Through the awesome power of the internet, you can now peer Inside 6167's Cab, without exposing yourself to asbestos, or bees! Click on any part of the cab to see what it is.

http://www.trainweb.org/j.dimech/6167/cab.html

Unfortuenatly I don't have enough time, or access to the locomotive to really trace everything in the cab. It doesn't help that the people who installed most of the piping were piss drunk at the time. Its not much, but its a start.

Cheers,

Joe

Joe, I don't want to damper your enthuiasm here, or start a flame war worthy of foamernet, but I doubt that whoever installed the piping in that cab was drunk. I've been in a few cabs over the years, and nothing looks out of place here at a quick glance. You have to remember that when pipefitting, not everything is in the same plane, and you sometimes have to dodge around other pipes and equipment.

Piping looks real easy to do on paper, like in a schematic, but when you get on the locomotive and see just what has to go where, and what else in in the way, it is another story. I've been there pretty recently, having converting a unit from 24RL to 26NL air brake schedules.

As park locos go, this one doesn't look too badly off! Once the cab is cleaned and repaired as best as possible, get a good coat of paint and seal the area off with heavy bars or screen. I wonder if her boiler and smokebox are in better shape than sister 6218?

Bees don't move fast this time of year!

It is impressive that so much is intact in a park locomotive! It might be a good idea to squirrel away some of the highly coveted items (like gauges) and replace them with stand ins as some collectors/vandals have sticky fingers, especially since the internet tells them what lies in the cab.

Actually, these photos were taken in the 1980's.

Since then the cab has been heavily vandalized. At one point a bum was actually living in the cab, and later died in the tender.

All of the gauges have been smashed as have all the windows, which has allowed the elements to get in the cab for almost 2 decades.

In short, the cab is an absolute wreck. We even found evidence of fires being set. Plus the floor is all rotted, etc.

As for bees, they never quit. I was in there one February several years ago and they were still very much alive.

I was just fortunate to find these photographs.

Joe

Also, we pulled out whatever was left of the gauges etc this past summer. If you look through my Journal, you can get an idea of what state the cab in. However the asbestos contractors made things much worse. After they finished removing the asbestos along the boiler, they power washed it, and while doing this, ended up forcing some of the asbestos that was underneath the backhead jacketing into the cab, so that now there is loose asbestos all over the cab. They also went in and cut up a lot of copper tubing in the cab to get at some of the asbestos wrap. The funnt thing is, they were not supposed to even be in the cab!

The smokebox on 6218 is one of the worst we've seen, ever. Water has been getting in there for decades to the point where its rusted a very large hole through the smokebox front.

6167's smokebox has been kept dry (thanks to a very sturdy stack cap) and is in reasonable condition given the circumstances. The boiler doesn't seem to be in too bad condition, except for the sides of the firebox. Of course the only way to know is to test her (but I don't think she will get tested).

http://www.trainweb.org/j.dimech/journal/

Joe

Anyone ever talk about putting up a roof over this engine?

Its a possibility. But roofs can be quite dangerous. If not done right, they become pigeon coops, and before you know the locomotive becomes a health hazard once again.

Also, Rain and snow don't fall perfectly perpendicular to the ground, so even with a roof, the engine will still be exposed to the elements.

Joe

I must be missing something. What is wrong with the piping?

Its just very unorganized and it only gets worse under the cab. You may not be able to figure it out from the photos, but trust me it is.

Just take my word on it.

Joe

Your roof needs sides. Build something like what is housing the NKP 779. Three sides and a roof. Leave the leeward side open for viewing. If you don't the work you do now will be temporary at best.

http://flickr.com/photos/teabowimaging/ ... otostream/

Of course, it all boils to to how much money we have left for a roof. Donations have been nonexistant for a while now.

While the City gave us $200,000, we estimate that it will cost $400,000 or so to do what we have to do. Including a roof, etc.

Hello Joe.
I am also confused. Is it the early 1980's pic that you are referring to when you say the pipework is bad? The pic shows very clean and complete cab from what I can see. Interesting to note that the brake handles have been gone for over 20 years!

Guys, chill out. Seriously.

The whole point of this exercise was to demonstrate one way of interpreting a steam locomotive cab. Not to argue about whether or not its neat.

When I was trying to put that page together, it was damn near impossible to figure out where a lot of the piping in the cab actually went. Even with countless photographs it was difficult.

The evaluation of 6167's piping arrangement comes from people who have actually had to work on the locomotive.

How much of the 200K has been spent already? I suppose the asbestos abatement used up a considerable chunk of that. Before I would go any farther I would seriously look at erecting a shelter. The lack of shelter caused all of the damage that you are attempting to repair, so without solving the problem you are just putting on bandaids. No matter how much you do now in 20 years it will look as though you did nothing if it stays out in the weather.

What type of building would be permitted by the local building and zoning codes? I am putting up a 45' x 60' prefab steel building with an overhead crane this year and would reccommend going with a steel building as well. We paid $24,000 for the steel framework, everything except the corrugated siding and roofing which I will buy seperately. I bought a basketcase of a backhoe for roughly $500 and put $1,500 in rebuilding it, so I'll dig the footers myself for the cost of diesel fuel. Architectual drawings cost $3,500, soil borings another $2,800.

I'll also build the concrete forms and pour the concrete myself. Erecting the steelwork will be a challenge ( I don't like high places) but with some help from a manlift and a crane I still think I can get it done. I suppose I look at problems like this with a different perspective since most of the work can be done "in house" without contraactors. When I first started in industrial preservation I had NO skills, just a desire to preserve some equipment. Since I had no money the only way to get from where I was to where I wanted to be was to do it myself. And if I didn't know how to do it I had to teach myself. I wish I had 200K given to me when I got started. I got a 5K donation and a maxed out credit card for my efforts!

Oh, do everyone a favor and take some recent pics of the cab piping before the good/bad piping issue gets blown out of proportion.