Hey everyone. I'm taking a break from watching the Superbowl to see if any of you could steer me in the right direction to find some information or diagrams and repair instructions for a Baldwin power reverser. I've searched here and on Ebay for old locomotive manuals, but seeing as our ex WP&Y #70 is currently apart and needs to operate soon (5 weeks) I was acting on behalf of my profession to see if I could find any further information.

We removed the linkage and valve from the piston on the engine, and found two of the gaskets to be bad. I plan on making new ones in the next week or so with graphite gasket stock. However I would like to find more information on our equipment as currently we have no text on this appliance.

I would like to thank the Tennessee Valley for trying to help locate some information for us recently, however they had no information on the subject.

Thanks

Maybe if you posted a picture of it. I'm not sure I've ever heard of a Baldwin power reverse. Alco, Franklin, Ragonnet and so on but not Baldwin.

There really isn't such a beast; Santa Fe's Baldwin locomotives used power reverses from Alco and perhaps some of the other firms you mentioned, but none made by Baldwin itself (they may have had a Baldwin plate on them, but it or another plate may state who actually made the power reverse; this plate can end up missing, though, so it might not be apparent who the actual manufacturer is). 2926's power reverse was made by Alco, and yours may have been as well; Posting a few photos here might help settle who the actual builder was.

John,

The Sumpter Valley Railway ALCO Mikados numbers 19 and 20 were refitted with Baldwin power reversers while on the White Pass. Ours needs the gaskets redone as well, so I look forward to hearing how your repairs hold up.

Thanks, Taylor

.

Thanks for the help. A lot of people I've mentioned it too didn't actually believe it is a Baldwin reverse but it is plainly legible in raised lettering in the casting. I made two gaskets today with graphite stock; one for the rotary valve and the other enlongated diamond shaped gasket between the valve and cylinder mounting. We'll test it out tomorrow to see if it doesn't leak like it did. The constant hiss of escaping air all day and the creep from a good notch to running lame we could do without.

Once I get my computer back I'll be able to post a couple pictures. I recently left my power cable for my laptop on a southbound Amtrak train, so I'm sure it wound up in Miami.

Baldwin did make these, but many were marked Baldwin Ragonnette (sp?). In fact, I have seen them refered to in older Baldwin literature as Ragonnette Reverse Gear, as built by Baldwin.

John, you said no one at TVRM could help you? Hmmm, my memory tells me that we have drawings for the Baldwin Power Reverse. Maybe I am the only one that knows that! I will be by the shop later this week and see if I can find them. I can't remember what all is in the set of drawings.

As I don't know how to post a photo on this board, I have posted a photo of SVRy 19/WP&Y81's Baldwin Power Reverse on www.ngdiscussion.net. As both SVRy 19 and 20 have the same power reverse units that were installed when they were WP&Y 80 and 81, it would be interesting to see if this is the exact same unit used on the 70 Class?

They look like Ragonnet to me, like the 1522 has (the crosshead type-ish)

John would you please back channel me as I have a number of Baldwin documents about the Power Reverse.

John Deck

While we're talking of power reverses, if anyone has an old worn out, cracked, or incomplete one that you're willing to part with, let me know. We need one for 1118. It only has to look good for display.

[quote="JohnHillier"] The constant hiss of escaping air all day and the creep from a good notch to running lame we could do without.

John
The symptom you describe, creeping and hiss is often from bad packing cups on the piston or a bad bore, rusted and or pitted. Could be out of round as well. Rust or roughness in the bore can damage the cups causing them to leak.

We had a packing develop a hole in it on the 1522's power reverse on the way back from AL and the 1994 NRHS convention. It got bad enough that we couldn't hook the engine up and had to run from Memphis-St. Louis down in the corner. Luckily the heat had restricted speed to 40. The engine made sounds like I've never heard before if you tried to hook it up, as the power reverse went berserk hunting.
Dave Goodheart has a video of it in one spot where it sounded like an old Model T.