IRM Steam Team

Weekend Update for June 21, 2008

Work done to Union Pacific 428:

This weekend saw a small, but busy, crew working in the shop. Ralph, Matt, and Collin removed the steam dome cover to make repairs to it after last week’s hydro test. Ralph and Collin then rolled the leaky fitting and partially reinstalled the cover. Meanwhile, another crew (who will remain nameless…yes, it was Peanut Boy!), were trying to re-anneal the gasket ring when a small section of it broke. Tom surmised the copper must have had a defect in it and may be partly to blame for the leaking dome cover. Lucky for us though, Lenny and Jerry were in the shop doing some other welding for Tom, and they were able to braze the gasket. Tom and Brian hand filed the brazing down so that the ring will sit flat on the dome to make a good seal.

Ralph did some grinding, with the die-grinder, to one of the leaking flexible staybolt sockets, in order for it to be fixed.

Work done to the Shay:

Brian applied another coat of primer to the new bolts that will be used for the front pilot beam and footboards. Nigel, Collin, and Bill worked on the McCabe Flanger. They bent another scrap test piece, which Collin ground to fit into the tube sheet, to see if it will fit. At last…this is sufficiently good that we will plan to bend a new trial material piece next week. Lessons learned, after much lengthy discussion at the end of the day, seem to be:

• we need to reduce the target radius by about an eighth-of-an-inch.
• we need to clean the press jaws of all paint, grease, etc. to maximize grip of the plate being bent.
• aim for a total of only about three inches beyond the final radius to get the right flange length.

By George, I think we got it! Look for a new flanged boiler tube sheet… coming to a Shay near you!