Milw 261 Drivers reinstalled

HudsonL · **Joined:** Mon May 24, 2010 10:22 am **Posts:** 548

https://plus.google.com/101719677586718 ... XhWMdQef6o

HudsonL · **Joined:** Mon May 24, 2010 10:22 am **Posts:** 548

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4cXO9ER1tI

steaminfo · **Posted:** Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:19 pm

Hudson, thank you so much for posting these.

co614 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 09, 2011 10:34 pm

Congratulations to Steve and his crew for a job well done!! Another step towards steaming again!!

Ross Rowland

dinwitty · **Joined:** Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:18 pm **Posts:** 2226

they are getting there...and faster than I thought...wont be much long...

steaminfo · **Posted:** Sat Dec 10, 2011 7:41 am

More excellent photography of the lift and of 261 are available at the following link:
http://wp.me/p1xNiX-1a

Randy Musselman · **Posted:** Sat Dec 10, 2011 8:23 am

Hello,

Very interesting.

Hopefully they were able to put the pedestal caps on inside.....man it looks cold there!

Brings back good memories of the 261 at Steamtown's grand opening. I recall being in the roundhouse when the 261 pulled in......you could almost reach out and touch the headlight......of course it did not fit in the stall. Its boot protruded a bit!

In riding her fundraiser, up on top the mountain, very impressive runby in the snow.

Regards,

Randy

Don C. · **Posted:** Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:37 pm

Here are a few more shots from the lift on Friday. The crew of the 261 would like to thanks Vic's Crane Service for helping with lift with their 150 and 250 tons cranes. These guys are true professionals and this is their second time assisting with the 261's rebuild by lifting the locomotive.

The temperature didn't break out of the lower to mid-teens on Friday but that did not deter the crew from having the locomotive back on her "dancing shoes" and parked back in the shop by shortly after 100pm.

The drivers were properly spaced and then tied together with steel tubing which ran parallel the length of the drivers. Upright supports were welded to the steel tubing and bolted to the roller bearing boxes to hold them upright. The weight distribution on the boxes is such that they want to naturally turn 180 degrees so some means had to be devised to hold them upright as the locomotive was lowered onto them. A pivoting "drawbar" was attached to the framework so that a forklift could push the connected drivers under the locomotive so that no one would have to crawl under the locomotive while it was suspended by the cranes. A change to a longer drawbar part way through the positioning of the drivers was necessary due to space limitation within the shop building.

Once the lead truck was out of the way, the drivers were rolled into place, the lead truck was repositioned and the locomotive lowered onto the drivers. The most time consuming aspect of the installation was properly seating the saddles on the roller bearing boxes. Vic's crane operators' fine touch allowed minute moves while the saddles were worked into place.

Don C. · **Posted:** Mon Dec 12, 2011 2:43 pm

Three more images from Friday's lift of the 261.

Don C.