Thanks Kelly, funny how that was set up prior to the change..... Good for the high end but not the low end (rolling eyes)
Interesting side note, on a locomotive where the ph was running 10.5+, the high pressure safety never gets popped, valve was allowed to sit full of cinders and locomotive kept in a building which fills with coal smoke (down to the floor) through which condensate rained down soaking the locomotive in "acid rain" on an almost nightly basis....... On this locomotive I witnessed the feather in a Burg valve rust, heavily.... I'm talking pitting.
I have worked with and been around aluminum bronze for some time and my question to you is this, In your estimation just how intensely does AB have to be attacked by corrosive agents to actually oxidize the iron in it?

Cheers, Jason

Correct, only the boiler is at the SRC. Currently the tender, running gear and cab are sitting in my shop at the Riverhead Site.



While I can’t remember where the mission statement is at the moment, we are a 501(c) 3 non profit organization preliminary charted by the education department in the state of New York. With that said the sole mission of the museum is not necessary based around steam locomotion but rather the effect and growth railroads as a whole (including steam) had on Long Island. You also have to remember the state of NY is broke like everyone else in the country and cannot afford to provide us with money of any kind. Currently the state struggles to provide final examinations to high school students while they continue to lay off police officers. Giving us 2 million would not go over that well. Our plan calls for an 8 year restoration process at a cost of a quarter of a million dollars a year. In my school district the superintendent makes about $70,000 more then this, so yeah.

I will say though the museum is in the process of restoring a little narrow gauge 0-4-0T that rests on a tractor trailer and has the capabilities to run in place, demonstrating the role steam power playing on long island.

Anthony

While were on the subject of safety valves, here is a question for both of you: If you have the means, why not construct your valves of 304 or 309 stainless for added wear and corrosion resistance? Bear with me, as I do not own a current copy of the ASME code and cannot look this up as easily as someone who does, but is there litigation for or against the use of stainless in pressure retaining components of power boilers? I remember reading that SRC has used stainless components in some of their own locomotive's safety valves, but I do not know if was the valve entirely, which is what I'm getting at. From my office, the only limiting factor to me would be the added cost of machining and material. 309 is fairly stable at high temperature and retains a comparable yield strength to C954. I've worked with stainless on many different fronts and it does significantly impact tool life if you don't consider proper insert grade, feedrate, rpm and coolant. Just my novice thoughts...

Best,
DC

.

Doesn't sound good for an engine to be kept like that.....

That's definitely the case. I took the "behind the scenes" WDW railroad tour last October, shortly after the mystery picture appeared online and two weeks after I had been to Strasburg. I asked the WDW staff about it, and they just smiled and wouldn't officially confirm, but did ask if I happened to get a glimpse of her myself, as they missed her. :)

.

I like the "shop truck" under the tank and frame!

No. 20 is a sweetheart and it's great to see her getting such a thorough overhaul. A noble project indeed.
Do you have any 3' track for testing?

I don't think we can say it enough.......

thanks for the very good work and showing us how the bar can be set higher in our business.

dave

I first must second Dave's comments about the work being done; it's great, and it helps keep our beloved steam engines around.

There does appear to be a bit of third rail in one of those shop photos, but whether there is enough for operational tests of a narrow gauge locomotive would be open to question.

There would be two methods to deal with this "shortage." One would be to lay more third-rail track around the shop area, although this introduces the complication of dual-gauge switches. That would be neat with an expanded shop complex that I keep hearing was proposed some years back, but of course, nothing came of it.

Alternately, at the expense of hauling narrow gauge engines some distance, there is a fair amount of three-foot gauge iron, complete with stub switches, in Huntington County. . .bet the little 20 would look sweet on the EBT. . . :-)

A personal observation--I had the chance to take the shop tour some years ago, and another narrow gauge engine was in there at the time, a little 2-8-0; my memory is more than a bit foggy on which engine it was, but I think it was one from the D&RGW. When I saw it, it was stripped down, nothing but boiler and frame and spring rigging. What stood out was how dainty, how delicate it looked compared to the "wide gauge" equipment around it!

.

Wow, you converted it to roller bearings!

"Wow, you converted it to roller bearings!"--Frisco 1522

Ho, ho, ho, ho! (Yeah, I like it, even if it's as corny as can be!)

Two things stand out about the unpainted tender. The first is to note how much it looked like an unpainted white metal model. The other is to note that you fellows at Strasburg apparently replicated patches and other repairs in the new tank!

I'm curious, it's supposedly difficult to get paint to stick to stainless steel. What had to be done with this tank, and for that matter Strasburg's own stainless tanks, to get the paint to stick reliably?

Great work as always, now on to Mount Union! On to Robertsdale! On to White Horse! On to Huntington, to Hawks Nest, to Clifton Forge and Charlottesville behind superpower steam with heavyweights! :-)

With Strasburg's "NEW" wheel configuration of #346, I was wondering if I was going to see it at Spruce or Bald Knob.....