Steam & Excursion > Bricking the firebox. (Not a job for beginners)

Here's a good bunch of photos of a seldom seen, or photographed operation. Bricking 2926's huge firebox. This is a part of a restoration most people never get to see, or know much about. It's a complicated jop, mapping it out, and cutting all the brick to fit.  Superheater installation is finishing up too. Looks like the guys are on the home stretch now. http://2926.us/Photos/2017/08-12/index.html
 

Super interesting, thanks

Thanks for the link. That is one beautiful bricking job!
Equals that in the SP 2467 -- and that is saying a lot!

Pardon the thread drift, but below are links to two photos
of the SP 2467's firebox showing the superb bricking job that
was done, taken in 1999, shortly before she was lit off for
the first time since the steam era:

Photo #1 -- Looking toward the burner
Photo #2 -- Looking toward the firebox door

http://cencalrails.railfan.net/05109901.jpg

http://cencalrails.railfan.net/05109902.jpg

Not wanting to sound argumentative, but this is a job for beginners and the journeyman. All these skills needs to be passed on. 

These photos beg the question: what holds those
bricks in place at speed over the road?

John.

jkh2cpu Wrote:
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> These photos beg the question: what holds those
> bricks in place at speed over the road?
>
> John.

I would assume refractory cement. I agree with the other poster that the young bucks learn this. Will a arch be built?

Posted from iPhone

These bricks, when hot, form a CRUCIAL part of the successful locomotive firing of oil burners.
It takes several miles of hard storming to get the bricks hot. And , until they get hot and up to contributing to firebox temperature stabilization, the engine will be cantankerous and 'cold'.
When everything is HOT, the fireman gets to rest, and enjoy the trip.

Without that "heat bank", it becomes very difficult to fire the engine successfully.
The RADIANT heat stored in the brick structure is immense, and the heat banked this way stabilizes the firebox temperatures.
Radiant heat contributes over 80 percent of the total heat used to generate the steam.
This vital brick work, in oil burners, replaces the 'radiant' coal firebed of the solid fuel burners....

Cold air in the firebox is very damaging to the steel sheets, so the bricks are vital to that temperature stabilization.
The well fitted bricks must be relatively free to 'float' as the fire pan swells and adjusts to the immense heat building up in the firebox.
The float feature allows the bricks to nestle closer together, over time.

The well fitted Integrity of this crucial work,is imperative. It's good to see the care being taken.

One question: are the bricks covering the staybolts removed for staybolts examination & testing at the 30-day washout periods?
Also, are there Flannery flexibles below the top row of bricks in the fire pan?
If the brick work remains in place, How do find those that are compromised ?

Since virtually all staybolts were accessible on coal burners, it was comparatively easy to hammer test the firebox stays.
The arch bricks, in coal burners, stayed in place until they became obviously in need of replacement -- about 60-days of fired operation was a good figure.

It's great to see this project coming along, somwell.

Wes C.

P.S.
Interestingly enough, when I performed a cursory inspection , I found the recent attempted conversion of the RDG 2100, to burn oil, had no such
well-bricked fire pan, and virtually no firebox bricks at all.
There were another problems with that conversion, but the absence of that vital component doomed that attempt.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/17 15:42 by wcamp1472.

Fire bricks are almost fine pottery. One of my projects was for A P Greene in Fulton MO to apply the mold
release into the brick molds in a highly atomized and consistent manner. Any excess would be reflected in
a wet spot on the brick face causing an immediate reject. Same for any flaw in any surface especially edges,
the brick was rejected and reground for other use. A pallet of firebricks was worth a small fortune and
you could easily see why.

Out

Asking by someone who has no clue, what are the many pipe-end like devices for? Draft?

Between July of 1956 and August of 1958 I regularly rode CP N2A #3647 while the crew switched the Robin Hood Flour mill in downtown Calgary. The engine crew always asked me if I had any empty pickle jars. I learned they would throw the jars into the firebox where they melted and glazed the floor of the firebox. This glazing helped keep the heat more even.

The jars had to be wide necked. A narrow neck, like a ketchup or coke bottle would melt closed, then explode.

I've not heard of any restoration crews using this process.

---

Thanks for sharing as usual. I wonder how the cats will react when the big fire breathing beast is fired up and chugs up and down the track with that whistle? <G>

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

These photos are really interesting. The craftsmanship is first class.

Scott Griggs
Louisville, KY

nycman Wrote:
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> Asking by someone who has no clue, what are the
> many pipe-end like devices for? Draft?

Air intake tubes for the fire/flame.

HotWater Wrote:
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> nycman Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Asking by someone who has no clue, what are the
> > many pipe-end like devices for? Draft?
>
> Air intake tubes for the fire/flame.

Are there dampers on the bottom to allow the fireman to close some of these off?

sgriggs Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> HotWater Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > nycman Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Asking by someone who has no clue, what are
> the
> > > many pipe-end like devices for? Draft?
> >
> > Air intake tubes for the fire/flame.
>
> Are there dampers on the bottom to allow the
> fireman to close some of these off?

Although I have no familiarization with Santa Fe 2900s, I do know that Santa Fe 3751 does indeed have a damper control system for the Fireman. As additional information, both the UP 844 and 3985, each have a damper control in the large intake air duct assembly mounted in place of the coal burning butterfly doors (which were obviously removed. I don't know what the Santa Fe had in place of butterfly fire doors, but there has to be some arrangement at that location, in order to sand the tubes.

Thanks, Jack. Where is the source, just outside air? Hopefully from somewhere up above the ash---Oh, yeah, she will be an oil burner.

Thanks, HW.

nycman Wrote:
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> Thanks, Jack. Where is the source, just outside
> air?

Yes.

Hopefully from somewhere up above the
> ash---Oh, yeah, she will be an oil burner.

Well, yes. She has always been an oil burner, as she was built that way by Baldwin.

Brick:

Yes, if any Flannery staybolts would be covered by brick, the
brick must be removed enough to allow access to the holes.

The easy way to do this:

Get lumber and build forms for the floor and sides of the
firepan up to but not covering the bottom row of staybolts.

Use a castable refractory product, which can be mixed in an
ordinary small cement mixer and handed through the door to
workers inside for pouring into the forms. Use the usual
Masonry tools to make certain it's all in correctly, then level
the top of the pour and let everything cure.

After it's cured, the top of this becomes the base for the first
row of firebricks, which are then installed in the usual manner.

When it's time to do the staybolt inspection, just tear out the
number of rows needed to uncover and hidden bolts. When finished,
lay new brick on top of the walls just as the old brick was, grinding
that surface flat again. If you do it right, most of the refractory
will seldom, if ever have to be disturbed and replaced. Only the
bricks removed for inspection.

This also eliminates the need to cut a lot of bricks into weird shapes
to make it all fit together. That can consume a huge amount of time
and bricks for no benefit.

When I was helping prep 2926 for its now almost-complete rebuild, I noticed a peephole with a pivoting round cover in the firebox door area, was told that's where tube-clearing sand was sucked in off a small scoop kept in a sand box on the tender front, which I ground clean of years of wet-sand rust.
Recent pics of 2926's expertly-done brick job shows it was installed by young, obviously experienced guys, and by this time have placed all of its refractory mortar, particularly around those huge circulator pipes.

'26 steamup is getting close...hydro test recently passed, all superheater pipe bundles are now in, "new" 26L brakes work, MU controls added, a local body shop is fabricating and painting boiler cladding, a second turbogenerator is mounted, backhead gauges and controls are nearing completion, captain's chairs now live in the cab, the re-painted tender now sports correct RR Roman, ATSF lettering, courtesy of longtime narrow gauge photographer/cartographer/artist Ernie Robart.
New Mexico should see steam on state-owned rails next year.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/17 21:51 by Abqfoamer.