Steam & Excursion > Faulty Firebrick?

On the inaugural run of the Santa Fe Hudson from Chicago/KC to Los Angeles pulling the Fast Mail a development occured after
arriving in L.A. concerning the firebrick. After dousing the fire at the RH an inspection was performed which revealed a substantial
portion of the firebrick scattered all over the firebox!
Bad workmanship from Baldwin?
What gives?

My guess would be a hasty mortaring job that resulted in some or all of the brick collapsing.

Posted from iPhone

In my days having a real job we had A P Greene as a decent customer out of our Columbia MO facility.
They were and still are one of the pre-eminent fire brick manufacturers. Fire brick is an amazing product
with quality control you wouldn't believe. Any corner nick is considered scrap, any surface irregularities
the same. The guys who've been there a while all say that's been the criteria for a long time. I'd have
to agree that more than likely the set and mortar job was maybe a bit hasty.

Out

Sounds like improperly cured firebrck.
I suspect that there were several factors that contributed to the failure, over-firing can imperil the bricks also.

They are made from refractory brick, as in lining of blast furnaces, electric arc furnaces, and foundries and kilns.
Very similar to firebox conditions.

I have seen locomotive firebrick molten by about 25% &  melted away....happens at above 3000 deg F. Has to be a strong draft to fan the fires to get that heat of the fire that hot.

I'd like to know more about the reported case for this discussion..

Wes C.


( back in 1968, I was delighted with A.P. GREENE's ability to supply complete sets of firebricks for the NKP Berkshires, as well as the NKP 759.  That had retained the molds, drawings and records for all the classes.
Thank you AP Greene. Theirs was a fantastic product)....



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/16 20:36 by wcamp1472.

Don't happen to remember what plant made those do you ?

>
> ( back in 1968, I was delighted with A.P. GREENE's
> ability to supply complete sets of firebricks for
> the NKP Berkshires, as well as the NKP 759.  That
> had retained the molds, drawings and records for
> all the classes.
> Thank you AP Greene. Theirs was a fantastic
> product)....

Posted from Android

The only name that sticks out in my mind was ------ that we corresponded with offices in Moberly, MO.
Would that have been a  'plant', or just the corporate offices.

In May, 1969, while returning from the celebration of the Golden Spike 100th Anniversary events at Promontory Point, Utah, we came East,  through the town of Moberly, with the Golden Spike Centennial Limited, the 'Blue Train', and maybe even made a stop there to fill the tenders with water....

During the restoration of the NKP 759, in 1968,  I think that John Rehor, the author, located them as the source for the refractory brick;  but,  that's like a lot of things ------ is lost in the mists of my dim and fading memories...
BUT, I sometimes wonder about whether our good fortune in finding that source, is still around and if that product is still available.

Wes C.

(also, the name MEXICO, MO....seems to float around in my head..!..HELP!)
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/16 06:56 by wcamp1472.

Large plant was in Mexico (MO), after it was closed most of the work was transferred to Fulton (MO) where
it resides today. Most likely a 1968 order came out of Mexico.

Out

When I worked at the Santa Fe San Bernardino Radio Shop in 1969-70, I was told that the building had been the "Firebrick Shed".  This makes sense, because electronic communication was just coming into heavy use as the steam locomotives were disappearing.

Reopened, though not for refractory.
http://www.stltoday.com/business/columns/david-nicklaus/a-p-green-brick-factory-will-reopen-in-mexico-mo/article_f63805e5-b4f1-58f2-ac17-0e9962e971ec.html

Yup.
http://www.mabrick.com/

That facility has been open for nearly three years. We went in on a call when they were first working
on the reopening and it was obvious they were going to try and do so using the decade old and not very
well stored equipment still in place. I guess they now have figured out that some money and a better
business plan might be in order. Best of luck to them, my old crew in Columbia know them well. Just as
an after thought, at some time in the distant past that operation had an extensive in plant rail system.
We saw some pictures in one of the offices that showed overpasses and rail extending for some distance
from the plant.

Out



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/16 19:36 by callum_out.

Could have been one hell of a relight!  I've seen a couple brick get knocked loose before.

Or one damn hard coupling when switching.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/16 19:49 by Lurch.

Lurch is onto something...

Being an oil burner, might have left BALDWIN's "OK" ---- shipped dead? To Santa Fe?, maybe got smacked around during shipment ... AND also, fire brick was reported AFTER inspection in Los Angeles, that's a very long ways to go...--- for the first trip out...

Wes