Steam & Excursion > Northern Pacific 924 Rebuild Update!!!!!

Howdy all!

It has been a couple months since I have updated everyone on the progress we have been making on Northern Pacific 924's rebuild at the Northwest Railway Museum.  For those who are new the conversation, NP 924 is an 1899 Rogers built 0-6-0.  As of right now, the boiler has been stripped, surveyed, the preliminary Form 4 completed, and firebox patches fabricated and welded in.  At the begining of February, we turned our attention to the tender so that it could be used to supply water for our steam season this summer with Santa Cruz Portland Cement 2.  Below is the text and photos from our blog post which can be found at: www.trainmuseum.org.  

The tender tank rehabilitation and restoration work forNorthern Pacific Railway 0-6-0 steam locomotive 924 is drawing to a close!  The 19th Century Rogers-built locomotive is the subject of a major collections care effort inside the Northwest Railway Museum's Conservation and Restoration Center in Snoqualmie where the first order of business is the tender and its badly deteriorated water tank.  The building of a new riveted cistern for a steam locomotive is a lot of hard work, and is not often undertaken at heritage railroads. 
Erecting major components such as sides, ends, and slope sheets can usually be accomplished quickly. In the non-museum world, a similar vessel would be put together using modern fabrication techniques such as welding, and the project would have been completed months ago.  However, in order to adhere to the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties, façadism is not an acceptable practice. Instead, it is critical to reuse original fabrications and components to the greatest extent practicable, and when infeasible, faithfully recreate the missing or irreparably damaged fabrications using materials and techniques consistent with the original.  So for the tender cistern, every rivet has been or will be duplicated using the technologies of the era.  For instance, each corner seam  is riveted to an angle iron on both sides of the angle with 1/2 button head rivets on a 1 1/2" pitch requiring literally thousands of precision drilled holes.  

Since the last report, the top deck of the tender tank has been fitted and installed.  Historically, for this portion of the tank, flush head "Liverpool" style rivet heads were used for the majority of the work.  This was done so that coal could be scooped from the top deck without hitting the higher "button head" style rivets.  This feature has been faithfully reproduced on the new tank.  

In addition to the structural riveting, the tank continues to receive original castings and forgings with the installation of tie down brackets and hand rails. The side coal boards were also added, giving the cistern that iconic 19th Century everted lip tender look.  Moving forward, this coal board will soon be extended and wrap completely around the rear of the top deck, and the original water hatch will be rehabilitated and installed.  

In addition, to the ongoing cistern work, the tender frame has received attention for its return to service.  This frame had been extensively rebuilt in the 1970s due to an encounter with a runaway freight car while being stored in Centralia, WA, and most of the wooden framework remains in remarkable condition.  However, aesthetically the timbers exhibited surface weathering and other effects which would not present well in the final product.  In order to rectify these issues and assure many decades of trouble free service, the surfaces have been sealed and filled using epoxy-based fillers and sanded to fill any minor cracks and surface blemishes.  (This technique was extensively applied to chapel car 5 Messenger of Peace.) The frame will be primed with epoxy-based primer Awlgrip 545) and top coated with a finish coat of black.  Once this work is completed, the tank can be installed on the frame and bolted down.  Following this step, the tender trucks will be rebuilt so as to assure like-new performance from the tender.  The 924's tender will be completed this summer.  At that time, work will shift back to the locomotive boiler, running gear, and cab.  And the 924's tender just might see some early service in support of the Museum's steam program. 

Thanks for your interest in our program, and at the current rate of progress, you might just see this gem of a locomotive in service sooner than you think.  Where else in the west can you ride behind a 19th century locomotive in regular service, pulling first quarter of the 20th century wood and steel cars in regular service?  The list is short, and I for one, cannot wait!  So until our next update, I hope to see you all in Snoqualmie!  

Best,  

Stathi


_________________________
Efstathios I. Pappas, MS
Curator of Collections
Northwest Railway Museum

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A few more photos

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Will the inside of the tank be coated with anything to stop rust. Such as coal tar or paint.

Great job Stathi and crew. I have been up and down those hand rails many times. Looks very cool to see them on a new built to factory spect tank. Please remember it was in chehalis. Never centralia. Keep up the good work.

Posted from Android

Stathi, how are you dealing with large sheet work like the radius bends and the coal board flare?
Do you farm it out to a sheet metal shop, have the large tools, or do it the blacksmith way with a torch and sledge?
 

Interesting as would like to know about how they are treating it also. One thing to remember and am sure they do is
most problems come from the bottom where the sheets are joined due to water seeping and holding between them
also sludge in the form of dirt will also help the rust out.  Any input from the restoration crew??
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> Will the inside of the tank be coated with
> anything to stop rust. Such as coal tar or paint.

Looks to me like the base for the backup light is about .0065 low in the back 8~).
At the very least, I would think the tank would be coated with Apexior, or maybe lined with something.   Knowing Stathi, it will be well protected.
Beautiful work!

Really great progress and photos!!!
Stathi, you and the folks at Northwest Railway Museum are doing a beautiful job, and I look forward to seeing this in person soon!!!
Thanks for the report and photos. 

John
 

Thank to all for your interest in our project, and your votes of confidence! This has been an enjoyable part of the project, an it is fun to drive this many rivets in one item even if they are small. As for an interior coating, we will be using a high performance, epoxy based coating of some sort, although I have yet to make the final decision. Rest assured, this tank will last as long or longer than the original. For the exterior we will use imron for its superior toughness and longevity. I'll be sure to post some photos when be get there. Until then, stay safe, and I hope to see you all in Snoqualmie!

Best,

Stathi

------------------------
Efstathios I Pappas, MS
Curator of Collections
Northwest Railway Museum

Posted from iPhone

Stathi, thank you for your usual excellent description of the technical work done for the restoration.  Miss you guys.

Can you post a picture of the Liverpool type rivets?

Posted from iPhone

You're such a craftsman Stathi, it makes us here in the PNW so proud of you and the rest
of the crew at MRSR. If only Mr. Dickens in Cheyenne had 1/10th the skill and character
that you and your crew do, Keep up the good work and enjoy all you do!

Larry Dodgion
Wilsonville, OR

Jim, thanks for the kind words. We miss seeing you too, feel free to come up and visit any time! I'll even throw in a tour of Stockton Locomotive Works if you have the time!

As for the Liverpool rivets, the photo of the top of the tank with the hand rail close up shows how the differ from the button heads found on the rest of the tank. They are almost flush, and have just a hint of an edge and a slightly domed head.

And Larry, thanks for your very generous compliment. My team and I appreciate immensely that our work is appreciated by you and others, and we always strive to honor the history and function of the engines we work on. However, we have changed horses so to speak, and we are all part of the team at the Northwest Railway Museum as of July of last year. We are building the newest steam program in the west with SCPC 2 and beginning with NP 924 from the deadline. Our next project will be the 4-6-0 baldwin, and from there, the sky is the limit! Come and visit our VERY nice shop and get the tour sometime.

Again, thanks to all for your support and I hope to see you all up this way soon!

Best,

Stathi

Posted from iPhone

PorterNo2 Wrote:
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> Howdy all!
> <SNIP>

Stathi,

Thank you for the update, the information and pictures were very informative. I have a question for you, was all the steel for this restoration purchased from Korea? If you look at your first photo, you will notice the "Made in Korea" on the metal.

-Dave

Dave, we sourced the material from Liberty Metal in Portland Or, and in answer to a question by Lwilton that I missed earlier, we had them roll the sheets in the three areas necessary.  In terms of the steels available on the open market these days, it is difficult to specify domestic (being as that there is usually a higher price for being choosy) unless it is absolutely necessary.  When I order steel for staybolts, boiler sheets, tubes, or flues, I usually stay with domestic or European sources as the likelyhood the cert actually matches the material you have is much higher.  As we all know, pressure vessel components must conform with accpeted historic railroad practices, applicable NBIC, and/or ASME standards.  In the case of a tender tank however, the Korean steel is adequate, and in the case of these sheets, the weldability and machiniability is actually excellent.  Good questions all!  

Stathi

PorterNo2 Wrote:
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> Dave, we sourced the material from Liberty Metal
> in Portland Or, and in answer to a question by
> Lwilton that I missed earlier, we had them roll
> the sheets in the three areas necessary.  In
> terms of the steels available on the open market
> these days, it is difficult to specify domestic
> (being as that there is usually a higher price for
> being choosy) unless it is absolutely necessary.
>  When I order steel for staybolts, boiler sheets,
> tubes, or flues, I usually stay with domestic or
> European sources as the likelyhood the cert
> actually matches the material you have is much
> higher.  As we all know, pressure vessel
> components must conform with accpeted historic
> railroad practices, applicable NBIC, and/or ASME
> standards.  In the case of a tender tank however,
> the Korean steel is adequate, and in the case of
> these sheets, the weldability and machiniability
> is actually excellent.  Good questions all!  
>
> Stathi

Stathi,

Thank you for taking the time to respond and the in depth explanation!

-Dave