Keith Rucker just retired. Quick, someone get him on the case!

Did he ever wrap up the stoker motor for NC&St.L 576? There hasn't been an update for three years.

Something doesn't make sense here. To have lost the services of this signature engine for nearly a year to repair a piston/lubricator issue doesn't square with what's involved in addressing those issues.

Hopefully they'll get her back running soon. Ross Rowland

Not involved, but it looks like addressing the issues you need to address so you CAN address the mechanical issues is probably underway.

Having dealt with lubricator issues and piston / rod repairs in the past, on geared and industrial power primarily, they are certainly doing a lot more here than making a simple repair to get her back out on the road. I'm honestly more interested in the details of the lubricator failure and it's development and resolution than in the big mechanical stuff.

It doesn't need to make sense to you, it's not your railroad nor your engine. Take the information for what it is. They don't owe you or anyone else anything further.

Here is an insane thought: maybe, just maybe, WMSR is addressing components that were marginal at best when the engine entered service and are utilizing this opportunity to properly correct them.

As I watched a B32-8 chugging its way around Helmstetters last weekend (a treat in its own right), I had a brief thought "jeez, borrowing an operational 614 would've been a great option for these guys".

That said, I'm glad I got to see the rare GE. Don't take those things for granted.

You're not only wrong, you're 100% wrong. As a donor to the fund that financed this engines return to service I ( and many other donors) have a vested interest in the machine AND how it's being managed.

IMHO it behooves the WMSR to up its game a lot on the communications front and learn that transparency works wonders with the donor class.

Ross Rowland

That piston update is actually pretty good, even for us techies that want to understand what's going on.

I do think that there's sometimes a false sense of security with 'automatic' lubricators. When things were all cups that had to be manually refilled about every trip/stop, a walkaround was required, period. Now there's unfortunately a tendency to figure they are working, unless they aren't. We don't have the story, just the results. But they are NOT the first outfit to have this happen. I can think of another operator that took CRITICAL damage to the valves in a rather similar situation, failure of lubricator.

If you see the lubricator moving and clicking, you assume it's pumping...right?

Unless you're working on a rehab I think you have no understanding of just how truly miserable machine shop, material, and manpower resources backlogs are today. You'll get your stuff when you get your stuff and not a moment before.

From what has been discussed in circles, this was reportedly along the lines of operator error than a part failure. To err is human, of course.

It's gonna be ok Jeffrey.... people can criticize the great Western Maryland and the disaster that has become their steam program. I'll get you a cookie and everything will be ok :)

VERY belated update on the travails of WMSR 1309, "from the horse's mouth":

https://www.facebook.com/WMSRailroad/po ... Ny7AZV9wcl

What a strange and passive-aggressive way to post good news.

I wasn't expecting the Maine Narrow Gauge to be involved. Don't get me wrong, they're doing amazing work up there and I have the utmost respect for them. I just would have guessed they'd either do the work in house or have somebody like Strasburg do the work.
Very cool that they get the work at the Maine Narrow Gauge.

The post references work being done at Maine Locomotive and Machine Works, which is a general-purpose restoration and fabrication shop that is well-respected in New England. They are actually located in Alna (not Portland) Maine. https://www.mainelocomotive.com/

The pumps in "automatic" lubricators need to be pressure tested occasionally. Lines from the pumps to the feed need terminal checks to maintain flow by keeping the lines full and pressurized. Pumps driven from the oscillations of the link in Walschaert gear reduce ratchet travel as she's hooked up, this limiting the flow of oil as valve travel is decreased, normally as speed and cyclic frequency increase. Not all of this is immediately evident until you run a long trip and wonder why the oil is still in the lubricator and the engine is starving........

Learned the hard way a while back.