Just received some photos of Whippany Railway Museum's 0-6-0 No. 4039's driving wheels being turned at a facility near Albany, NY.

Per the contractor, as of late June 2011: "All of the wheels and journals have been turned. The hub liners have been repaired and turned as needed. All of the wheels have been measured and documented so that the crown brasses and boxes can now be finished. The new springs are completed and are in transit. Work continues on the brake and spring rigging. The power reverse is ready to go with new packing and other repairs."

Trying to think what facility near Albany could do this- anyone know?

Joshua

I had read through the RFP for this project while it was still out for bids. It is rather all inclusive and because of this the bid for the project would have been around 700k. Basically, the way it was written all parts and components have to be inspected and returned to being within "new" spec, not just insured to be within acceptable wear limits. This is a good thing, however, I am curious as to how it is that the prospective bidders had worked up project costs ranging from 700k to over a million and yet the winning bidder bid for exactly the amount of funds available of about 400k...now they are doing additional fundraising. This to me does not seem to be the way such things are supposed to work. You bid a job....that's it.

Part of the inspection work in the RFP is that of inspecting for cracks the axles via NDT (ultrasound), and the wheel centers via another method. As is evident from the photos this was not done prior to turning the journals/tires as there is still paint on the axle ends and the wheel centers have not been blasted. If an axle is cracked then turning journals is rather pointless and cracks in wheel centers are supposed to be repaired with tires off followed by turning the wheel centers and then shimming/reapplying the tires. Again, if there are cracks it is ill advised and contrary to standard practice to true a tire then remove it to repair cracks in the wheel center.

If everyone knew that the RFP did not have to be followed and that one does not have to work within the financial constraints of the amount bid for the project. Well, perhaps the playing field would have been a bit more level. Perhaps a contractor that has successfully rebuilt a steam locomotive would have been able to bid a more reasonable amount.

John

I think it could be Simons machine

John, when I was booming I chose not to bid on a few RFPs because the bid specs were written by the same bureaucrats that wrote all the bids, and were much more comfortable with civil engineering work than with railroad rolling stock. The language used was unclear at best, impossible at worst, and subject to oversight by.....who? The same people who just demonstrated their ignorance in the language in the bid package? Other problems that showed up were sort of contidions that would have tilted the playing field towards the home court, and eliminated any competitive advantage - one I recall in particular insisted I pay prevailing union rate for the northeast, rather than the rate I usually pay for nonuinon but entirely licensed, bonded and qualified contractors in the southeast.

The process is certainly flawed, but I am pleased to see it actually resulting in good completed projects when it can be made to work. Multiple rounds of bidding until somebody finally agrees to something and starts, with changes every round, isn't unusual. Finishing is the hard part.......

dave