Steam & Excursion > Is This A Repair Or Is It Simply A Means Of Preventing A Repair?

Any one who has spent any time running a Climax Locomotive will quickly tell you that these sure-footed steam Lokies were constantly trying to throw themselves apart as they went about their logging chores.  This led to much ingenuity by the master mechanics assigned the task of keeping these beasts in one piece and in service.

In going over some logging photos this weekend I came across this photo of a pair of 3-truck Climax's out in front of a backwoods logging shop somewhere in the West.  While I was looking for clues to ED this operation I noticed a very unusual "repair" or "improvement" added to the engine in the front of the photo.

If you look at the insert you will see what I mean.  For some reason a steel strap has been added from the cylinder saddle frame to the piston casting.  I have never seen such an addition to a Climax Locomotive before. 

While I doubt this was a repair, it seems that the CMO for this outfit saw the need for further support of the main piston casting.  I wonder if he felt this would dampen the "humping" that so many Climax Locomotives experienced at certain speeds.

Unfortunately, the story behind this modification may have died along with the CMO for this outfit - like so many other great stories have.

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/15 05:45 by LoggerHogger.

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Also interesting is the inverted Y piping ahead of the stack.  The left side appears to be from the air pump exhaust.  But, why?  And what would be fed to the right side?

-John



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/15 07:26 by LarryDoyle.

A Climax this size would have had 2 single air pumps or one cross-compound pump.  This one has one singe on each side.

Martin

It may be an attempt to keep the cylinders from vibrating loose from their mountings.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/15 07:27 by tomstp.

Cant say as I have seen that style of stack in any of your photos either. Might be common and I missed it in others.

The stack is a standard Climax "shot gun" stack. 

If you are referring to the spark arrestor it is the commone "ash can"style used by many in the west.   Here is one on Sierra #38 when she worked at Railroad Camp for Rayonier.

Martin

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How's the ash can work, Martin?

LarryDoyle Wrote:
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> Also interesting is the inverted Y piping ahead of
> the stack.  The left side appears to be from the
> air pump exhaust.  But, why?  And what would be
> fed to the right side?
>
> -John

Thanks for that explanation.

-John

The ash-can style spark arrestor has a series of baffles inside that deflect the cinders into the sides of the can and the drop to the bottom to be cleaned out from time to time.

Martin

Thanks Martin!  That's kind of what I was wondering...I couldn't tell if there was a fitting on the can to allow clean-out, or if the whole can had to be taken off, or what.

-Tom

LarryDoyle Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also interesting is the inverted Y piping ahead of
> the stack.  The left side appears to be from the
> air pump exhaust.  But, why?  And what would be
> fed to the right side?
>
> -John

They're trying to quiet down the air pump exhaust.  Those little single lung air pumps go from neat sounding to loud and obnoxius very quickly, and a dual set would be even worse.

LoggerHogger Wrote:
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> The ash-can style spark arrestor has a series of
> baffles inside that deflect the cinders into the
> sides of the can and the drop to the bottom to be
> cleaned out from time to time.
>
> Martin

How can an oil burner have cinders?

Also, why were spark arrestors used only on logging railroads? Why didn't the SP ever use them? The SP ran through wooded area.

BC,

You have lots of questions there.

Oil burners do throw out sparks but not as much as wood and coal burners.  Soot in oil burners can build up in the tubes and smokebox of the oil burners that will break lose during had pulls.  These soot particles can be red hot and start fires in the woods if not caught before the leave the stack.

Logging lines were NO the only railroads to use spark arrestors.  Many railroads and especially shortlines used spark arrestors.  Again wood burners nearly always had spark arrestors on in the summer as did coal burning engines.  Here we see SLC #1, a coal burning capped stack 2-8-0 in September of 1950 with her spark arrestor in place.  This was so she did not burn down the farm land she operated through in Southern Colorado.

Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/15 04:02 by LoggerHogger.

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Seems that strap is awfully small to be very effective at holding the cylinders in place especially with the curve in it.  The enlargement shows what looks like a missing bolt/stud on the cylinder head.

LoggerHogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> BC,
>
> You have lots of questions there.
>
> Oil burners do throw out sparks but not as much as
> wood and coal burners.  Soot in oil burners can
> build up in the tubes and smokebox of the oil
> burners that will break lose during had pulls. 
> These soot particles can be red hot and start
> fires in the woods if not caught before the leave
> the stack.
>

Understood that coal and wood burners were more likely to have spark arrestors than oil burners, and I recognize that oil burners can cause fires (SP's fire trains assigned to the snow sheds should be proof of that). I guess my question is why didn't the Class I western railroads outfit their locomotive with spark arrestors in territories prone to fire hazards? Was it because they had a maintenance of way force that cleared brush along the right of way, or did they have a deep pocket damage claim department that would pay off the aggrieved, or did they have good lawyers? Just curious.