Steam & Excursion > Steam Loco Part Question

What's the name of the two bars circled here that connect the smoke-box with the pilot beam?

Thanks in Advance

---

Support struts for the pilot

Pilot braces.

Chin braces.

Hard to tell whether they hold the pilot beam down, the smokebox up, both, or neither.

There was a great discusion on July 2,2014 on these.

Pilot braces. I have removed them once on a worn out locomotive in order to remove an air tank. After installing the new tank, the brace refused to line back up. As it turned out one side the pilot sagged about 2" while the brace was out. It was a challenging installation.

How do I find it?

Kimball Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There was a great discusion on July 2,2014 on
> these.

I don't know about "great" but here it is.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,3453841,3454004#msg-3454004

I'm surprised the fairly modern locomotive pictured would have need of braces like this. The frame isn't enough?

Thanks for the link. This 2-8-2 Wabash K-1 was built about 1912, so apparently they were still using the braces then.

The J-1 Pacifics in that time period that used the same boiler, cab and tender, also had the bracing.


Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/15 16:43 by wabash2800.

One might assume that coupling impacts are then transmitted back to the boiler.

The 1922 Locomotive Cyclopedia calls these parts Front Boiler Braces. Before the introduction of large cast frames, with or without integrally cast cylinders, the purpose 0f the front boiler braces is to support the front end of the frame rails.

There were two common forms of construction of built up front frame rails. Two bar, and four bar, as illustrated below. Front boiler braces, on every photo and drawing I can find, are applied only to locomotives with two bar front frame construction.

In two bar construction, first illustration, the cylinders are bolted atop the frame rails. In four bar construction the front frame is split to sandwich the cylinder casting between the upper and lower rails, and the frame is thus strengthened and does not require the braces.

Due to allowance for expansion/contraction, the boiler is attached to the frame rigidly only at the cylinder saddle on all locomotives, so there would be no useful purpose to transmit coupling impact to the boiler.

-John

---

---