WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread

[Harold Downey]

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

Andre,

Writing as a member of the facebook illiterati <grin>, I can understand why you think you need an account.  I first tried to find it on facebook and it did seem to insist that you sign up before letting you in.  Fortunately, that is not the case.  My best method to view the WW&F facebook page is to go to the official WW&F website, and click on the facebook icon (the lowercase white f in a blue circle), and it takes you right there.  Click on any picture to view the whole album. 

Harold

[Andre Anderson]

Thanks Harold for the info on how to see the photos.

Andre

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Hi Harold,

Thanks for helping Andre (and many others).  You gave the best advice.  We suggest that online visitors go to the WW&F website and look around then navigate to facebook, that way you'll get news and photos from both places.   Both museum sites have great information and each place has unique posts, some that the other does not. 

Thanks again,

Start

[Bruce Mohn]

Hi Folks:

I've been following the restoration thread for #9 for some time and am very impressed with the work being done.  I've read some posts that suggest that #9 might be ready for service in 2015.  I do realize that these things are subject to change without notice, but wondered if you might have a more concrete idea of when this could be expected to happen.  I am doing some long range planning for a trip to finally see the museum, hence the questions.

Thanks very much for sharing your efforts!

Best,

Bruce

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

This week -

* Brendan threaded the lower boiler drains and installed the bronze plugs.  

* Steam header pipes were installed in the smokebox.  The blast pipe was test fitted and Jonathan made a new stand off plate for the blower nozzle.  A new blower nozzle and supply line were test fitted.

* Jason and Jonathan had filled the boiler last week.  They heated the boiler (between 70 and 100 degrees) and ran a hydrostatic test up to a pressure of 140.  The test went fairly well with most of the new steam connections holding but there were some leaks.  

* Tank - Brendan has been working on the internal braces. New flat stock arrived this week and Brendan is making new braces using the old pieces as templates. 

[Jeff Schumaker]

This week -

* Brendan threaded the lower boiler drains and installed the bronze plugs.  

* Steam header pipes were installed in the smokebox.  The blast pipe was test fitted and Jonathan made a new stand off plate for the blower nozzle.  A new blower nozzle and supply line were test fitted.

* Jason and Jonathan had filled the boiler last week.  They heated the boiler (between 70 and 100 degrees) and ran a hydrostatic test up to a pressure of 140.  The test went fairly well with most of the new steam connections holding but there were some leaks.  

* Tank - Brendan has been working on the internal braces. New flat stock arrived this week and Brendan is making new braces using the old pieces as templates. 

This is good news. How much tweaking needs to be done?

Jeff S.

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Repairs to new steam plumbing have been completed and retested.  We have some repairs to make up front on both an original cast iron steam pipe and in the steam passage of the cylinder/saddle casting- both due to casting flaws that likely blew through as a pin hole and grew when originally in service.  Repairs are underway already.

BTW Brendan was chasing pipe threads on existing washout holes of the boiler- as we did for all 9 washout openings.

See ya
Jason

[Harold Downey]

A new pattern for Number 9 number plate that reproduces the plate used by the WW&F.    Compare with the historical photograph from the WW&F roundhouse machine shop.

[Harold Downey]

Here is a better comparison, both from a similar oblique view:

[James Patten]

And - when we want to pretend that it's SR&RL 6, we just flip the number around!

[Bernie Perch]

When they are cast, you should have extras made in aluminum to sell in the gift shop.  Again, super work coming out of Texas.

Bernie

[Philip Marshall]

That's lovely -- great work!

FWIW, I believe her original Portland Company Sandy River RR #5 number plate is at the Phillips Historical Society.

[Ed Lecuyer]

Mod note.
A discussion regarding the prefered method/materials for reproduction builders/number plates is now:
http://forum.wwfry.org/index.php?topic=2356.0

[Brendan Barry]

Number 9's new ash pan has been installed.











Plumbing work.





Engineer's injector.



Fireman's injector.



Hydro testing has been ongoing to check for and correct leaks in the piping.

Torpedo heater is used to get the boiler warm.



Original Maine Central hydro pump.



Number 9's boiler pressure gauge. The small gauge above is the vacuum gauge for the brakes.



Block off plates were made for the steam inlets into the valve chest so the cylinder casting and wishbone pipes could be hydro tested.



The blocked off steam ports are under the square tubing.



Unfortunately when the cylinder castings were pressurized a hole was discovered in the fireman's side casting. The hole is under repair but the pilot and cinder clean out had to be pulled off for access.

[Mike Fox]

I really like the pins that are used to hold the ash pan in place. Easy removal. Looks like more fine work from the machine shop