Another example of the KISS principal by Climax.

Climax placed two (2) 3/4" Truss Rods underneath the Engine and through the Side Sills. Due to their location and the geometry to properly support the Engine, the Truss Rods ran under the Engine and up through the Side Sills at a angle of approximately 25° and were angled to the rear approximately 10°.

To secure the ends of the Truss Rods, Climax mounted a Climax Standard 3"± Escutcheon with a slightly over-size hole and then inserted a 2"± rod cut at an angle of 22.5°± and mated the angled end to the escutcheon. Simple & cheap.

See illustration.

One of the issues which has arisen is that the two center engine cradle 3/4" Truss Rods require holes through the Side Sills which are angled in two dimensions. At an angle up and also to the rear.

With the help of an engineer in Denmark (who also assisted on the Skew Bevel Gears on SN 1551) I have been able to create a Drill Template which is indexed to the Side Stanchion U-Bolt holes on the Right Side Sill. Not made up yet, but the drawings have been sent to the powers at be at CORRY RAILS.

Climax was apparently in a hurry in 1902 when A-313 was constructed. The holes for the center truss rods were drilled "incorrectly" so the Climax Shop Crew had to bend some steel to make up the difference. The angle to the center of the locomotive was essentially correct but the angle to the front of the locomotive was about twice what was required.

Looking at the "badly bent" original truss rods I wondered whether Climax had made them that way or Christenson in removing had bent them. So for all those individuals who are mechanically deficient, know you could have worked for Climax without issues.

An illustration of the truss rods is below. The "left" is what they should have/would have wanted to do (one can still discern the actual "hole") and the "right" which is in the drilled hole is bent to compensate. The bends in the "right' one are done in 3D CADD and are nice and neat, but the original truss rods are a bit more "rough".

Wouldn't assume that any logging lokie that worked out in the woods maintained by the same blacksmith whose primary job was keeping the saw blades sharp wasn't altered in whatever way was the fastest and lest disruptive way to get it back to work and may not reflect factory standards at all.

That might apply if A313 had not gone to Alaska for the Alaska gold rush in 1902. Was only operated in the Summer for 6 -8 years and then abandoned on the Alaska tundra 50 miles north of Nome for 50 years. No wood to replace those 25' long Southern Yellow Pine side sills and no additional holes - filled or otherwise.

I think that the original design called for the center truss rods to be centered thru the side sills and not angled. If one aligns draws the points at the outside of the sills, the inside of the sills and the point where the truss rods go under the engine, the lines drawn between those points are essentially in line. See illustration below.

I think that the frame was constructed, the holes drilled for the installation of the engine cradle and side stanchion pockets and then the interference discovered. The attempt to work around the problem resulted in the shop crew drilling holes at the specified angle and height on the outside and angling the hole to the front of the locomotive to compensate for the misalignment and then over compensating. Just my thoughts.

Note the alignment of the truss rods is in 2D an illustrates the alignment as if NO angle had been added during construction.

The Longleaf Southern Yellow Pine Side Sills have arrived in the restoration Shop in Corry, PA. Now to find a planner with a throat large enough to finish the Side Sills to their final dimensions - 5 7/8" x 11 3/4".

A local blacksmith club is building a post and beam building at a local farm shows grounds. They had the same problem planning their beams. What they did was set a large I beam on its side and take a Harbor Freight planner with the bed removed and small flanged wheels put on to run on the flanges of the beam. It was set up so the height adjustment still allowed raising and lowering it on the wheels. They hand pushed it along the beam. If you need more info I know the guy who built it.

Conceptually that sounds like a possible solution. Please provide link/details.

If you can locate someone with one of the larger Woodmaster brand planers they could do it with no problem.
Width of cut on the 2 larger ones are 20" and 24" with a 7" max throat.
I have planed some really big beams on mine

I'm sure it's the 11 3/4" dimension is the problem. How about hand planing with a power planer, checking to a square and string line?

The method with the I-beam would also work using the same method as in top-down track fixation. Set up two rails so that the tops are reference surfaces, perfectly leveled to each other. Then attach the planer to a carriage with wheels that can be adjusted so the planer knives run at the correct height, and weight the machine or otherwise provide downforce to keep the knives from chattering.

You then level the beam between the rails and block it so that the first surface cut will be the 'control' dimension for squaring the other three.

Another example of Climax keeping is simple. To adjust the gear backlash and keep the Ring Gear & Pinion Gear in proper mesh, Climax adjusted the offset with two (2) Nuts which could be used to push the Crossbox toward the Ring Gear as the bronze bearing wore. As Class A's were not designed to have a long life span that sufficed. Only on Class A Climaxes.

Basic Frame of A-313 with Right Side Sill and the Front End Sill "hidden". Note that two of the 7/8" cross frame rods are dropped 1" to create additional clearance between the tenons in the ends of the two boiler side supports which sit inboard of the Side Sills to support the boiler.

The same arrangement would almost certainly have been used on Vertical Boiler Climax engines. Note that the Rods are recessed into the frame cross members except for the one next to the front saddle support cross member.

Illustration of location of Tenons & Mortises in Longitudinal Boiler Supports on A-313. Note the lowered position of the two cross frame bolt/truss rods which are lower to clear the mortises & tenons of the Longitudial/Side Boiler Supports. This appears to be a common feature of Class A Climaxes whether they are vertical Boiler or T-Boiler.

Personally, I had always wondered why and I think the Side Boiler Supports and their tenon locations explains the variance in the bolt locations on Class A Climaxes.

For those who have not seen it yet, an interesting post was put up on NGDF by JB Bane:


Photo at thread:
https://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,457247