As said, jacks get in the way and you have to be very coordinated while jacking. Any twist and it can cause problems (Don't ask how I know that) The cranes look like they're doing a dynamite job. Are those nylon straps? Wow!

Those nylon straps were pre-connected to the axles, in line, so nobody would need to go under the engine while it was raised. The straps were, as needed, connected to an electric winch which pulled the drivers, one at a time of course, out from under the engine.
Mark D.

The ALCo Lateral Motion device is essentially the springs visible on the first axle.

http://www.trainweb.org/j.dimech/6167/alcolamo.html

The straps that are lifting the engine are of some unknown material but very soft and flexible.
I wish I had asked the crane operators what its makeup was. I had assumed there was a cable inside, but it was very soft and light to the touch and extremely flexible, not like regular heavy duty nylon strap capable of lifting 70 or more tons.

antique steam locomotive....


looks fresh from the shops to me!

Thanks for the interesting information on cranes vs. jacks. Now I more fully understand how and why the cranes were used in the back shops.

Interesting also how the rear of No. 261 is heavier. Would it be because the frame is wider in the rear or is it because of the firebox has so much more sheet metal, staybolts, cast iron grates, arch brick et all? Though come to think of it, the brick arch I'm sure was removed and maybe also the grates.

I recall that Reading No. 2102, in about 1981 (?), was taken into the Reading PA back shop, the very building it was made in and they "flew" the engine there. Apparently, the metal slings were still available and fit the lifting pads like a glove. They flew the engine about six tracks down. While the shop was completely empty and rather forlorn, it still was wonderful to see.

I can only imagine how much steam mechanics would love to have such a shop today.

Does the Cotton Belt Pine Bluff Arkansas shop where No. 819 was built and is now kept have overhead cranes?

Interesting also how the ALCo lateral motion devices allow 5/8" either way. It always boggles my mind how these huge machines, weighing hundreds of tons, work with such fine tolerances. I mean, come on, we are talking a skin over an INCH on huge drive wheels side to side. I can't see why it matters but to the engine it sure does.

Thank you so much for posting the pictures.

I'm glad to see my No. 261 donation dollars at work. They probably paid for about 5/8 of a minute lift time! :-)

Last century, when I was driving an aircraft carrier around the Gulf of Tonkin, we used a cable that was interwoven with nylon rope that was very flexible and strong. Maybe that is what is inside the nylon sling. But having said that, I recall that on Wrecked last year, they were at a wrecker show and bought some pure nylon slings that were rated at 50,000 pounds and they were very lightweight.

Later!
Mr. Ed

Will Harris used heavy duty nylon slings to lift "The Lost Engines"

You frighten me, there's a string of loaded covered hopper cars outside my office with almost 286,000 pounds, less the weight of the wheelsets, on each of their 4 axles!

These are the Nylon slings that lifted 6167 last month:

When used in a vertial postion, they are rated for 100,000 lbs, and when used in the basket configuration, they are rated at 200,000 lbs.

So how does the lateral motion device work? It's hard to tell in the pictures because they are too far away, or in the link, a little too close up. If anyone here has installed, removed, or worked with one I'd like to hear about it.

Steve told me yesteday that the straps used to lift the locomotive are made of Kevlar. It was an amazing sight as the two cranes effortlessly lifted the frame, cylinders, boiler and cab off of the drivers and the lead and trail trucks. The flues, tubes, superheater units, arch brick and appliances are all off of the locomotive.

As several others have stated here previously, any and all donations are sincerely appreciated. Yesterday's lift took a good chunk of money out of the bank account. Of course, the same procedure, only in reverse order, will have to occur when the drivers are returned from quartering and having the tires turned. I don't think there will be another procedure during the locomotive's rebuild that so graphically says, "They are serious about getting this engine back on the road."

Several people have commented about how clean the drivers are. Now that they are out from under the locomotive they will be cleaned further. The only way to do a thorough visual inspection is by having everything spotless. There is no sense spending all of the money and burning-up your labor only to miss something which requires more of both of those scarce commodities.

Thanks for everyone's input and interest in this project. FO 261's annual colors trips will be diesel-hauled this year and the trips will be a fund raiser for the rebuild. The Saturday trip will operate on the BNSF to Boyleston (near Superior, WI) and the Sunday trip will run down the Canadian Pacific to Winona and La Crescent. Details are available at: http://www.261.com

Don C.

The lateral Motion device allows the wheel so equipped to move side to side, roughly 5/8" each side.

The front to back weight difference (which really isn't all that much--I would say it's rather well proportioned, and may be completely different in a working order engine anyway) also has something to do with exactly how the straps are positioned.

I also have a question about lateral motion. I know how the axle can move slightly and is restrained and kept centered by the springs. I'm more interested in what changes are required with the connecting rods to allow this. Where and how is the play allowed for? Or are the angles to the rods so slight that they can be ignored. If the pin, after emerging from the press-fit into the wheel, took on a slightly spherical shape, with rod bearings to match, that would solve the issue nicely. But of course they do not.

Steve

Having worked on 261, my understanding is that the rods are tightened to within a few thousandths of an inch on the pins. In non-roller rod engines, the tolerances on rod play are a bit more lenient, adding to slightly lower maintenance costs.

In 2008, when we returned from our Trip to Milwaukee in August, we noticed that there was an odd rod "clank." In order to find which pin was causing the issue, the crew "knocked" the rods by moving the reverser forward and backwards while the engine simmered in the yard, listening for the source of the problem. The bad bearing was found and subsequently shimmed later that week, preparing the locomotive for its final trips later that year.

To directly answer your question, I believe that the flexibility in the secondary rod connections (where one rod connects to another) is such that it will allow axles to move a bit out of alignment. In essence, the connections between the rods and the wheels stay perpendicular while the connections between the individual connecting rods can move out of direct alignment. In regards to the lateral motion devices, they allow axle movement completely perpendicular to the frame, which is maintained through Franklin Self Adjusting Wedges that force the bearing box firmly against the front bearing surface of the frame.

Finally, locomotives on the Harz Mountain Railway in Germany, the 2-10-2T's, have such a great deal of lateral motion to make it around the curves that their driving pins allow a centemeter-or-so of lateral play on the number 1 and 5 drivers. The main pin is fixed in the middle over a blind driver, but the rest allow a great deal of play.

- Davidson