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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Sun Aug 04, 2024 6:28 pm 

Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:07 pm
Posts: 1148
Location: B'more Maryland
Keith Rucker just retired. Quick, someone get him on the case!

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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Sun Aug 04, 2024 6:45 pm 

Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:55 pm
Posts: 2424
Ed Kapuscinski wrote:
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.


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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Sun Aug 04, 2024 8:23 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 5:19 pm
Posts: 2619
Location: Sackets Harbor, NY
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


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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2024 7:26 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:19 am
Posts: 6435
Location: southeastern USA
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.

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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2024 9:28 am 

Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:56 pm
Posts: 41
co614 wrote:
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.


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.

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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2024 9:36 am 

Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:07 pm
Posts: 1148
Location: B'more Maryland
Jeffrey Fefferlyn wrote:
co614 wrote:
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.


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.

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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2024 9:37 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 5:19 pm
Posts: 2619
Location: Sackets Harbor, NY
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


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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2024 11:05 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 5:55 pm
Posts: 1013
Location: Warren, PA
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.


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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2024 2:32 pm 

Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2013 3:33 pm
Posts: 134
Dave wrote:
I'm honestly more interested in the details of the lubricator failure and it's development and resolution than in the big mechanical stuff.


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.


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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2024 5:19 pm 

Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:15 pm
Posts: 1641
Jeffrey Fefferlyn wrote:
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.


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 :)


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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Thu Sep 05, 2024 6:36 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:51 pm
Posts: 11664
Location: Somewhere east of Prescott, AZ along the old Santa Fe "Prescott & Eastern"
VERY belated update on the travails of WMSR 1309, "from the horse's mouth":

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

Quote:
Steam Locomotive No. 1309 Progress Report:
We receive frequent inquiries from rail enthusiasts regarding the locomotive's return to service. While we decline to provide specific dates, we can confirm that the second shipment of piston materials and crossheads is currently en route to Portland, Maine.
We expect the completed pistons to be returned by the end of this month, thanks to the collaborative efforts of various organizations and vendors.
Special thanks to our private donors, supporters, and tireless shop crew.
Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Steam Locomotive Trust
D&G Machine Products
Maine Locomotive & Machine Works


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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Thu Sep 05, 2024 9:07 pm 

Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:15 pm
Posts: 1641
What a strange and passive-aggressive way to post good news.


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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Thu Sep 05, 2024 11:44 pm 

Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:42 pm
Posts: 2903
Quote:
...While we decline to provide specific dates, we can confirm that the second shipment of piston materials and crossheads is currently en route to Portland, Maine.


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.


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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Fri Sep 06, 2024 6:39 am 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 12:53 pm
Posts: 299
Location: Alna, ME
Quote:
I wasn't expecting the Maine Narrow Gauge to be involved.


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/

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 Post subject: Re: No Steam on the WMSR for the Near Future?
PostPosted: Fri Sep 06, 2024 7:24 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:19 am
Posts: 6435
Location: southeastern USA
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.

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