I visited the 1361 this Wed. and had an extended conversation with the men centrally involved in this restoration attempt.
Suffice it to say that she remains a LONG LONG LONG ways from being ready to make steam.
My condolences to Rep. Rick Geist, Dr.Andy Mullholland,the ARRMM BOD and everyone else who has contributed to this effort over these many years.
I fully agree that the appropriate next step is to pack up the pieces and ship her back “home” to Altoona where let’s hope someday down the road (this time hopefully properly managed?) another attempt will be made. In the meantime she’ll make an excellent learning tool display as a work in progress!
…What’s the reason Pennsylvania is not following through on it’s commitment of the 2 million. Was there some conditions not met on the project that changed that…?
ALTOONA*,* PA.– The Railroaders Memorial Museum today announced that it has temporarily suspended daily restoration work on K4 1361 due to delays in expense reimbursement from the Commonwealth and concerns regarding the structural integrity of the K4’s boiler. Daily shop work will cease within the next 10 days.
“We certainly regret having to make this decision. However, based on the information provided by our current employees and contractors, as well as our financial constraints, our only option is to drastically slow the pace of the K4 restoration project in order to properly complete the necessary engineering work on the boiler,” said Scott Cessna, president and chief executive officer of the Railroaders Memorial Museum. “This will allow, once and for all, for the proper testing, repair, and documentation of the work necessary to bring the K4’s boiler into compliance with Federal Railroad Administration regulations.”
"There has been a change in reimbursement policy in Harrisburg as it relates to this project and we continue to work with the appropriate people there to obtain the reimbursement now properly due us in order to settle outstanding balances with our vendors. Those vendors who have already performed work on behalf of the project will be paid. This existing funding is secure and only the reimbursement method to obtain funds to pay for work already completed remains to be worked out withHarrisburg*. Any level of additional funding over and above what we already have committed is tied to current budget*
…So it sounds like it will be completed eventually, albeit in a slow time frame. No problem with that thinking…Dealing with a pressure boiler requires it to be done correctly…No 2nd chance.
…Anyone who has viewed a steam engine that has experienced a boiler explosion…knows the value of it being made to the best quality it can and then operated with people that know how it must be handled.
Then there was something to that old axiom " It is preferable to run out of coal, than to run out of water" LOL. Can’t say I’ve ever seen a pic of a boiler that let loose on any railroad. Probably wouldn’t be able to recognize the engine. With the “General” (Cival War) running all those miles, it’s a small wonder it didn’t blow it’s boiler.
Gettysburg Railroad suffered a boiler casulty some time ago but according to the NTSB there were several factors. Now I need to go back and dig the .pdf file back up. That was the last one I know of for a steam engine. That one is particularly close to home because within the year I rode with that engine and recall watching it running tender first back to Town.
I remember the 4-4-0 that was in Strasburg for quite some time until around the 80’s it finally could not certify it’s boiler… I think it was the crown sheet or something… that one got sent to the PRR Museum.
The Cotton Belt Class L1 4-8-4 appears to have all it’s flues inspected and tested along with several reloads of fresh firebrick availible on hand… I dont know her status at this point in time after seeing her at the last show in April.
There were a lot of boiler explosions, but they became less frequent as railroading advanced. Many were caused by low water, which typically caused an overheating of the firebox crown sheet. If water dropped low enough to expose the top of the crown sheet, that sheet would quickly overheat and soften. The pressure would then burst it into the firebox.
One can imagine the explosive force of a pressure vessel with 200 pound per square inch of its surface area, suddenly weakening from softening of its steel structure. But a boiler explosion is far more than that. Much of the content of a working boiler is water that is hotter than the usual atmospheric boiling point. This is possible because the boiler pressure acts upon the water, thus raising its boiling point. So the energy charged into a boiler is not only pressure, but also it is the extra heat that can be invested in water under increased pressure. When a boiler ruptures in structural failure, all of the water content is likely to be far above the atmospheric boiling point. The failure releases the superheated water, which immediately flashes over to steam as its pressure drops from the release. So when a boiler fails under the gas pressure of steam, much more gas is immediately created to add to the gas force.
When low water causes the crown sheet to rupture, the blast is downward, into the firebox. It blows right through the fire and the grates as it exhausts to atmosphere. This rapid downward release creates lifting force just like a rocket. A common scenario is that the release lifts the whole firebox and boiler off of the frame. Because the boiler is solidly attached to the smokebox saddle, the lift rotates the boiler forward, pivoting about the solid connection to the smokebox saddle. Although that connection is ultimately severed, the action sets the flying boiler on a forward, somersaulting trajectory.
…I was a youngster when I saw the result of a B&O engine blowing up and it must have been an explosion as Bucyrus explains in above post.
It was on the S&C branch of the B&O at Listie, Pa. and the time era was about 1943 or 44…A coal hauling branch, and a busy one during wartime.
I witnessed it the next day as to what was left of the engine. Nothing was remaining above the frame. Nothing…! Just the frame, wheels, rods, steam cylinders etc…All the heavy material down at that level was there to ID it as what it was. The force to do something like that must have been awesome. I do not remember where the boiler landed and if it was still in one piece.
I have in memory…it was an awesome site. Can’t tell you which B&O type engine it was now at this point…Doubt if I knew then, as I was quite young.
There was an excellent article by Bill Kuebler in the Volume 19, nos. 1 and 2 issues of The Mainstreeter on the N.P. Clark Fork River explosion of 4-6-6-4 no. 5105. The boiler was ripped off the frame and thrown into the air so that, at one point, the boiler was perpendicular to the ground, smokebox down, with the smokebox 100 feet above the ground.
The author describes in stunning detail, the mechanical events that occurred within the boiler during the first 3/10ths of a second of the explosion. Remarkably, the engine was rebuilt to a good as new condition.
…It seems reasonable to believe the explosion becomes extremely more violent once the pressure drops in the boiler {from it being ruptured}, and then much more water instantly turns to steam causing anything in it’s path to be moved away and the reaction forces at that time can blow that boiler to whatever…Like a rocket…!