Greetings:
While wandering "back east" from "out west", I dropped by Century, Florida last week to visit former "Alger-Sullivan No.100", on display at the local historical society.
The thing that is most interesting about this locomotive is that it has a brand new (c.2004) boiler, which has never seen a fire!
The boiler appears to be fairly well made with flanged sheets, but with rather widely spaced staybolts (think ASME) and a pronounced crease in the crown sheet (made on a brake rather than rolled).
Unfortunately, it didn't fit properly (insufficient clearance for washout plugs).
So there it sits, all four firebox corners are torch cut out (perhaps they were going to try to put in washout plugs that could be accessed).
This boiler brings to mind several other brand new boilers, built within the last 15 years or so which either never have been (or will be) fired up and others which have "issues".
Two boilers (for a 4-6-0 and an 0-6-2T) inspected and condemned by a State boiler inspector (and frequent poster here).
A boiler for a 4-6-2 built inexplicably with a 1 inch thick inner firebox (3/8 inch is typical), this one might be getting a new, new firebox, so it may see service yet.
A boiler on a 4-6-0 built inexplicably with a 3/4 inch thick inner firebox, currently out of service after only a few years use with serious stress corrosion cracking.
There is also a 2-6-2 which has caused a good deal of angst for it's builder, it's owner, various people/companies that have tried to repair it AND the agency responsible for it's inspection/compliance. Last I heard, it was back in service.
Of course, there have been some successes too.
The M&SV No.401 has a nice new boiler which has performed well (but the builder says they will never make another).
The boilers that Dave Kloke has built for the 4-4-0s he's made are nice AND comply with both ASME and FRA (ask Dave what fun THAT was).
My point is that it is far easier to say: "let's get a new boiler for old (insert number here) than it is to actually get a decent new boiler these days.
Be well,
J.David

Hopefully "Think ASME" will bring a new positive context in the future!

The saga of the Alger-Sullivan 100.
http://www.rypn.org/briefs/single.php?f ... 220344.txt

I think you have to stay in close contact with your builder, daily inspect it if you can, make sure your plans are correct and they interpret them correctly, you just can't hand it off to someone and say "here do it". Be sure your builder is qualified and has already done quality satisifed work for others. We don't have the railroad builders like we had way back then but they are still out there.

I wouldn’t say this is new issue either. I am restoring a 1907 Herschell-Spillman 15” gauge 4-4-0, a relative to the typical Cagney, which ran at Cedar Point in Ohio up into the early 1940s or so. It was sold, and near as I can tell was taken apart for a much needed rebuild by the new owners to include a brand new riveted boiler built to code by a company called the Boom Boiler Company which was delivered in 1947. Upon delivery of the new boiler, the owners of the locomotive discovered that the firebox end of the boiler was about 3/8” too wide to fit between the drivers. To this day the locomotive is still in pieces and has passed through several owners. I am the current stuck-ee.

To add insult to injury, not only was it built by a boiler company called Boom, which seams like a poor name for a boiler company, and which ultimately didn’t fit, its also a lap seam. All that aside, its a beautiful boiler. Never been used.

Again, just pointing out that such issues were probably common even back during the hey day of steam.

Errors in translation happen - it wasn't a boiler, just a fuel tank, but thanks to a dead gnat on the fax platen it was built to 3'6" rather than 36". Oops......

dave

FYI: Boom Boiler Co. was still very much in business in the river flats section of Cleveland into at least the 1980s. I too was taken by the combination of name and business and have always included a shot of their building in my "strange and funny" slide show.

What is considered the "best practice" for having a new boiler built?

Making your own drawings seems to leave plenty of room for error. If you can even find the original drawings, how sure are you that they're accurate, and that no design changes were made, or that they don't also have errors.

Do you send the old boiler to the fabricator as a sample?

As you mention, what seems simple enough is actually quite complicated.

That sounds like a story I heard about a brand new boiler sitting at the Nevada State Railroad Museum; through an error, it didn't fit the locomotive it was intended for.

It seems to me the easiest solution to your problem with the 15" gauge 4-4-0 is to turn it into a 16" gauge 4-4-0. That should work if it's your first / only piece of equipment.

The "traction engine folks" are quite a ways ahead of the RR industry in this "new boiler" business. As the need for heavy repairs and new boilers is evident in greater numbers than the locomotive arena, several boiler shops have sprung up and are doing very nice work. Some of these same shops are now venturing quite successfully into railroad work.

Rather than try to make a project "idiot proof", it may be easier to find a qualified shop.

Their motto was "When you think of boilers, think BOOM!"

Seriously, why would anymore make the inner firebox 1" thick? Is that a standard practice in stationary boilers? Don't thicker sheets require different stay bolt spacing?

Because they don't know any better. Locomotive fireboxes need to be able to flex and move a bit. I had a turn on that 2-6-2 out west........

dave

Boom Boiler Welding Inc. was acquired by BARDONS & OLIVER, INC. - in 1968 and is still in existence as a part of that company today.

If possible it's always best to send the original boiler along to the boiler manufacturer. Imagine our surprise when our boiler maker discovered a 2" taper along the firebox sides from front to back. We had always assumed the sheets were completely straight. We sent the original to the boilermaker and they discovered the taper in the process of making new drawings. Btw, if you have a smallish boiler to be made, I highly suggest looking into "The Boilersmith" in Seaforth Ontario. They are still using the original shop and equipment of the old Robert Bell works.
http://www.boilersmith.com/

The poblem here is two-fold, and usually comes from some nimrod who thinks he is smarter than the people who designed and built these things for centuries.

First, just how much heat transfer are you going to get through a 1" thick side sheet?
Not much.

Second, no matter what the staybolt spacing, the other sheets are going to bend where they connect to these heavy ones. You just moved the stresses, you didn't solve them.