We have just (as in last month) had our piston rods on locomotive #25, a 1905 Baldwin, chrome plated. The work was done by Electronic Chrome and Grinding Inc. They are on the internet.

We removed the pistons which were tapered fit to the pistons with a nut on the end and a plug weld as shown in the Baldwin standard practice. They cylindrical ground the rods, plated them, and reground them to dimension. They are very pretty.

For the valve stems we applied chrome plated hydraulic piston rods. This product is available as a raw material from the local hydraulics repair shop. The old stems were sawn off; the yoke was drilled and tapped. The rods were threaded. After the new stems were applied to the yoke the threaded stem was secured with a taper pin.

The work proceeded seamlessly and the results are absolutely worth the effort. Electronic Chrome and Grinding Inc was very easy to work with. They had in fact completed piston rods for two other locomotives in the last year and understood what I was talking about. The hydraulic piston rod is not particularly expensive. A 24” long, 1-5/8” rod was about $70.00 locally. Machining and fitting of the valve rods were completed in one day.

Chris