> I was told by the man who looked after the
> motive power in 1991 that the cylinders and
> valves were removed after steam was
> discontinued, and only the rods were in
> place to move back and forth in the cylinder
> saddle.

> Both engines need major boiler work, and
> probably total replacement, since treating
> the boiler water was unknown when they were
> still under steam.

Have you seen ultrasound specs on these boilers? I have heard a lot of badmouthing of these engines, and I'm sure they are worn, but since restorations nowadays are generally done in a more complete fashion anyway, their present condition is moot. Even if they were in fairly good shape, about the same amount of work would be done to the boiler and running gear to meet current standards than if they were in bad condition. The days of replacing flues and steaming an engine up are over. "Normal" restorations now include major firebox and tubesheet work. The SP engine was built in 1922 and is younger than a bunch of steamers still using their original boilers. Its 112,000 weight, (empty) could pull a few coaches on somebody's tourist line. Somebody needs to swap Georgia a switch engine to liberate this jewel.


runner@i-55.com

Before this grows, nobody has done a serious appraisal and survey to my understanding in recent history since there are no plans to restore them. I would venture to suggest the jacket and lagging haven't been off for decades. I can tell you from personal inspection that some of the repairs made over the years were not done according to railroad practice - replacing flexible stays with rigid by welding donuts in where the caps and sleeves were burned out, etc. I can also state unequivocally that the cylinders were not removed from them despite a previous posting. The running gear is well worn with, again, non railroad repair techniques such as bandsawing out teflon horseshoes and jamming them in to take up lateral wear.

It may well be that the boilers are repairable - I certainly wouldn't condemn them outright without a survey. I think the bad press in the industry was a result of these unorthodox repairs combined with the shoving them around with diesels.

I hear a lot of water treatment information bandied about these days. I do not know if there was a testing and treatment program in place back when they were running. I have seen treatment programs cause as much trouble as lack of them if the treatments were not based on frequent testing and adjustment according to the results. Just because somebody dumped in chemicals, don't expect any guarantee of quality. It could be that a fine layer of red clay scale adhered to the inside of the boiler protecting it from corrosion - not unusual in certain parts of the south.

I've told you all I know from what hands-on I have done and that was a few years ago. Maybe somebody who has inspected them more recently has better information. It is a shame these exceptional locomotives don't have any better lives on the horizon. They are not endangered at present - someday perhaps they will be cut loose.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

One thing to add. The locomotives are now only pushed around on holidays such as X-mas and july 4th.

jasonsobczynski@yahoo.com