Author Topic: B&SR 7  (Read 183846 times)

John McNamara

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Re: B&SR 7
« Reply #105 on: December 16, 2013, 02:25:06 PM »
One thing that I miss from the Santafest days was the addition of an open air car right behind the locomotive. Quite the brave few there were on that car, but at least there was a heater coil under the seat!
Bill

If you have a chance, come to our Victorian Christmas trains on Saturday. We'll be running 103 in the consist, and we'll definitely freeze your behind! :)

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Steve Klare

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Re: B&SR 7
« Reply #106 on: December 21, 2013, 05:44:29 PM »
We rode it today: not bad at all!

Bill Piche

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Re: B&SR 7
« Reply #107 on: January 21, 2014, 02:44:50 PM »
Saturday the 18th saw the first work session of the new year for the MNG steam crew.

With #4's time all but up (the form 4 expires April 1st), work pushed forward on #7.

The work session saw Joe Monty, Jay Monty, Trevor Hartford, Dave Fletcher, and Donovan Gray continue work on the cab, the frame, and the tank in preparation for the return of the boiler this spring.

Jay worked on framing out the vertical supports for the cab, cutting the half box frame steel. Having the frame done will allow us to remove the cab in one piece to go into the museum. That is where other steam crew members (with assistance from the car department) will perform a large amount of carpentry on the cab, including windows, doors, and the roof in an attempt to make the new cab as much like the old (Edaville) cab was (wood on steel for a wood appearance).


Pictured: Fireman's door frame mocked up for tack welding.

With most of the riveting done on the tank (still some work left on the engineer's side), Joe worked on making a flush patch that the tank hatch will be mounted on as the project nears completion.


Pictured: Grinding tank-side of patch for welding.

Cleanup and painting was continued on the front end, as well. Donovan cleaned and primed the deck under the smoke box, while Dave did the same on the center support saddle.


Pictured: Donovan painting the front end while Dave wire-wheel's the support saddle.

Next work session is on Feb 9th, with subsequent work sessions (tentatively) scheduled for Feb 22, Mar 9 (most likely to be cancelled due to PYS flower show that weekend), and Mar 22.
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Mike Fox

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Re: B&SR 7
« Reply #108 on: January 21, 2014, 05:32:34 PM »
Looking good, though I wonder why you framed the cab in Steel. Was it done originally like that? I know 8 was/is all steel from the builder..
Mike
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Bill Piche

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Re: B&SR 7
« Reply #109 on: January 21, 2014, 07:31:38 PM »
Looking good, though I wonder why you framed the cab in Steel. Was it done originally like that? I know 8 was/is all steel from the builder..

The cab frame from Baldwin was all wood, I believe. Someone with more B&SR background will need to verify that for me, though.

The cab frame as it arrived at the museum was steel framed and trimmed in wood. I believe that it was done like that at Edaville when they re-boilered the locomotives. We have a picture in the engine house from the day that the new boiler (the one we're rebuilding now) arrived and was being lowered onto the frame. In that picture the cab is completely missing from the frame.

When we decided to remove the boiler this time, we ended up removing just the roof. The walls and floor on the fireman's side were severely burned in the fire, so it was decided to strip the cab down to the floor rails and build it back up with new steel. The only thing remaining of the Edaville cab is the roof section.
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Mike Fox

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Re: B&SR 7
« Reply #110 on: January 21, 2014, 08:05:45 PM »
Ok. Just wondering. I do believe new it was an all wood cab. But I understand now why you have done it this way. Thanks
Mike
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Bill Piche

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2/9/14 Steam Work Session Report AND Winter Appeal Update
« Reply #111 on: February 13, 2014, 04:33:07 PM »
Two updates in one here.

2/9/13 Work Session Report
Another productive work session occurred this week. Joe Monty, Jay Monty, Wesley Heinz, Donovan Gray, and Bill Piche braved the cold and threat of flurries to get some more work in on #7 this past Sunday.

Work this day included setting up and test-driving our new sand blaster, cab work, and more frame painting.

Santa got to his backlog finally, as we found a bunch of new toys in the museum when we arrived in the morning. Chief among them was a tabletop sand blasting cabinet. This will allow us to begin the process of cleaning all of the paint and debris off of every fitting that was in and on #7. Over the next several months, everything from 1/2" gate valves to boiler check valves will get a thorough blasting, cleaning, lapping, and packing, with the added bonus that the parts don't have to "leave the compound" to get done.

For anybody who's never heard of Harbor Freight, their tools can be somewhat....unfinished. This was certainly the case here. The air hose we originally used was too small, and as such was unable to supply the gun adequately. The new hose that we bought specifically to use with the cabinet turned out to be too big for the hole in the cabinet it was meant to go through. Luckily, there was room in the vacuum hose hole as our shop vacs both had undersized hose attachments. After changing the hose the gun wouldn't pick up the blasting medium, so Wes took the hose apart and found casting imperfections in the medium pickup. A quick punch and re-assembly and we were finally off to the races.


Pictured: Jay Monty with a freshly sandblasted boiler check valve and a "slightly" modified cabinet.

Work continued on the cab frames as well. Joe made/welded in shims to bring of some of the posts up to their correct height, and Jay/Wes planned out the location/dimensions for the door and window frames. We plan to re-use as much of the old material that had survived the fire, but the plate glass in all of the existing hardware will need to be replaced with safety/plexi glass. Joe also too the opportunity to tack up some plates inside the half-box frames so that the roof can be bolted on rather than welded on. This will make disassembling the cab for heavy boiler work easier in the future.


Pictured: Joe welds in box frame shims

The process of brushing/painting the frame continued. Bill worked on brushing/priming the top/rear quarter of the frame, as well as the springs, counter-weights, and reverser connecting rod. These will be ready for black paint next time there is a work session. Donovan and Wes continued where they left off the previous work session, coating the primer from the last work session with a fresh coat of black. Nothing looks nicer than a fresh coat of black paint (aside from a functioning locomotive, of course).


Pictured: Freshly primed frame sections and fresh black paint on the support saddle.


There's still plenty of work to be done, but thanks to efforts and donations of viewers like you, we're getting closer and closer with every work session.

Winter Appeal Update
http://www.mainenarrowgauge.org/winter-fundraising-campaign/

Thanks to the generosity of members and donors like YOU, we raised over $23,000 during our Winter Appeal – nearly 70% of our goal! Contracted boiler work is nearly complete in Boothbay and we are expecting delivery of the boiler to Portland in spring of 2014.  Funding is now in place to cover the next 6-12 months of project goals which include:

  • Heat treating the boiler at a shop in Pennsylvania to relieve stresses from the weld repairs ($5000)
    Purchasing a staybolt tap, tube rollers and other tools needed to complete the remaining boiler work in Portland ($2000)
  • Re-profiling the tender truck wheel set ($2000)
  • Hiring a crane and professional labor to re-mount the boiler onto the locomotive chassis ($2000)
  • Purchasing materials to complete the restoration of the cab ($2500)
  • Supplies and materials for new boiler jacket and insulation ($1000)
  • Fabrication of new “wishbone” steam delivery pipes ($2500)
  • Procurement of new piping, fittings, valves and other supplies needed for boiler plumbing ($2500)

« Last Edit: February 13, 2014, 04:44:42 PM by Bill Piche »
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Terry Harper

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Re: B&SR 7
« Reply #112 on: February 14, 2014, 09:07:25 AM »
To follow-up on the cab discussion - If the original cab was wood was any consideration given to replicating the original as-built cab as it was delivered as opposed to replicating the non-authentic Edaville cab? Seems like it would of presented a good opportunity to back-date the locomotive to achieve more historical authenticity.

Bill Piche

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Re: B&SR 7
« Reply #113 on: February 14, 2014, 12:01:41 PM »
To follow-up on the cab discussion - If the original cab was wood was any consideration given to replicating the original as-built cab as it was delivered as opposed to replicating the non-authentic Edaville cab? Seems like it would of presented a good opportunity to back-date the locomotive to achieve more historical authenticity.

I believe the primary reasons were cost and available labor.

The parts that were destroyed in the fire were all vertical members, the roof section was saved because it had been relocated to another part of the yard when we took the boiler off. Replacing those was considered cheaper and easier since we already had all the tools/skills for welding, which only meant acquiring steel.

Nobody on the steam crew (both now and when the project started in 2008) are skilled carpenters; we're all welders, machinists, or laborers. The restoration crew in the museum (some of the real heroes of the collection) needs to spend a lot of time on cars, so asking them to build us a cab from the ground up would have been asking them to prioritize our (steam) needs over the museums. Without them, most of the cars that we use today wouldn't be in half as good the shape they're currently in.

While we're not re-creating the original cab, we ARE taking steps to correct some of the wrongs of the Edaville cab, too. The replacement cab had a piece of black painted plywood across the top of the boiler between the windows. We intend to fabricate a center section of the forward facing wall that will resemble the original, complete with windows. We're also doing away with Edaville's practice of welding the cab frame to the tank. This way we can separate the tank, cab, or both from the frame for work.
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Joe Fox

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Re: B&SR 7
« Reply #114 on: March 02, 2015, 04:44:01 PM »
I heard/read that #7 is expected to be completed by early spring. That is awesome news. Hope to keep updates on the progress, as I'm sure many of us would stop in to see her run again. It would be cool to see her pull a freight train with the tank car, box car, flanger, and caboose.

Philip Marshall

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Re: B&SR 7
« Reply #115 on: March 02, 2015, 09:02:08 PM »
Early spring 2015??? That doesn't seem possible to me. From the photos I've seen on Facebook, the boiler hasn't even been mounted yet, and they're still working on the tender tank. I think we all want to have her running again soon (and a genuine B&SR freight consist with tank, flanger, and caboose would be amazing!), but I don't see that happening before 2016 at the earliest.
« Last Edit: March 02, 2015, 09:07:03 PM by Philip Marshall »

Bill Piche

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Re: B&SR 7
« Reply #116 on: March 03, 2015, 09:54:49 AM »
That was a bit of over-exuberance on the part of one of the younger admins of the B&SR 7 facebook page. With the speed that the 7 project has gone at times over the years, you can understand his excitement.

The actual estimate for the BOILER is early spring. The firebox and mud ring are expected to be in the boiler this week. There's one more work session this coming weekend in Boothbay to ream out the mud ring holes before the boiler goes south for heat treating. It should be back a couple weeks later for rivets, stays, and tubes, which will be a combined MNG/Boothbay effort up at the Boothbay shop.

There's actually not that much left to do on the locomotive OTHER than the boiler work. The running gear wasn't taken apart, the tank's just about ready for final attachment and painting, the cab is just about finished. Most of what's left for us in Portland is little things until the boiler shows up.
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James Patten

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Re: B&SR 7
« Reply #117 on: March 03, 2015, 10:02:55 AM »
You didn't check the running gear after going through fire?

Bill Piche

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Re: B&SR 7
« Reply #118 on: March 03, 2015, 10:55:29 AM »
The running gear was far enough forward in the engine house that none of the pins or rods were warped/damaged before the fire crews were able to get there. The heaviest damage to the locomotive in the fire was from the area right next to the fireman's door and further back, which is where the old paint, grease, solvent container was (it obviously didn't do it's job since it was constantly left open in those days).

You can kinda see in the picture I attached where the locomotive was relative to that container. The workbench behind it actually slowed the fire and shielded the engine for a little bit before the fire got to that, too. That survived fairly intact underneath (but still junk) so you have an idea of where the hottest fire was.

This also wasn't exactly a brick building that burned down around 7. There wasn't much material above the engine to fall and cause any significant damage that way.
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Philip Marshall

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Re: B&SR 7
« Reply #119 on: March 03, 2015, 11:22:42 AM »
Thanks for the clarification. It's great to see her coming along.