I suppose it has to be asked, at least:

Was the decision to 'forgo hosting an Open House this year' more motivated by the difficulties of the Saginaw #2 contretemps than some idea of 'expediting the completion of 1385' alone?

Not that I need, or want, an actual answer to this, and not that it's any of my business other than it was raised in an official Mid-Continent publication. And I certainly support the idea of scheduling more volunteer work days instead of running the equivalent of a dog-and-pony show for the same dollars.

[url]true i can't say you are not right the economic fact win vs the historic fact

But she can stay a U.S. National Register of Historic Places with a new boiler??[/url]

The San Francisco cable cars are a landmark, and there is no original fabric left in them anywhere, except maybe the bell and some door hardware.

Overmod, you seem to be on a fault-finding mission. Try saying something nice. It's good for your health and karma. Why not take a close look at all the careful work that has been done by this team and congratulate them on doing a heck of a job.

I for one am quite excited about seeing this locomotive come back together. Congrats, team 1385!

This is one of my favorite threads. Not because of the #1385 connection but because of all the contributions regarding boiler work, design change new and old, and thought processes that goes or should go into making the decision to attempt a new boiler. It is a long read but a good one with some very good input on the subject.

I think I would give the #1385 people the benefit of the doubt from my not so humble opinion. While not involved with this project what so ever, I try to follow the progress with a lot of interest and concern. Spec Machine and the its owner are very highly regarded from people I respect. From what I see they are doing the real meat and potatoes of the work at the shop. The volunteers involved in the "work days" seem to be doing more of the wire brushing, needle scaling, polishing and painting work that doesn't require the expertise of the professional contractor {in this case Spec Machine}. From what I gather the volunteers are doing what they can when they can as progression in the project moves along. I seriously doubt any connection regarding the open house/work day thing? As upset as I am at the debacle going on right now in relation to the #2, this is my take on it.

Just occurred to me talking about paint and polish. The #2 had a few areas painted and touched up here and there {smoke box, some frame parts maybe the wheels}. Never got to the repainting part. Looks remarkable good considering that. Regards, John.

Here is a nice article on the CNW 1385 and current happenings. It was published a few days ago in the Wisconsin State Journal.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/ ... 026c3.html

Nice drawings of the new boiler. And the approach to dealing with the brick arch appears to be to employ transverse arch tubes. This I presume will make for a better brick arch in the limited space at the grate area nearest the rear flue sheet. Better arch, better draft, no need to blank out tubes, no cold spots causing stress fractures in the boiler. Oh and the transverse tubes do a good job circulating water from the cooler sides to the hot crown sheet.

Here's the latest from the C&NW 1385 Group. The boiler drawings are now going back and forth between the fabricator and the engineering team to verify that the fabricator has EXACTLY what they are supposed to have in the way of specifications and drawings.

http://www.midcontinent.org/members-bbs ... =12&t=1766

As Chuck may have forgotten that one needs to be registered on the Mid-Continent BBS to see the threads, here is the original posting:

Late yesterday (Friday 2-24) we received the latest packet of boiler drawings from Continental Fabricators for our markup and approval. The painstaking process was started today at SPEC Machine and great progress was made. Brett Morley of Performance Engineering had completed the SolidWorks tm model derived from countless hours measurements of the original boiler by many people and study of the drawings obtained from Lake States. The model is a way to make a 3-D representation to check, among other things, whether and how well all the parts will fit together. Files derived from the model were provided to Continental Fabricators who created their own preliminary construction drawings that were sent back to us to proof, mark up and improve. This packet is the latest iteration.




The current round of checks involves things such as the diameter of each round course, overall length of the boiler, mud ring details of size, shape, thickness, and material, placement of washout holes, placement of injector inlets, placement of and size of cutouts in the smokebox to name a few. The Continental drawing is cross checked with the C&NW drawings, actual measurements of the old boiler and the solid model.



Every dimension on every drawing is going to be checked. Every description of every weld called out will be cross checked. The material listed for each part will be checked. The fabricator will build what is on the paper. We have the responsibility to make sure that what is on the paper accurately describes the vessel we need to build and we have one chance to get it right. While we will proceed in a timely fashion we cannot rush this process.

mld

Interesting to see this process. Will the holes for various studs for mounting components and appliances be drilled after boiler is installed on the frame?

Howard P.

I suspect that most of the holes will be drilled before the plate is rolled. Probably using a CNC plasma cutter.