Steam & Excursion > 13 August 2019 - Visit to WMSR Shop & #1309

Shopped by the Western Maryland Scenic RR shops in Ridgeley, WV to check out the progress of #1309's rebuild... It's always nice to see the progress first hand.

Over the weekend I was told that Tuesday would be one of the "milestone events" in the locomotive history. I was thinking it would be the re-wheeling of the locomotive but instead I found it was a little more tame.. the re-wheeling of the front engine.

1) Rear drivers waiting at the rear shop door....

2) Looking at the front engine supported by air jacks, waiting for one last piece to be machined and installed before the frame is lowered onto the driver's.

3) The last piece being machined.

... More to Follow ....

 

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1) Fitting the last piece before they started lowering the frame.

2) Making sure all the binders line up during the lowering process.

3) Lowering the frame with a shot of the leading axle.

.... More to Follow ....

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1) and 2) lowering the front engine frame on the axles.

3) Interesting Drawing ...

.... More to Follow ...
 

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Thank you Tim for covering the ex-C&O 1309 and with your great photos.  There are so many really bitter guys whom I have spoken with over the fact that so much has gone wrong with this rebuild and that they have been disappointed that the locomotive is still not finished and that it has cost an arm and a leg plus.  I'm just hoping for the best that somehow it will be done sometime this year and that it can start earning its' keep by pulling the excursions from Cumberland up to Frostburg, Maryland and return.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

1) Rear Driver's waiting for the one last box before they can be set under the locomotive.....

2) Detail shot of one of the driver boxes.

3) Cab Interior / Backhead.

... More to Follow ....

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1) When I first saw this connection it was a jagged torchcut stub... Now, new parts in place.

2) Coming together.... Progress is being made and eventually she will be returned to steam.

Thank You for stopping by.

Tim W.

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Thanks for the update! Glad to see progress being made!

The BEST thing is that Gary has avoided the temptation to resort to taking short cuts.

Gary’s dilemma was always:
“Do it right, or do it over”..

Sometimes, in loco restoration, as you uncover areas of wear or neglect... YOU MUST DO IT RIGHT.

Short cuts always results in regrets... ( “Murphy’s lessons” were
discovered while he was a RR apprentice...)

I’m sorry that the picture-taking crowd has been so impatient, and whining over the pace of progress.

I’ve known Gary for many decades... He knows what he’s doing.

Comments and premature announcements by the RR management are their fault...
They’re new to the frustrations of steam loco “restoration business”.

Different restoration schedules are the choice of the folks doing the work.... there are varying ways to accomplish the same task...

The coming “shakedown” period will reveal many things that need still need fixing...that’s why it’s a shakedown period..

My own preference was to operate the loco, fix the immediate problems, build a follow-up list.., over the continuing operational check-outs..

As money begins to accumulate add-in “niceties”, like roller bearing axles — for the small journals ...

I’d go for individual temperature monitors for each main journal brass..

It could take a while to wear-in all the brasses... temperature rises can be expected... but, those spikes may take a while before they
show-up.

The wear-in process may take a couple years of operations to get all the pieces to be Happy..

Expect many events to possibly affect operations...

Steam engines like to be the ones in control! They often had me begging for relief..!
😀

Wes

Posted from iPhone

I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Gary during the restoration of SP 786, 2-8-2, here in Austin many years ago.
He assembled a great team of paid workers plus some volunteers were allowed to work once we pasted a trial basis of working as a volunteer.
It was interesting, hot, dirty, rewarding work and I enjoyed my time working with Gary.
He does it right and there is no doubt that he will get 1309 out of the shop and running again.
Pat
South Austin, TX

Thank you Mr. Wilson for the comprehensive photo update. Congratulations to Gary Bensman and to John Garner for sticking to it and for making the important progress shown by the camera.

   I concur with Wes Camp that it's going to take a good amount of trial runs to find & fix all the issues that are sure to show up with a machine this complex. When we initially restored C&O 614 to service in 1979-80 after she had sat outdoors for nearly 30 years it took many, many days of operating her before all the "bugs" showed themselves and got fixed.    

   Nice to see the progress. Maybe 1309 will get to pull Mr. & Mrs. Claus for the 2019 season after all???

   Hope springs eternal. Ross Rowland

And this was suppose to run last year with paying customers? What ever made them think that could happen. Hopefully their act is now together and the loco will be out running sooner rather than later. 

“Supposed to run “.was a public-relations matter and a ‘press’ matter...!that was poor planning on the RR’s part...
Bensman can tell them the steps as he progresses..

She’ll be ready when she’s ready..
Let a column of smoke from the stack be the advertising...that’ll get more press quicker..and you don’t lose credibility in the process...

Take reservations early, but not take ticket money. ( offer discounts for the early birds..)
Solicit cash support: sell ‘souvenirs’ —— chunks of boiler tubes, ($50.)
wore-out old, 1309 brake shoes ( door stops) $100, etc..
Arch brick pieces: $25.00
Pieces from the butchered “receiver pipe” *9from the low pressure engine...$250.00
Painted track spikes, .$$$

No refunds to manage..there’s thousands of souvenir possibilities..look what Albuquerque raised for the 2926.—- selling stuff..
Imagination could have raised a lot of cash... “stepping over dollars to pick-up dimes...”

​W.

Photo  #13 shows how they ‘repaired’ the torched receiver pipe.... some time in the far past, the C&O shipped the 1309, and it was ordered that the receiver pipe be cut...to prevent any interference while navigating curves, as it was towed on kits own wheels..

So, I had presumed that a whole new pipe would be fabricated...as we see, Gary, ( wisely) decided to save the torched pipe, and make the repair as flanged joint...thus preserving its critical length and dimensions.
Here we see half of that joint... the steam in the receiver pipe is ‘exhaust’ steam from the HP cylinders, OR,
reduced pressure “live steam” from the boiler ( via a reducing valve).  Full pressure from the boiler, on those large diameter, 
LP, pistons would set the front engine’s drivers into wild, high speed spinning...

The reducer valve admits ( lower.pressure) live steam to the LP cylinders for starting and increased starting tractive effort....
( The increased starting Tractive Effort is largely a result of full BP acting on the HP pistons—- now exhausting directly up the stack, and bypassing the ( compound route) the LP cylinders. That allows for greater pressure acting on the HP pistons....since you’re not acting against 70-PSI pressures in the receiver pipes. ... a negative pressure which acts against the full, positive BP.
That’s the main challenge with compounding....that compound pressure acting directly  against the so-called HP pistons...

Steam, in the compound mode, leaves the HP cylinders ( HP exhaust) and is directed to the pistons of the front, LP cylinders.
Thus, the steam in the ‘receiver pipe’ is at about 50% of the pressure that was sent to the HP cylinders (BP) ....
So, now, in compound; the HP Pistons are powering the front cylinders —- through the receiver pipe ( repaired pipe in photo 13, earlier).

That pipe in the photo (13) is Crucial to these compound articulateds.

Not shown is the HP direct exhaust piping to the blast pipe. ( in the smokebox) , at the base of the smokestack.  The HP direct exhaust is a slotted ring-like pipe, surrounding the primary exhaust blast pipe.

Thus,upon starting you will hear two ( independent) distinct exhaust ‘chuggs’ from each engine...loud and strong!!!
LISTEN FOR THE compound “starting chugs.”..theses engines sound as rapid as a Shay, when starting... 
The engineer has a manual ‘ change-over’ valve that he controls in operating the engine...
He can use the “booster” to get started with a heavy train, or he can shift to simple...if the engine begins to bog-down, while traveling over the road... you better have a good fireman...If in ‘simple’...

 



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/19 15:25 by wcamp1472.

Yah but ABQ was taking donations for things going into the engine, like I have a $300 bolt in there
somewhere!

Out

callum_out Wrote:
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> Yah but ABQ was taking donations for things going
> into the engine, like I have a $300 bolt in there
> somewhere!
>
> Out

I have several superheater flues in the 2926 myself.

-Fred-

Interesting stuff..!!  Thanks...

WMSR coulda’ done similar fund raising on new parts going into the 1309...with similar specific  ‘project appeals’...
They coulda have two streams of income:  loco ‘souvenir / relic sales & new parts sales...superheater units, etc..’ 
Mgmnt shouda’ spent time on those kinds of efforts—— instead of selling date-specific tickets...that obligated them to refunds and all that related expense.  
What were they ( managers)  thinking?

Then,  there’s that whole ‘crown brass thievery’ episode....
Don't get me started..

​W:

Those are very interesting driver boxes, I guess with lub ports on the inside.
Pat
South Austin, TX

I'm looking forward to hearing it, we didn't have many of them things out West when I was a kid,
all we had was those SP AC things, which were the same but completely different.

Out



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/19 20:28 by callum_out.

sptno Wrote:
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> Those are very interesting driver boxes, I guess
> with lub ports on the inside.
> Pat
> South Austin, TX

Just my opinion but, I believe that they have been up-graded to oil lubrication for all the sliding surfaces in the pedestal jaws. The actual axle bearings were originally grease block lubricated, which may have been retained. Originally, those C&O articulated locomotives did NOT have mechanical lubricators for all the sliding surfaces in the running gear, i.e. the Engineer had to be out with the long spout oil can lubricating each and every sliding surface. Nice to see that the 1309 has been up-graded to mechanical lubricator supplied pressurized machine oil to all those boxes. Hopefully, the maintenance department will keep up with the grease cake lubricated axle bearings.

Too bad the axle journal boxes were not up-graded to babbitted crown bearings with pressure feed oil lubrication. 

I love it when you talk dirty.

Out