Author Topic: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread  (Read 552947 times)

Philip Marshall

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #360 on: April 07, 2014, 04:24:09 PM »
The Portland Company spec'd oak decking in some of it's plans.  Number 9 had ash decking when we brought it back to Maine in 1995. We believe that some (or most) of the wood was not the original from 1891, due to rot and damage from accidents.  The wood under the tank was in bad shape so the only pieces we were able to re-use were the outer/edge planks.  The edge planks are important because they are the most visible, are mortised for the cab verticles and drilled for the tension rods.  The edge planks were restored by removing some of the paint, light sanding and the application of linseed oil.  They will be painted black to match the cab and tender tank.

The next step is to cut holes for the two tank sumps (one on each side), the ashpan door lever and the blow down valve control.   

Thanks for the information, Stewart. I was curious because I thought railroad car builders in the 19th century tended to use other hardwoods such as ash and maple more frequently than oak, but I didn't know if this was true for Portland Company practice as well. What woods were used for the cab walls and pilot?

The decking looks amazing by the way.




Stewart "Start" Rhine

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #361 on: April 07, 2014, 10:01:20 PM »
The locomotive did not have her original cow catcher/pilot.  The pilot seen in the photos from the farm and early days at Sheepscot was built in CT after 1936.  Note: Ash was the favored wood for pilots and the pilot beams were usually oak.  Number 9's cab has various woods but I believe the side frames are white oak.  I have not worked on the cab so Marcel could give you a better idea of the various species used. 

Philip Marshall

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #362 on: April 08, 2014, 04:27:22 PM »
Very interesting. Thanks again Stewart.

Galo J. Hernandez 3rd

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #363 on: April 12, 2014, 11:00:32 PM »
The cab is constructed from native White Ash "quarter sawn" and the fill of the panels is Poplar, the roof bead board a mix of spruce,pine and Fir.Galo 3rd.

Eric Schade

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #364 on: April 21, 2014, 07:09:53 PM »
we reainstalled the side rods after fixing the crank pins, re machining the brasses and making new bolts, shims and wedges.

here is a little video of the process:

http://youtu.be/4URC9YpCYPk
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Stephen Piwowarski

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #365 on: April 21, 2014, 08:22:40 PM »
Great work everyone! I know this is the result of many hours of exercising both mind and body and the results are wonderful to behold. Congratulations!

Stewart "Start" Rhine

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #366 on: April 27, 2014, 04:44:14 PM »
Over the Spring Work Weekend, #9 got a lot of attention.  Among the projects were (A) the re-attachment of the builders plates, (B) test fitting of the cab front steel where the cab meets the boiler, (C) test fitting of the cab side panels, (D) test fitting of the running boards, (E) work on the firebox door seal and (F) filling and sanding of the screw pockets/holes in the top plate of the rear buffer beam.  Thanks to everyone who spent time helping to bring the locomotive closer to operation.

Stewart "Start" Rhine

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #367 on: June 22, 2014, 07:37:21 PM »
The last few weeks have been very productive for the #9 crews.  Among the projects: 

* Pilot - The Harold and Alan Downey came up from TX and spent 3 weeks building a new pilot for the locomotive.  The first few days were spent building a new wood shop on the second floor of the shop building.  Their work with wood and the restoration/repair of the iron parts was fantastic.

* Front end - Rick Sisson worked on the steam delivery pipes.  Stephen Piwowarski worked on the pilot/smokebox brackets, running boards and brake release assembly.

* Jason, Jonathan, Brendan and a few other folks worked on a number of pieces including the vacuum brake system, tender tank and front cylinder plates.

* Cab - Marcel has spent a good bit of time repairing the roof, using epoxy to fix damaged wood.  The aim is to keep as much original wood as possible while making the cab solid and safe to last another 100 years.   

Brendan Barry

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #368 on: June 26, 2014, 11:18:34 PM »
Number 9's new pilot built by Harold and Alan Downey.









New running board made by Stephen Piwowarski.



The water tank upside down in bay 2 for some welding in the bottom of the coal bunker. The welding is being to done to build up thin spots in the tank. Once we're done welding we will move on to sandblast and paint.



Marcel is in the background working on the cab roof.


« Last Edit: June 26, 2014, 11:22:41 PM by Brendan Barry »
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Alan Downey

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #369 on: June 28, 2014, 09:12:05 AM »
Thanks for posting the pictures, Brendan.

I noticed that someone has also done some forge work on the cylinder-pilot support, and it looks great!
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Stewart "Start" Rhine

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #370 on: June 28, 2014, 03:56:55 PM »
Hi Alan,

Yes, Jason has worked on the pilot toe bracket.  It needs more work before being painted and installed, we'll have photos when it's on.


Brendan Barry

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #371 on: July 25, 2014, 11:52:44 AM »
Pictures from a couple of weeks ago.

Injector placement and plumbing is being worked on. The bracket holding the fireman's injector is an original Portland Company part. A bracket for the engineers side is being made in the shop.



Work on modifying the pilot brace has been completed. Just waiting on a coat of black paint for installation.



Pilot to smoke box braces are in.






Welding is still underway on the tank. Most of the tank is structurally sound except for the bottom joint in the coal bunker.

This is what the joint between the bottom and side sheets should look like. Note the nice thick side sheets riveted to a piece of angle iron. Bottom back corner fireman's side for reference.



Joint between side and bottom sheets in the coal bunker.





Welding under way to build the thin spots back up. The tank is wrought iron and was sealed with tar in the seams. Welding is difficult between the wrought iron, thin spots burning through, tar trying to burn back out, and you just can't get real clean metal. What seems to work best is make a 1st pass grind the pass clean and cover the 1st pass with a second pass keep everything water tight.








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Thor Windbergs

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #372 on: August 12, 2014, 01:56:21 AM »

Hey guys as I mentioned on the Facebook page "There are brand new copies of this injector type branded "Comodor" available in Brazil, in 6 sizes 1/2" to 2". If you need more let me know and I can contact my Brazilian ABPF connections." Included is a picture of a larger original Metropolitan injector with a brand new 3/4" Comodor that I brought from Brazil in 2009 and traded to Bernie Watts of Backshop Services for 9 1/2" Air pump parts. There was a good article showing alot about these injectors in the May/June 2005 Live Steam & Outdoor Railroading Magazine of which I have a pdf if someone wants to back channel me. From which the 8N should be 1" pipe fittings, which should feed 600ga/h over a 2ft lift by 80lb Steam pressure, says sized for 65-80hp engine/boiler...

I see that you are installing the vacuum brake systems again, this makes it pretty unique as I don't any other narrow gauge using original Ames Vacuum brake equipment. Do you or any one know of sources for these parts, steam ejector, brake cylinders etc. The South African and English may still have use vacuum but it is much more complicated and too large for just an engine and two cars of existing 2ft applications.

Is it planned to have the same simple Ames Vaccuum equipment on the No.11? If so does anyone have the information to design and make patterns for the ejector and parts? That is a project that could be useful to many small operations worldwide which I'd like to help research and develop.
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Stewart "Start" Rhine

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #373 on: August 14, 2014, 04:43:51 PM »
Much work has been done this week, especially with the injector piping.  Please go to the museums' facebook page for photos and to find out who put in A LOT of time on the project.  Hint: His name begins with J but it's not Jason  ???

Andre Anderson

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Re: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread
« Reply #374 on: August 16, 2014, 12:59:02 AM »
Much work has been done this week, especially with the injector piping.  Please go to the museums' facebook page for photos and to find out who put in A LOT of time on the project.  Hint: His name begins with J but it's not Jason  ???

Stewart,

Could you please post some of the photos here as some of us don't have a face book account and with out one they will not let look at the photos.

Andre