I recently asked how the Climax overhaul to operating condition at the PBR (www.puffingbilly.com.au) in Melbourne, Australia was coming along.

This was the reply I received.

TH


“The Climax is over $400k and 2 years away from completion. All donations will be gratefully received.

Had we known what we know now about Climax 1694, before restoration began, the project probably would have been deferred. 1694 has been a completed basket case. It was only a matter of time before a catastrophic failure occurred. Many castings have/had serious cracking. All the wheel centres have to be replaced, the cranks have already been replaced. I think the gears will have to be built up and recast. The axles are all being replaced. New tyres are at hand. When the old tyres were removed, we wondered how they had stayed on the centres for so long, being so loose. The rear portion of the frames have been replaced, with new channel section being welded on and components re-riveted. The boiler has been relatively straight forward compared to all the other mechanical repairs. The list goes on. The workshops manager said to me last weekend that the bogies will be the last things done and they require a lot of serious work.


Frames,
Engine,
Lubrication,
Steam Pipes,
General Piping,
Drive Shafts and Couplings,
Boiler, - still needs to be lagged and cladded
Gauge Glass,
Smokebox,
Brakes,
Cab,
Bunker & Water Tank,
Bogies, - require new wheel centres, tyres
Lights,
Painting & Detail Finish,
Testing & Commissioning.

The bogies are by far the most expensive items to complete. During it's time hauling timber, it broke axles on many occasions. The axles and wheel centres have been redesigned and have had a computer analysis done to ensure the new design will work. The main problem with the original design was the keys and keyways that held the wheels in position on the axles. In the new design these have been eliminated and the material for both the axles and wheels has been carefully chosen to ensure they are both strong enough and will stay in place with an interference fit. (The wheels on the newer Melbourne trams are held on the axles in a similar manner) The estimate for this portion of the work is over $150,000.

The boiler whilst complete, it still needs a lot of components fitted to it. Estimate to complete is over $20,000.

The engine unit is estimated to cost over $35,000 to complete.

Then there are the contingencies, the overheads, that are often unseen and the longer the job hangs around the workshop, the higher the contingency.

At the moment to complete the job in two years with one full time fitter, we have to raise nearly $19,000 per month! If we were to employ another two fitters the job could be completed in nine months, but we would still have to raise over $40,000 per month!!

The Climax Restoration Committee are looking at various ways to raise the funds, but the amount required is a big ask in anyone's language. Speaking recently with the workshop manager, he said it costs about $500,000 to do a major rebuild of an NA loco that was in service up to the day it entered the workshop. We are very lucky at PB boiler-wise, as all the NA boilers are less than twenty-five years old. In that time when it has been necessary to strip down a boiler for a full examination, we have only ever had to replace the tubes and they had worn out from the inside from cinder erosion. Our boiler treatment regime has been very good. If it wasn't, the cost of a major rebuild of an NA would be somewhat higher.

We believe that Climax 1694 was originally designed for 3 foot gauge. There is a considerable distance between to side frames and the wheels, with spacers about 3 inches thick between the axle boxes and wheels hubs. This would have put extras stresses and the axles, which is borne out by examination of the wear and tear evident on the ones we removed.

One day at PB when firing G42, we had a 92 year old gentleman, Bill Gould come out with us. He worked for the Forest Commission at Tyers Junction as a 'tallyman' and was riding on the Climax one day when it broke an axle. As it lurched over Bill jumped off and landed on the ground and when he looked up the Climax was leaning over the top of him. Fortunately he lived to tell the tale and it is officially recorded in Forest Commission files.

The Climax is an interesting machine to operate, with plenty of interesting noises and a reasonable appetite for firewood. Anything more than 5mph and it's like standing on a springboard as the whole engine oscillates up and down. We have found that the best results are achieved by burning short pieces of wood. As the loco has no brick arch we pile the wood up against the tube plate, When you can't get any more in the firebox, you shut the door and get the next pile of wood ready on the floor and keep repeating the process. About three miles from Belgrave, they boiler has reached full temperature and you can rest for the next mile into Menzies Creek.”

Please note these are the comments of a volunteer in a private capacity. The railroads official position may differ.

One of the results of the overhaul of Climax 1694 at PBR has been the mutually helpful connection they've established with the folks at the Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association who are overhauling the big Middle Fork RR Climax at Cass, WVa.

Sounds like a reasonably accurate description of the care and feeding of a Climax locomotive to me!



Our has the nickname "Humpy", which a lot of folks think comes from the name "Climax" and crude logger humor. While a reasonable assumption, that's not the case. She's called "Humpy" since when you get above 8 mph, she feels like she's driving over a series of humps. (Other comparisions do arise, but we'll go with the G rated version here...)

One thing we've discovered is that there is a "hump speed" zone where the vertical force created by the pistons gets into harmonics with the springs. That, on our engine, is 8 to 12 mph. Get below 8, or above 12, and it's a lot less bouncing. Knowing that, the crews try to get through that speed range as quickly as they reasonably can, though obviously you don't want to get too much above 12 mph with her.

You may well find the same to be true of the PBR engine. Get above say 9 mph (based on hitting the low end at 5 on your loco) and she may settle down a bit. No guarantees though, and you'll need somebody brave to give it the first try...

Lately, we try hard to just not run ours above 8 mph if possible. Yes, she smooths out at 12, but "smooth" is a relative term on a machine that seems determined to beat itself to pieces. Less wear and tear at lower speeds.

In his book, "Logging Railroads of the West," author Kramer Adams described a Climax locomotive as typically having a "pile-driving action" that engine crews hated. Reading the comments about dynamic augment getting into frequency with the springs makes me believe him!

Are the guys at Cass sure they want to bring such a beast back to life?

How bad the vibration is depends on a bunch of variables. How fast are you going (major factor), how hard is the engine working, what condition is the track, the engine springs, the counterweights etc.

Our engine (Hillcrest #10) was wrecked at some point. She also had some additional counterweights welded onto the flywheel. Whether they were done during the wreck repairs or not, I'm not certain. I also seem to recall that our crews made some additional modifcations to the counterweight, which reduced the bouncing action at speed.

It's also said to vary from engine to engine, which makes sense.

Among the gearheads I know, it is said that it takes three men to operate a Climax: one to run the locomotive, one to fire the locomotive, and one to walk the track behind the locomotive and pick up the pieces that fall off!

Mike

I would tend to agree with that!

I recall breaking in a new engineer, who'd only run rod engines, on the Climax, and Jack says to him "Let me know if you hear any unusual pounding" we get up to speed and he looks over and says "How many tons of pounds would you like?"

A bit later Jack says to me "Do you hear that?" and I replied "Yeah, doesn't sound right does it?" The poor new guy looks at us both, quite certain we were screwing with him, but we weren't... He eventually became pretty good at running her.

Then there was a visiting engineer who went for a short ride, saw the needle on the steam gauge bouncing between about 165 and 225 with every "hop" the engine made, got off, and never rode on her again.

The only Climax I ever rode, former Elk River Coal & Lumber E-3, on the Carroll Park & Western in Bloomsburg, Pa. in 1964, had what is apparently the "standard Climax gait." In fact, that was my first cab ride, and I remember the the bouncing as the engine made its way around the line. I've never forgotten it, and I hope someday to ride another Climax.