out of tubes and fireboxes...not to discount the claims of cheesy steel nowadays, that's a different topic...

I wonder if Steamtown needs any CNR Decals. At some point we are going to have to make some for 6167 and 6213. We have the drawings, and I've even drawn up the Square decal in Autodesk Inventor.

This is my opinion and my views and not the opinion of Steamtown



Joe,
There are a few items that are different. The 3377 has two drawbars and no safety chains hooking the engine to the tender, which require a double drawbar pocket on the locomotive. The 3254 has only one drawbar and safety chains. To change the configuration on either locomotive frame would require either swapping the cradle casting, or, swapping tender frames to keep the respective tender frame with it's engine. I rework of the engine frame would require major engineering and a lot of heavy fabrication.

The other difference that is noticeable to someone who is familiar with these engines is the way the valve gear expansion links are hung. Almost the same but brackets and supports are different. So, if the frames were swapped, chances are the valve gear would stay with the frame.

There are probably other subtle differences that I am not aware of.

In the end, and this is just talk without anything set in stone, if the running gear from the 3377 was going to be used, the major swap would be with the boilers. Keeping the running gear, valve gear, brake gear and cylinders etc with it's original frame would save a lot of setup work with these individual components. An evaluation of the 3377 boiler has not been done. It may be worthwhile to do that and avoid any swapping of anything.

Hypothetically speaking, if boilers were swapped it would make sense to keep the locomotive frames and their respective tender frames together. In this instance, I wonder if the new coal bunker/water tank constructed for 3254 would be easily transfered to the 3377 tender frame, to really get the best of both engines...

Historically, it was common practice to swap boilers, tenders, cylinders, wheels, and pretty much any other part imaginable during major overhauls, but the engine's identity traditionally remained with the frame, so rebuilding 3254 with 3377's frame would essentially result in a reboilered 3377 rather than a re-framed 3254. By using 3377's number on the rebuilt engine, they could also call it as a "new" restoration of an engine that hadn't run in over 50 years, rather than an overhaul of one of the current fleet.

maybe this frankenstein should be numbered 3277...