My grandfather was a steam machinist in Cuba for the sugar cane producers. He rose to be the head machinist for the Island and even traveled to London to help set up their rail lines. I still have a copy of his pass that allowed him to travel anywhere on the trains. You guys are a special breed of human to take care of these wonderful machines.
@@TheRealStikShady My sister visited London and she visited a train museum. She found a jounal that contained my grandfather's name in it. We never heard of kids that he traveled there as a young man. He was a mechanical genius without a formal education.
Whatever it is that retains these skills and crafts; from a time when railroad steam engines were seen in pictures with horse drawn carriages; and the whistle of a train, as punctual as a swiss watch, pervaded upon the morning quietness. I hope that men like you pass it on the future generations who may have never felt the percussion of two cylinder filling and evacuating steam like a dragons breath.
We are green, as in it saves us some green! It is kind of odd that a museum of heavy industry is run by solar power. But it makes sense for us and that is all that matters!
@@YoungstownSteelHeritage Which short line Rick? Maybe Delay in Block Productions will make a video on it (if not already). Guess you’ve seen his vids of short line operations. He has the RR love 😎
Ever seen a steam storage locomotive? They operate on water which is kept at a very high pressure so it won't boil until some of the pressure is released. They're used as shunting locomotives at factories which have large steam plants.
I’ve never seen an American steam locomotive so small! What gauge do you have there? I’m guessing it’s 2 foot. How heavy are those rails? They look super thick, especially with the narrow gauge.
the big white car with 822 on it am I right in assuming that's a foundry/smeltery wagon of some sort? the J&L 58 looks like a fascinating narrow gauge engine!
Always informative, Rick. Have to dropped any of that scale into vinegar or another mild acid to determine if the mineral deposit is calciferous? Does any of it represent flaked iron?
CE Smith Wow. You’re quite lucky. If I was that close, I’d be over there every weekend if possible. Nearest place with an operating steamer to me is 300 miles north. I plan on volunteering at the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis when I can.
I would think the more you thermal cycle the boiler the more junk will bust loose. I'd be curious exactly what is that layer? Calcium, iron? What if anything are you adding to your water now?
A lot of that scale is minerals present in the Monongahela River in the 1940s and 50s since that is where Jones & Laughlin Steel got their water from. I don't know what exactly that might be. We are using LSB 4000 as water treatment.
I don’t know anything but would a mild acid like vinegar dissolve the boiler scale? I don’t know the consequences of introducing a mild acid into a boiler, but it can be washed out.
Yes. Five plugs above the level of the crown sheet and four belly plugs. We also added another one in the bottom of the front tube sheet so that we can send water along the bottom of the barrel to wash sediment into the water legs. A total of 14 plugs.
Good, that should give the boiler the best chance to get a proper boiler wash, looked like a lot of big pieces of scale those could be a problem if they got caught in the blow down valve.
I believe that the boiler is cylindrical. That rectangular thing is the water tank. It straddles the boiler like a saddle on a horse although he mentioned that it doesn't actually touch the boiler. Stay safe and healthy.
Need to buy a endoscope camera from that dreaded website Amazon. You can get cheap $20 units that actually plug into the usb port of your phone. they are cheap enough that if you break it the second time you use it your not killing the wallet but useful enough to make it a worth the expense. I know had a person "helping dropped a Stainless steel nut down a 3" pipe and around the bend 12 inches below. camera could see it and used mechanical fingers to retrieve. If I had just gone fishing with fingers I would have knocked it down another pipe 2 inches away that came off at 90 degree angle.
Isn’t scale the equivalent of wear? It represents a loss of boiler wall thickness no? How many years will a boiler last, losing strength like that? Boilers are dangerous, but operators know that, so there must be an upside to my negative view of things. 58 is a very cool little engine.
Scale is the deposit of minerals on the surface of the steel. Any dissolved minerals in the feedwater does not leave with the steam but stays behind in the boiler. Our water treatment chemicals keep the minerals and solids in suspension until they can be flushed out with blowdowns and boiler washes, however when the loco was running for J&L Steel the scale was allowed to build up. As we have been operating the locomotive the water treatment is slowly dissolving that old scale and the thermal cycling is breaking it free from the steel. Eventually all of the old scale will be gone and with no new scale being formed the boiler interior should remain in good condition for a long time to come.
I've been watching a quite a bit of Keith Appleton's videos on model steam engines (both stationary and locomotive and traction engines) and when he gets to valve timing, he goes in to ocd mode to make it absolutely perfect.
@@YoungstownSteelHeritage As far as I could examine it in the footage, it should be the left side cylinder with the crank pin in almost lower central position, where the exhaust steam stroke is a bit too early. The reason for that could be incorrect positioning, changed position by the heat extension of the rod (I suppose you do the timing on cold engine) or some dimension mistake in the outer valve gear. To figure that out, a complete mechanical valve gear examination is recommended. For cleaning the boiler a cooking with 10% citric acid works great as well.
