Category Archives: Western Coal & Coke #1 Status Updates

Welcome to the Western Coal & Coke #1 steam status blog! Work on the #1, a.k.a. “the Montreal,” is on hiatus while efforts focus on other locomotives. Updates from past years are archived here and on the Locomotive Shop forum of the MCRM members’ webpage.

Patch Preparations and Driver Repairs

Mid-Continent Railway Museum Posted on by

Indeed it was quite a successful weekend but it will be a day or two yet before I’ll get the pictures sent. The weekend actually started Friday, November 12th as Mike Wahl, Tye Hasheider, Don Engles and myself were able to come in and continue with the fitting process. The patch is nearly the right size so we are drilling the holes in the edges that will eventually become the rivet holes and bolting it in place as we go. We are working from the engineer’s side over to the fireman’s side to draw the steel into shape and determine how much more must be cut or ground off for the final fit. We’ve found that even with careful measurement and using the old piece as a pattern, the new patch still isn’t exactly the right shape. After all the bolts are in, some heat and persuasion will be applied to complete the job.

A magnetic base drill was rented to make the holes because this allows much more precise positioning and the magnet generally holds the drill quite still while punching through the steel. It was also used to drill out a broken bolt in the frame.

On Saturday, Mike, Tye, and Don returned and we were joined by Rick Peters, Kelly Bauman, Betsy Zonnerville, Jim Connor, Doug Klitzke, Al Joyce, Pat Weeden, and John Risley. Rick and John had earlier worked on repairing the cracks in the drivers and continued on with that task. The depth of the crack has to be defined by grinding away the old cast iron until the bottom is found. The area is then pre-heated and filled by welding. Many of the small cracks have been filled but there is still more work ahead.

Mike, Tye, and Don continued with the patch until Don had to leave, then Doug stepped in and gave a hand. Earlier Doug and Jim Connor unboxed a boiler tool that had been returned from loan to the Grand Canyon Railway. Shipping was not completely kind so they had to repair the box. Inspection showed no damage to the tool which is used for cutting a sealing seat in the steam dome of a boiler. It can also be adapted to the same work on a cylinder head.

Al Joyce continued turning out finished studs in the machine shop. Betsy and Kelly first performed some preventative maintenance on locomotive #4 and then inventoried and planned the use of a box of finished studs.

Jim Connor was even able to put a bit of time in on cleaning locomotive #7 to prep it for Santa Train. Our next organized work session is December 11 and 12 but we will also try to get some things done Santa weekend November 27 and 28. Bob Ristow is hoping to stay the week between Santa and Boyscouts to work on layout and fabrication of the new smokebox. He’s working to get a few people that may be able to help through that week. As it happens, my work schedule will have me off the 30th and Dec. 1st and I plan to be on the project.

July 10-11, 2004 WC&C #1 Work Session

Mid-Continent Railway Museum Posted on by

The turnout was light for the July session. Rick Peters got at least one more binder fit up on the frame to facilitate alignment and also removed the engineer’s side piston from the rod so the piston can be built up and machined to proper size. Steve Seibel and Kelly Bauman helped get the steel frame under the smokebox and we made another step in getting the 2nd course patch fit in. It may seem slow but positive steps are being made all the time.

Progress on Fitting Second Boiler Course

Mid-Continent Railway Museum Posted on by

June’s work weekend resulted in progress on the fitting of the second course of the Montreal. We had a very nice turnout of workers including Mike Wahl, Kelly Bauman, Bob Jackson, Steve Seibel, Doug Klitzke, Darryl Gasser, and Bruce Case. The second course is the tapered course which is especially difficult to fit. Finished to a point where Becker Boiler needs to fabricate an attachment to allow finish fitting of the patch.

Holes were cleaned up for many of the new studs by tapping the sheets with special boiler taps (tappered). It is necessary to ‘clean’ the holes so that a completely sealed ‘joint’ will be made between the stud and sheet. Obviously, leaks will not be tolerated.

Driving box binder fitting was initiated on the frame. This is necessary to determine the repairs and alterations required to renew the shoes and wedges.

Ultra sounding of more of the boiler sheets was also accomplished. Becker Boiler has started welding up the ‘old’ stay bolt holes so that they can be redrilled, reamed and tapped to return the stay bolts to the original 7/8″ diameter size. When a stay bolt breaks, it can be renewed by replacing it with a new bolt a little larger in size (usually 1/16″ larger in diameter). As time goes on, the bolts can wind up much larger than the original size which can result in more frequent breakage. Returning the bolts to the orginal design size will allow future repairs without jeopardizing the original design specifications.

It may seem as though the progress is slow at this time….fitting of the boiler patches are extremely delicate and MUST be done correctly the first time! Various inspections are also requirred through out the boiler patching process which can result in longer lead times.

Plans are being made to manufacture new tube sheets to complete the boiler repairs.

Magnaflux Testing of Driving Wheels

Mid-Continent Railway Museum Posted on by

The driving wheel centers for the WC&C #1 were tested for cracks using the Magnaflux process. Heavy cable was coiled around the section of the wheel to be tested. It was then connected to a very large machine similar to a welder. The area to be checked is then sprayed with an indicator which contains fluorescent iron particles. The machine then passes a very large electrical current through the wire to set up a magnetic field in the coil as well as the iron it is coiled around. If there are any cracks in the material, a flux leakage occurs which creates a disturbance in the magnetic field similar to two separate magnets being very close together. The iron particles are attracted to the flux leakage just like the end of a magnet. A very high power ultraviolet light is then shone on the area. If any cracks are present, the concentration of the fluorescent iron particles at the crack are extremely easy to see. The results? A few cracks were detected and final analysis will be determined by the General Foreman of Running Gear.

Ultrasound Testing Nearly Complete, Testing of Drivers Scheduled

Mid-Continent Railway Museum Posted on by

Progress was made during the last work weekend. The ultra sounding is basically completed, the rear flue sheet template done, and the second course patch started for fitting. The testing of the wheel centers is scheduled and should be completed shortly, this will tell us the condition of the spokes and centers of the drivers. If you remember, the 1385 drivers had only two spokes that didn’t have cracks and some of the spokes had several cracks. We do have ‘new’ tires that can be machined and shrunk onto the centers.