Superheater flue material is getting harder and harder to come by. Strasburg Rail Road recently looked into trying to find some, only to find that there was none to be found. Has anyone else run into this same problem?
Strasburg Rail Road may be special ordering a mill run of 5.5" OD SA178 Grade A .165 min wall tubing. Does anyone need to replace any superheater flues in the near future? If anyone would be interested in purchasing new superheater flues please feel free to email me at andrea@strasburgrailroad.com

Benteler in Germany. SA-192 which is seamless, they do have welded as well.. I do not know if they are set up to swedge however that is something your shop can do.
https://www.benteler.com/

Everyone please welcome Sparkee to RYPN! Welcome aboard!

Should this be on the Classifieds ?

Welcome to RYPN Sparkee.
Happy hunting !

Would the problems with flue material availability make the practice of safe-ending more practical or common? Or would the costs of hiring a competent and qualified pipe welder outweigh that of having a special run made by a steel mill?

Though at first glance this might look like Classifieds material, I would categorize this posting as a "request for interest" rather than a sales pitch. The SRR is one of the few commercial outfits in our field technically and financially capable of getting material like this ordered, and it behooves us to help them if we have a legitimate need. After all, they could have just tried to "corner the market" and demand ten times the price on a mark-up, and only if they did the boiler work--that seems to be how the rest of the business world operates these days......

We had a conversation today at our museum (Nevada State Railroad Museum, Boulder City) about this issue today... our UP 2-8-0 has 5.5" superheater flues... while we are a long way away from a restoration for operation, this would be a identified issue for us when that happens...

Randy

On the flip side, let me offer this for discussion:

Do engines need to be superheated?

1) The first category will be superheated engines that the owner wishes to keep in that configuration for historical purposes / historic fabric.

2) Second category are superheated engines that plod around at less than their capability, and really don't need to be superheated.

3) Third category are engines that operate in situations where the superheat is desired, either for power or economy.

What engines would be candidates for de-superheating, meaning replace the tube sheets (partial) and convert to saturated. Which superheated engines earn their cost of superheat maintenance?

All this could factor into the "big picture" of need / demand.

It is well documented that superheating improves the performance of a locomotive. I have seen the performance difference in scale steam as well, in the same locomotive, with and without superheaters. With superheat, fuel consumption is lower, and the engine is more responsive at the throttle.

As noted in other past threads, quality fuel is actually becoming expensive, whether you burn coal or oil. And fuel consumption alone contributes to wear and tear. More fuel consumption means more cinder cutting and wear in the firebox. More water consumption means more sediment and boiler washing. More fuel consumption also means more smoke which might be a problem with neighbors and the public. Saturated steam might also mean a wetter exhaust which might soil your passengers' clothes.

So if a superheater is already historically correct for your locomotive, I am not convinced that the short term saving of removing the units is a good decision for the long term. I know of one example of a saturated conversion, the Mudhen at Huckleberry Railroad in Flint.

My gut feeling here is that the cost of re-engineering and replacing tube sheets would far outweigh any savings to be gained in maintenance by converting a superheated locomotive to saturated steam. I'm (now) a vintage diesel guy, but I see an 0-6-0 almost every weekend that is getting a new rear tube sheet and other heavy firebox repairs. It may look easy on paper, but then look at all the heavy steel fabrication needed. In addition, as mentioned earlier, there is a potential fuel and (hopefully treated) water savings as well. Best to leave alone-

Better to choose the locomotive that suits your needs. If you run a short light demonstration operation, efficiency is less critical than ease of maintenance. If you run a long trip hauling heavier trains frequently, it makes more of a difference. Many saturated locomotives were modernized with superheaters and piston valve conversions, sometimes replacing Stephenson gear with Walschaerts (outside admission) at the same time, but retaining the dome throttle...... I can't think of a good reason to go back unless you have a lot of boiler repairs to make including new tube sheets and you use too much locomotive for your needs because it was handy when you started back in 1965.