January, 2017 Work Weekend

Inside projects!

The 6's tender developed a curious clunk-clunk-clunk sound accompanied by singing truss rods as it went along the tracks at the MCRR. It was suspected that a flat spot had developed on one of the rear truck's wheels. After separating the tender from the locomotive during the post-Midwest Haunted Rails boiler wash, and allowing sufficient time to finish other projects, the 6's tender was placed on the pit with the intention of determining and fixing whatever it was that caused the racket.

Removing the truck is not complicated. The brake rigging is disconnected, the tender chassis is lifted clear, and the truck is rolled out. 10 minutes? Not so fast...the rear running board needed to be removed to allow the truck to be rolled out without lifting the tender higher than comfortable.

With the truck clear of the pit track the problem was obvious: a flat spot on the rear truck's front axle's left wheel. In fact, there were five flat spots! A certain acronym consisting of the first letter of the last three weekday's names comes to mind. The axle's two wheels were the oddballs of the tender's four axles: they were hollow cast. The wheel had finally started collapsing into the hollows. The axle's right wheel had a few flat spots that did not correspond to the flat spots on the left wheel.

Dustin B. and Matt W. remove the front axle from the truck.

A donor truck in the storage yard provided the replacement axle. The wheels and bearing surfaces were in fair condition. Rust had formed on the journals. Ordinary hand sanding just couldn't remove the crust, so the axle was moved into the machine shop and the journals turned on the lathe.

The axle needing lathe work was placed on the large lathe. Matt C., Dan H., Dylan D., and Scott D. watch Dave O. as he slowly runs the axle up to speed for machining.

No. 16's flue removal project was scheduled to begin the next day and getting a fan ready for use while people were in the firebox and smokebox was prudent. Sometime during the 2016 operating season, something hit or knocked against the fan bending the blade. The blade was straightened and the fan was placed back in service.

The next day after the board meeting, the inspection of No. 16 began. The first order of business was removing the throttle assembly which would eventually allow access into the boiler.

Meanwhile, Kendall O. cleans the base of a whistle while Elliot H. supervises.

-Steam.airman

December, 2016 North Pole Express

This post covers the three weekends of the 2016 North Pole Express (11-26/27, 12-3/4, 12-10/11).

The weather conditions for the past few North Pole Express events have been above freezing and dry. This year's event varied from warm to near zero, sunny to blowing and accumulating snow. The outside shots will illustrate the conditions. The outside shots follow the inside pictures.

The Bellevue and Cascade Caboose No. 55 served as Santa's office and  a table bracketing one of the activity areas in the South Station, that is, the "North Pole."

Awaiting the next family for their North Pole Express picture and making a few adjustments to the model trains on display. Children were able to operate the trains.

Two of our snow princesses.

The next set of pictures show some of our staff during a few idle moments between trains and some of the decorations inside the North Pole..

One family dressed properly for the event!

Enough of the North Pole...let's go outside.

Getting No. 12 ready for North Pole Express. Notice the lack of snow in this picture -- it does change. It was cold enough that the exhaust steam from the air compressor startup seemed to be seeping up from everywhere.

There is about 90 minutes between trains so we have time to do other things besides parking outside the South Station. There were numerous "move the mothballed equipment" activities through these three weekends. In this one, No. 12 pulled the diesel switch engine (No. 14) and the gasoline switch engine (FS-2) out of the shop.

No. 12 was acting somewhat finicky: the fire would be pristine and then it would be nothing more than a camp fire. On several occasions we had to do "blow backs" and "blow forwards" to get the fire back to its pristine status. On the Friday of the second weekend, we cleaned the burner for the 4th time this year, 3 times more than usual. Something was clogging the burner and it wasn't detritus from the fuel. A quick look inside the fuel line from the tender to the locomotive confirmed our suspicions. The inside of the fuel line had started deteriorating to the point where it was depositing crud in the burner requiring the fuel line's replacement.

One of the many snowy days. McMillan Park isn't the most scenic spot in Southeast Iowa but a snow storm does wonders for its appearance. It also adds to the North Pole Express experience. 

The snow from the previous weekend didn't stick around. Fire up on the last weekend wasn't as annoying but there were some ice patches as the temperatures were below freezing.

The dry conditions didn't last long. Another quick snow storm hit in the morning to decorate the park.

Some riders arrived early for their train and went into the North Depot.

Viewers in and around the MCRR get quite a show when it is cold. Running light, No. 12 bounds up the grade just west of the North Depot.

Boiler wash day. The remaining steam pressure is vented from the 12's boiler.

-steam.airman