WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread

[Richard "Steam" Symmes]

Please elaborate.  Is it like the pink stuff you put in your attic, or is it a solid material.

Seems to me I've seen some sort of "styrofoam-looking" blocks being used for this purpose.  Do you have an illustration?

Richard

[Terry Church]

Mineral wool is spun from slag or rock instead of glass like the pink stuff. It has a higher melting point than fiberglass.

[Jason M Lamontagne]

We indeed will be using wool insulation, as we did with number 10.  The jacket standoffs that Leon is making accounts for the fact that this wool blanket is a lot less stiff than the old hard block insulation; with the standoff rings the jacket will squeeze up tight on the rings and remain circular and rigid.  This has been a tedious job for Leon as we place the rings exactly where the old jacket seams were, which coincide with some annoying obstructions like the sand dome.  He's doing a great job though.

Jason

[Fred L. Kuhns]

 Jason, A picture of the back of the fire box, has a metal shaft with what looks like a wheel attached, please describe use. Thanks  Fred Kuhns

[Jason M Lamontagne]

That's the hand brake shaft and wheel conveniently located so as to crack your funny bone every time you throw a scoop of coal in the box...  It is in its historic location.

Jason

[Richard "Steam" Symmes]

Thanks for the insulation explanation.

Richard

[Steve Smith]

Leon Weeks has been fabricating what I'll call stand-off rings for Number 9. They'll create space for insulation between the boiler and the boiler jacket. This ring is just behind the smokebox. When the boiler jacketing is applied it will contact the outside surfaces of the rings.

I imagine that getting the diameter of those rings just right must call for much patience on Leon's part. Or is he maybe a wizard at adjusting the bending rolls correctly on the first try?

 

 

[Steve Smith]

On Monday, April 15th, Brendan Barry worked on No. 9's tank. It's in Bay 2, tipped 90 degrees backward. This picture shows the top, with a square cut out for access, later to be welded back in. The circular fill shute has been taken off. Those items near the top of the picture are resting on the rear wall of the coal space, which would normally be vertical.


 


For this picture the camera was just inside the temporary access hole and pointed steeply upwards. The darker area at left is the left-side wall, and the steeply inclined "stripes" are actually stiffeners—normally horizontal--for that wall.

The lighter area at the right is the bottom of the section of the tank that's to the left of the coal space, and the round opening is for water flow to the injector on the fireman's side of the locomotive.

Let's hear it for Brendan for tackling this work!

 

[Brendan Barry]

Monday 4/15 a casting to reinforce the fireman's side cylinder was epoxied in place. The casting and cylinder had to be sandblasted down to clean metal where the epoxy was placed. The epoxy is to fill the voids between the castings, mechanical fastners will also be installed.

[Brendan Barry]

Tank update, the interior of the fireman's side was needle scaled where needed and ground to clean metal around the bolts holes. New pieces of angle iron were cut and drilled to replace the original coal bunker board brackets that were badly corroded. The fireman's side water sump was bolted back on and the bolts were tack welded into position inside the tank. All of the bolts through the tank will be fully welded on the inside to become studs so when the inside of the tank is coated there will be no breaks in the coating. A start was made on brackets to reinforce the coal bunker extensions on top of the tank. In most places around the top of the tank the piece of T angle the extensions are riveted to is corroded away.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Brendan,

You sure do nice work, as a fabricator ... and a reporter!

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Leon spent a good part of today installing and setting the boiler bands.  The look nice and fit well.  A bit of adjustment with shims will be needed in a couple of spots before the jacket is applied.

[Ed Lecuyer]

The July/August 2013 Newsletter featured a very in-depth article on the quartering needed to complete the restoration of #9. For the benefit of our followers (who are not members) we are pleased to provide the article via the following link:
http://www.wwfry.org/pics/SteamLocomotiveQuartering.pdf

[Bernie Perch]

Are any photos available of the quartering machine or whatever is going to be used to get this job done?  How many months has this set the number 9 project back?  I wonder what the next hidden glitch will be?

Bernie

[Stephen Hussar]

Quartering machine...

And a sneak peek at what No 9's replicated "Russia Iron" jacket will look like...