B&SR 7

[Pete "Cosmo" Barrington]

It may be.
The boiler in question was in a photo under annother topic in this forum.

[Hans Brandes]

James is right on. B&SR's boiler is currently an integral part of the building it is in.

The slow, hard dirty work continues. More plate has been ordered for the front tube sheet and the door sheet. Most of the outer sheets that surround the firebox have been needle scaled. A few more hours and that will be done. Next comes driilling out the old staybolt stubs. There are quite a few of these so this will be laborious also.

Hans

[Matthew Gustafson]

Hows my favorite engine B&SR 2-4-4 #7 doing in the restoration shops? 

[Hans Brandes]

Things will pick up again once repairs to CN 7470 are complete. Brian and Jason have been over at Conway Scenic and once done there, will get on with working on #7. There has been alot of boiler activity in the past months in various places which has stretched Brian and Jason very thin. Next up is the forming of the new plate for the back of the firebox.

In parallel, there is a little more firebox needle scaling to go. A few hours and that dirty task will be done. Back in Portland, Bob Churchill has offered to work on removing the lower portion of the smokebox that is still attached to the saddle. This has to be done carefully in order not to damage the casting. Bob is very handy with a torch.

As always, the project is a function of money. Send money and we can go faster.

[Hans Brandes]

Well, after a month or so, the "two days" of repairs on CN 7470 are over. This means that activity will pick back up on #7. In fact, it already has! The good news is that needle scaling is almost done. We are down to about half of the area over where the crown sheet was. That is the good news. Doing this dirty work revealed quite a bit of pitting in the side sheet areaaround where the staybolts were cut off. One option was to drill out the old staybolts but this would mean holes that would be excessively large requiring additional metal and labor. So, we have elected to go to Plan B: cutting out the side sheets and part of the backhead. Only the areas (the flat areas) will be cut out in order not to get into the radiused corners. This is more efficient and will avoid potential problems in the future. As they say, better to work on the patient while it is on the operating table then have to bring him back in later on.

In parallel, during our November 21st worksession in Portland, we will be removing the remainder of the smoke box that is attached to the saddle. This is delicate surgery in order not to damage the saddle casting due to heat from removingn the remaining plate of the smoke box. 

We'll get some pictures out once this is done as this should be the last of the discovery/removal work. Soon we will start putting in new metal...a good feeling.

We are still hopeful of bringing the chassis up to Alna in the spring but are a long way from that as that will require further discussion between WW&F and MNGRR.

Stay tuned and as always...feel free to donate to this worthy cause.

Hans

[Hans Brandes]

Now that Polar Express is over and the holidays are behind us, we will start getting back to working on #4 and #7. We have generated a combined steam work list and have plenty to do both in Portland and in Alna. Work at Alna has progressed. The door sheet and side sheets are now gone all the way down to the mud ring. Next we have to remove the mud ring rivets, remove the turret and needle scale the inside of the barrel. Once we have new plate, we will be able to lay out and drill stay bolt holes. The list goes on and hopefully we will have the manpower to make significant progress.

[Hans Brandes]

We are now on the move with working on #7. At Alna, we worked in 15 degree temperatures to remove the turret assembly and start removing mud ring rivets. There are about 70 rivets, so this will take a little while.

Needle scaling the inside of the barrel is also under way. So far, 10% of this has been completed.

Lots to do and a long way to go, but we will keep chipping away at this.

[Hans Brandes]

Last Saturday was another cold one. Another 1/3 of the barrel was needle scaled so it is now almost half way there.

Removing mud ring rivets is proving to be a challenge. Small air hammers and drills are not up to the challenge. Next we are going to try a larger, more powerful drill to drill pilot holes and a larger air hammer to pound them out. This could take many hours to do.

We now have all the sketches for the rigid and flexible stays and are sourcing them out to shops to see who can make stays at a reasonable price. We are close to a decision on this. Remember, we have no shop facilities in Portland (WW&F was very smart to build a real shop) so this is our Achilles heel for this project. Any shop work has to be done either in volunteer's homes or sourced to someone who has the tooling. So we need to constantly be creative to overcome our shortcomings.

Also during the past week, Jason and Brian worked on drilling out old rigid stay ends in the overhead.  This is the only area where we are not replacing plate.

It's all cold, dirty, noisy work but it sure is an education on the anatomy of a steam engine.

[Mike Fox]

C'mon Hans. I thought I showed you how to get those rivets out. Actually, the rivets you and I worked on are nothing compared to those mud ring ones. Good luck.

[Hans Brandes]

Mike,

These are rivets on steriods; 3/4" diameter and 2-3" long.

We are making good progress in other areas:

- Almost half way on needle scaling the barrel
- Old smokebox ring now being removed
- Rigid stay ends in the overhead cut out
- All half couplings being removed (mud ring plugs, etc.)
- Plate for the new firebox has arrived
- Rod for making stays is on order and scheduled to arrive in a couple of weeks.

Hans

[Hans Brandes]

More progress at the work session in Portland:

- The compressor has been removed from the frame. It will go to a volunteer's shop in Massachusetts for a rebuild.
- Round bar will arrive soon and will go to a shop in New Hampshire who will make the flexi and rigid stays.
- The rest of the old smoke box has been removed from the saddle.

Next up: the chassis will be steam cleaned and the saddle needle scaled, amongst other things. In Alna, we have more rivets to remove, part of a barrel to needle scale and part of an old smoke box to needle scale. The plate for the firebox needs to have hole locations laid out and then drilled with a magnetic drill that we have yet to purchase.

It certainly is a challenge rebuilding a locomotive with no shop or shop machines. WW&F can be very thankful for the shop and facilities that it has.

[Glenn Christensen]

Thanks for keeping us updated Hans!

Best Regards,
Glenn

[Hans Brandes]

We continue to make great progress in Alna.

- We have new metal all over the place! The crown sheet pieces have been formed and are sitting in the shop. The side plates for the firebox have been gridded and punched and are ready to be drilled.

- The barrel is now 80% needle scaled, so we are on the home stretch there.

- The new plate for the upper half of the front tube sheet has been cut and is ready to put in. Once that is in, the diagonal stays will be put in to support it.

- The round bar for the rigid and flexi stays went to Massachusetts last week. This week it will go to the machine shop in New Hampshire.

- We will get back to work on rivet removal next.

In Portland, we are on hold until we fix the engine house roof. That is scheduled to be worked on March 27. Let's hope for good weaather and good attendance as this is an all volunteer effort.

[Hans Brandes]

In Alna: We continue to be full steam ahead on boiler work. Needle scaling was completed by yours truly last Sunday. Thankfully, that dirty job is done. ML&M Co. is moving right along too. New side sheets (lower half) have been drilled and are tacked in place. The upper half of the front tube sheet is also tacked in place. Holes are drilled for the firebox side sheets.

In Portland: Not so good here. We took inventory of burnt tools and other things. The insurance adjuster is supposed to come on Friday to look at #7. The tender tank does not look good as it was next to the hottest part of the fire.

[Bill Piche]

In Alna: We continue to be full steam ahead on boiler work. Needle scaling was completed by yours truly last Sunday. Thankfully, that dirty job is done. ML&M Co. is moving right along too. New side sheets (lower half) have been drilled and are tacked in place. The upper half of the front tube sheet is also tacked in place. Holes are drilled for the firebox side sheets.

Pictures of this fine work can be seen in the MNGRR forum: http://forum.mngrr.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20.