Mt Rainier Scenic Railroad News

The name of this game is hurry up and wait.  The MRSR shop personnel have been hurrying to get the locomotive’s frame, tender, engine and running gear all rehabilitated and ready for the day the repaired boiler arrives from Seattle Boiler Works.  We’re just about at the 100% completion level in that regard, but still the boiler is not done.  It is very close, but not quite ready to boil water just yet.  And yes, we we’re expecting the boiler to be done by June 1, but there have been unavoidable delays mainly due to additional unforseen repairs needed in the firebox and below the front tube sheet, as well as the need to have a particular style of rivets special ordered.

At this point, the boiler is ready for the installation of the new tubes and superheater flues.  SBW has the 2-inch tubes in stock at their plant, but are awaiting the arrival of new ferrules (metal rings that fill the gap between the tube and the tube sheet when the tube end is rolled into the sheet).  The superheater flues, as well as the superheater header and all of the rebuilt units, are expected to arrive from Wyoming in about 10 days.

SBW has yet to install a new smokebox barrel onto the front of the boiler, but that is on hold until they can successfully remove all of the badly deteriorated studs that attach the superheater header to the dry pipe flange at the front tube sheet.  They have one more stud left to remove, and that one has been putting up quite a fight.

Before the new tubes can be installed, the interior of the boiler barrel is going to be painted with a special high temperature paint designed to protect the boiler plate from the eroding effects of the boiler water.  The new paint, called “Apexior 1,” arrived at the Mineral shop this week and will be applied to the boiler on Monday, June 1.  The installation of the new 2-inch tubes can then begin.

Recently we installed the connecting rod from the #3 piston to the crankshaft.  Then we began to tackle the installation of the connecting rod from the #2 piston.  This involved more than we bargained for.  Gerry, our ever-capable machinist, didn’t get the opportunity to completely finish machining the new connecting rod bearings we had cast, so it was left to me and volunteer Walker Lane to see if we could get the new bearings to fit without completely messing things up.  First the bearings (there are two halves) were fitted to the connecting rod which involved some minor machining of the inside faces.  That was easy.  Then, after the connecting rod was installed and connected to the #2 piston crosshead, the bearing halves were tried on the crank shaft to see if there were any problems with the fit.  Yes, there were, and what ensued was a mind numbing, elbow wracking series of excercises whereby the bearing halves were hand scraped, blued, lapped in, blued again, lapped again, etc., etc., etc., until they fit the crank shaft throw properly.  Lastly, we need to hone out the bearing to increase the diameter of the bored hole just a little to make more room for the hard grease lubricant that will be used in these bearings.  We decided to work on something outside since the sun was shining, so we’ll get back to the connecting rod work after a little while.

Brian Wise inserts the wrist pin into the end of the #2 connecting rod, attaching it to the cross head.

The #2 connecting rod is installed and the top half of the connecting rod bearing is in place in the end of the rod.  We were jubilant to have gotten this far, but did not know yet what was to come.

Walker Lane holds the bearing halves firmly as Brian hand scrapes the radiused edges of the bearings in order to get them to fit the crank shaft throw properly.  Then came the repeated bluing, lapping, and more scraping.

Up until this point in the project, all of us have been dealing with a lot of cold steel, but ironically it has been two pieces of wood that have prevented us from moving forward with finishing the locomotive’s frame work.  Those two pieces of wood are the front and rear bumper beams.  As mentioned in an earlier posting, an attempt was made by yours truly to mill a new rear bumper out of a recycled fir bridge timber.  That was a dismal failure, but it did prompt me to look into the availability of large oak timbers.  After making several phone calls, I got in touch with Disdero Lumber down in northern Oregon, not very far from where our locomotive was originally constructed.  Disdero could not only supply the proper white oak timbers we needed, but they would be fairly inexpensive and quick to deliver.  At $500 each, I made the order and expected them to be delivered in about three weeks.  Three days later they were ready for delivery.  The next day they arrived at the Mineral shop.  I convinced Walker Lane that he was the man for the job, and set him to milling the edges of the rear bumper beam so it would fit into the steel channel at the end of the tender’s frame.  Walker and I lost count, but I think we test fitted the beam to the tender frame about eight times before we finally set it in place for the final time.  It was a lot of work, but it looks fantastic, mainly due to Walker’s craftsmanship.

Walker Lane begins milling the top and bottom edges of the back side of the rear bumper beam so that it will fit into the tender frame’s steel channel.

One of many test fits of the rear bumper beam.  A number of the bolt holes were marked for drilling at this time.

Walker used the American Hole Wizard to drill all of the holes (24 horizontal, 8 vertical) through the rear bumper beam.

After the rear bumper beam was fitted into the tender frame’s steel channel for the last time, the coupler pocket casting was installed.

After the rear bumper beam was installed, the rear coupler pocket and draft gear were finally re-attached to the tender’s frame.  At last the tender frame was ready to be flipped over and set back onto the third truck!

Jim Fitch applies grease to the center bowl on the truck as the tender frame awaits placement onto the truck.

Forklift operator Tim Gordon sets the tender frame onto the third truck, finally, after a long time apart.

Brian Wise takes down some measurements for the wood planking that will go between the frame and the tender’s water tank.

Jim Fitch loves two things:  needle scaling and painting.  Here he is applying more black paint to the top side of the tender frame in anticipation of the installation of the water tank.

Last Saturday, May 23rd, with the steam train out of the yard, we took the opportunity to move the Willamette’s frame outside to swap out the first and second trucks.  We had removed the second truck (under the rear of the frame) some weeks ago, placing a roller-bearing freight car truck in its stead.  Rebuilding of the second truck was completed not long ago, so it was time to get the first (front) truck out from under the frame.  Instead of jacking up the frame this time, we used the old West Fork Timber log stacker machine (the same machine used to remove the boiler from the frame).  The rear of the frame was lifted first, allowing the freight car truck to be pulled out and the rebuilt rear truck to be pushed into place.  Then the front end of the frame was lifted and the front trucked swapped out with the freight car truck.  The whole ordeal took us about two hours, where as it took us about four hours previously.

From the operator’s cab of the log stacker, the freight car truck has already been pulled out from under the rear of the locomotive’s frame.

The rebuilt rear truck is pushed under the frame.

Now the front end of the frame is lifted into the air and the front truck swapped out.

The Willamette’s frame now sits on the rebuilt rear truck, with the front truck removed and waiting to be moved to the shop for rebuild.

With the front truck at the shop, Steve Jones and Jim Fitch set to removing the years of accumulated grease, oil and dirt.  There are also a couple of badly bent and broken pieces that will be repaired or replaced.

While all this great outside work was going on, several folks have been diligently disassembling, cleaning and painting all of the pieces that make up the locomotive’s drive line, specifically the slip joints and universal couplings that connect the crank shaft to each of the three trucks.  There are three sets of slip joints and universals:  one between the front truck and the crank shaft, one between the crankshaft and the second truck, and one between the second and third trucks.  None of the pieces are very small or light in weight, as you can imagine.  To date, about 90% of the drive line has been cleaned and painted and is ready for reassembly.

Brian Bundridge has a table full of drive line parts waiting to be disassembled and cleaned.

Scott Buckley put in a full day wrestling with these parts to get them disassembled and properly cleaned.  Now they are ready to be reinstalled on the locomotive when the time comes.

Another “inside” job that is progressing nicely is the fabrication of new shims by Walker Lane for each of the journal boxes on the fireman’s side of each wheel set.  With all new thrust bearings installed at the end of each axle, it will be necessary to re-shim each journal box so that we get the proper amount of lateral (side to side) movement.  Too much lateral and the gears on the right side of the locomotive won’t mesh properly.  Too little lateral and one or more bearings will overheat.  We’re starting off with an amply amount of lateral at each axle, then after we have everything together and the locomotive is moving under its own power, we’ll adjust the shimming as needed.

Walker Lane machining new .500″ shims for the left side journal boxes.

With the tender frame back on the third truck, it was only right that we get the water tank back where it belongs.  On Saturday, Dean Barbour came out to put his mark on the project by hand lettering the water tank for us.  Dean made stencils of the “Rayonier Incorporated” logo many years ago when the Willamette first arrived at Mineral.  His handiwork was spot on.

Dean and helper Danielle work to get the stencil correctly placed on the right side of the water tank.

After drawing in the lettering and removing the stencil, Dean sat down to paint.  We asked him why “Incorporated” had three “R”s, but he wasn’t falling for it.

The finished product looks fantastic, and since it was done by hand, it’s historically accurate, too!

The water tank looked great sitting there on blocks in front of the shop, but we figured it would look awesom on the tender frame, so today we put it there.

Rowdy Pierce hauls the water tank from in front of the shop to the waiting tender frame.

Almost there!

…and the eagle has landed!  We managed to destroy a couple of the 1×6 wood planks under the tank during the process, but that was a small price to pay for seeing the tender whole once again.  Changing out the wood will be simple enough, then we can bolt the tank down for good and work towards getting the rear sand box done, as well as the rear hand hold, coupler cut lever, foot boards, and water piping.

Well that’s all I have for this installment.  I don’t plan on typing up another update until the boiler has arrived.  At that time, we should see some truly remarkable progress as the engine is remounted to the boiler, and the cab is set back on the frame.  The race will then be on to get the boiler steam tested before the end of June.