Head Trauma

Remember a much earlier post where I was whining to the Live Steam Gods about the rear head of the valve chamber being a pain to make? Well, trying to build that part has definitely lived up to and even exceeded those expectations. While working on the parts, more than once I have found myself daydreaming about a time long ago where the Santa Fe/Baldwin draftsmen and engineers would gather around the water cooler and all scheme together on how they could make something more complex or difficult to build. Put some curves into it? Sure why not. Add a bevel or two? No problem. Make these 2 parallel sides skew at different angles - easy enough. I keep asking Ed why didn't locomotive builders from the past try and re-use some of the same things from engine to engine or why didn't they look more at "buildability" (maybe I should have built that 844)? Seems like a real simple way to save a buck. But, if it was easy then I guess everybody would do it. The whining continues.......

So, back to the valve chamber rear head and guide. We have round shapes transitioning into squarish shapes and one giant bevel that gives everything a optical illusion (or is it delusion?). The plans don't exactly match the actual heads installed on 2925. I think more welding, grinding, plan and picture checking and more welding and grinding has occured to build these than just about any other parts so far. Here they are just about complete.

Uhh.... Has it really been that long?

Last night it was brought to my attention that the year 2000 family Christmas letter had a reference to my brother and I starting to build a steam engine. What?! It couldnt have been that long ago. No Way! But, I guess when I start thinking about it, maybe it has been that long.

The whole process started when I was able to move my business to a new location that would include a mill and lathe in our shop. Sounds great! Better take the opportunity to put these machines to good use and so the adventure began. My brother and I originally thought that since we didnt really have much of a clue on how to build a steam engine we should maybe start kind of small. That idea was quickly shelved when we realized that neither of us wanted a "small" locomotive. We then checked out a Mikado kit fron Railroad Warehouse and almost settled on building one, but again decided that bigger was better.

That left us in the position of using Little Engines as it was the only other place we knew of that had plans and parts for a 4-8-4. Since bigger is better, why not go for the biggest of them all and build one of Santa Fe's 2900 class behemoths? Heck, why let something as mundane as common sense or as trivial as a lack of experience get in the way of a childhood dream! Plans and castings were purchased in the Spring of 2001 from LE and we were off.

Now fast-forward a few years. We have been moving along at a snails pace machining parts and castings whenever time and circumstances allowed. After my youngest daughter was born almost a year elapsed without any progress being made. As we tried to figure out how to make a LE New Northern look like a 2900, our limited abilities and resources seemed to make it a next to impossible task. Enter the Live Steam God.........

I was remotely acquainted with Ed (of cab forward building fame) and through a series of events, was able to renew the acquaintance. One thing led to another and Ed said he would help us build a 2900. However, he was not pleased with our current status, primarily because we were building a 1.5" scale locomotive and it really didnt look like a 2900. Any real lcocmotive builder, he said, would build in 1.6" scale. Again, fast-forwarding through events, in 2005 we ended up selling most of our Little Engines 4-8-4 and started over. (As of today I still have the drivers, rear cradle and springs if anyone is interested in buying them.)

Ed already had copies of some of the original Baldwin locomotive construction drawings and secured those we still needed. Ed takes the original drawings and redraws the parts we need using BobCAD. We then go scrounge through the shop and find whatever material that will allow us to build what is drawn. So far, only the drivers, journal boxes and spring keepers (is that what they are called?) have been castings and everything else has been fabricated. We started over from the beginning and we're going to now build a true 1.6" scale 2900-class Santa Fe locomotive. So I guess it really has been that long. But at least its an adventure!

More building blocks

I am still basking in the afterglow of the unveiling and all of a sudden can't wait to get more parts completed. Through all of the starts, stops, re-starts and hiccups on this project I have kind of tried to maintain a even level of enthusiasm. But now that I have finally reached a major milestone in having a rolling chassis, I am just dying to get more done! Patience grasshopper, patience.....

So, its back to the block. The bronze liners were mashed into the valve chambers and the cast iron rings that will be used on the valve fit perfect. (I'll skip the gory details of the "oops" moment of boring the bushing in the valve chamber oversize and needing to pound it out of the chamber and making a new correct size bushing.) I drilled and tapped all of the holes for the front and rear heads on the valve chambers without a "oops". Maybe that should be more of milestone that I should be celebrating! Now we just need to construct the front (easy) and rear (a pain) heads for them.

Ed continued welding on the block. The valve chamber is now permanently attached (welded) to the piston cylinders and we are working on building up the steam passages between the two.

THE UNVEILING!

Last week was the Fall meet for the Sacramento Valley Live Steamers. I was out of town and unable to go, but Ed and Vic decided that the 2900 should see the light. They assembled all of the parts, components, doo-hickeys and thingamajigs that we have been making for many years and hauled her to the track so she could see and be seen and strut her stuff in the steaming bays. This was the first time that all of the sub-assemblies had been installed all together. I must say that I am one proud poppa! :-)

Building Blocks

Dave, son of the LS God (and "no", I am not swearing), cut out the front and rear cylinder block plates on the CNC plasma cutter. He did a very nice job. (Thanks Dave!) With a small amount of grinding, the entire assembly slid nicely into the frame. We also finished making the heads for the main cylinders. The front heads will be bolted on and the rear heads will be welded on just like the prototype.

We cant find the correct size liner material in the shop that we were planning to install in the valve chambers. This in turn leaves us with a bore that is too large for some other liner material that we do have. So I guess we will be installing a bushing to reduce the bore diameter. A brass liner which we do have in the shop will then be installed. The final bore will be 1 1/2" to allow the use of readily available cast iron auto transmission rings on the valve.

I kind of dread the thought of drilling and tapping the valve chambers for the front and rear heads. We managed to drill the main cylinders and heads with only a couple of "oops's". I just realized that we have to do it again with the valve chambers and hope that I can slow down and concentrate enough to avoid any screw-ups!

Block..... and Tackle

The cylinder block is coming along. We are using Ed's patented (well, maybe not patented but probably original) built-up method of cylinder block construction. This method was referred to in Bob Reedys article on building an Atlantic in the May-June 2009 issue (I'm pretty sure it was this issue) of Live Steam.

A C-shaped framework was made from 1" plate. The cylinder radius was then cut into the opposing sides of the "C" and holes were drilled through the radius cut and into the cylinders, which were also tapped. (These 3 mounting holes are visible in the above photo). This allowed the main cylinders to be bolted to the cylinder block framework. The intake and exhaust ports were machined into the cylinder and then a bronze liner was pressed into place. This highly classified photo shows the LS God himself pressing in one of the liners! After the liners were installed we then machined the bore to its final 3 3/8" dimension, even allowing for one of my all too frequent "oops" moments.

Spring is in the air!

The spring rigging is almost complete. The saddles were blocked to their theoretical height and a load was placed on the rigging. The small block at the bottom of the spring assembly was then cut down so that the springs and equalizers were relatively level.

In making the springs, we ran the spring steel through a set of slip rolls to achieve the desired radius. Even with the curve, there are still some concerns about the spring heights, especially the rear set where they may interfere with the boiler. Using another of Ed's fixtures and a homemade punch, holes were punched in the center of the springs to allow them to be bolted together.

For me, one of the coolest parts are the bronze keepers at each end of the spring. Rather than machine each of the 16 keepers out of bar stock, we decided to make a mold and have the parts cast. So, 2 molds (the rear 2 keepers are different than the rest) were made out of aluminum. We then shot wax into the mold and made enough copies for my engine, a few for Ed's Z-8 and a couple of extra in case of a "oops". The wax pieces were then shipped down to a foundry in Los Angeles and a few weeks later, "voila" these pieces show up in the mail. I cant stop looking at them!

844 Ever

This past spring, I had the chance to travel from Sparks, NV to Roseville, CA on the train being pulled by 844.

I couldn't believe how many people were out to watch the train go by! At a couple of places in the foothills around Dutch Flat or Alta it looked as if there were entire classroom's of kids standing by the tracks watching 844 go by. Of course, the foamers were out in force and it became a game to us to see where they would show up. (I think we saw 1 specific guy in 4 or 5 different spots all along the route.) It was fun for once to be on the inside looking out rather than being a "train nut" chasing all over the mountain (My lovely wife will never understand!).

It was a wonderful experience and I had a great time, even when we went into emergency in the "Big Hole"! Thank-you PM and Union Pacific!

As a side-note, the thought has occurred that maybe I should have built a model of this engine instead of a Santa Fe 2900 engine. Unfortunately, the thought never really happened until after construction had already begun. I just wanted one of the biggest and baddest 4-8-4's and since 2925 languishes a mere 20 miles away from me rotting in the sun and rain, I thought that it should be the one. But the thought of no tandem rods and much simpler valve gear definitely does have its advantages.....

Smashing good time!

We finally got to start pressing (smashing) the drivers onto the axles. Since the axles were not keyed, we needed to use the nifty fixture that Ed created to make sure that the wheels were correctly quartered.

Looks like an steam engine . . . Sort of

Finished machining the drivers. Couldn't wait to see what they looked like when mounted so we temporarily stuck them on some bar stock and set them in place.