Steam & Excursion > OHCR 6325

Ohio Central 6325 and her excursion train are in Pearl, Ohio in October 2001. Pearl is where a runby was located.
Bob

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Very nice photo of a nice looking locomotive.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Very NICE Bob!

Larry

Fine shot of a fine locomotive that had way too sort of an excursion life.    

Tominde Wrote:
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> Fine shot of a fine locomotive that had way too
> sort of an excursion life. 

What has become of her?  Also, what's the ancestry of those classic passenger cars?

Dave  

DavidP Wrote:
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> Tominde Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Fine shot of a fine locomotive that had way too
> > sort of an excursion life. 
>
> What has become of her?  Also, what's the
> ancestry of those classic passenger cars?
>
> Dave  

It’s at the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Ohio. The coaches were there too but I believe they have since been sold.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/24 09:46 by BKLJ611.

ageofsteamroundhouse.com always has current pictures, news and plans. 6325 gets pulled out for the big events like Steam Into Victory. There are also occasional rides around the yards behind one of the little switchers. Wish we could go up and enjoy the place more often.

Rebecca Morgan
Jacobsburg, OH

6325 has a significant mechanical issue. It can be operated but long term requires repair. I can't recall the specific issue at the moment but it is significant enough to keep the engine cold and not operating.

It is a shame as otherwise the locomotive is in very good condition and has pulled excursions in the past but extensive operations would require repairs. As noted, I just can't recall the specific issue but recall it is significant enough to be more than a minor repair.

I suspect the folks at Age of Steam Roundhouse are going to be more than occupied with the huge BLE steam locomotive which has just been brought there after sitting on a siding in the Pittsburgh area for years.

DaleR

 

I heard it from a knowledgeable source, that one of the 6325's 
driver axle bearings persists in running hot.  There can be several
contributing factors, or combinations of factors at work.
I'm not sure that I knew about whether or not the drivers are roller-equipped.

If plain bearings, there are methods & tricks old-timers used to coax a temperamental 
driver-bearing axle to run cool, and later, go on to run-cool just like other axles.

I suspect that 6325 does not have roller bearings 
on the driver axles...

I've never heard of an "in-the-field-fix' for axle roller bearings with 
'problems' ....

Since 6325 is now a zoo creature, there's not much chance of
freely roaming the Mainlines.

​W.

 

Hello,
wcamp1472 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I heard it from a knowledgeable source, that one
> of the 6325's 
> driver axle bearings persists in running hot.
>  There can be several
> contributing factors, or combinations of factors
> at work.

That's the issue I am aware of. I recall many trips where much attention was devoted to monitorint the temp. Of course to change such a bearing would be a major project including among other thiings removing the side rods and much more.  I recall the condition under close monitoring on many trips.

DaleR




> I'm not sure that I knew about whether or not the
> drivers are roller-equipped.
>
> If plain bearings, there are methods & tricks
> old-timers used to coax a temperamental 
> driver-bearing axle to run cool, and later, go on
> to run-cool just like other axles.
>
> I suspect that 6325 does not have roller
> bearings 
> on the driver axles...
>
> I've never heard of an "in-the-field-fix' for axle
> roller bearings with 
> 'problems' ....
>
> Since 6325 is now a zoo creature, there's not much
> chance of
> freely roaming the Mainlines.
>
> ​W.
>
>  

Dale...

Old timers had multiple ways of dealing with engines equipped 
with crown brass driver axle bearings --- without doing a total change-out.

Typically, the crown brass covers the top 180 degrees of the axle.
The most common cause of problems was related the longitudinal edges
of the brass bearing.  Both edges of the brass must be tapered to form 
a lubrication 'wedge' at the 180-degree points, front and rear.

At the time of application machinists use sharp, scrapers made of steel,
to scrape the sharp longitudinal edges --- in order to form a wedging-edge
in order to trap oil ( uniformly) along the edges where the brass meets the axle.
Without a tapered edge, the brass acts like a windshield-wiper, neatly scraping
the lubricant film off of the rotating axle...
Well-formed edges do a good job of ensuring a sufficient lubricant film, as the 
axle rotates at hundreds of RPMs.

Part of the break-in process with recently re-built, or new, locos
was to ensure that all axles, and crankpins, were "running cool",
before putting the engines to work at high-speed service.

Most engines were equipped with a block of hard grease, at each 
driver axle bearing.

The grease softened if the axle ran 'warm'.  In order to have the grease 
block last for thousands of miles, a curved metal screen, perforated 
with closely spaced grease holes, was used to prevent the axle from 
rubbing too much grease, too fast.

With hundreds of locos and thousands of grease-blocks, maintaining
sufficiently thick grease blocks was a costly expense of labor.
Some RRs, like SP, used oil pads and cellars for driving axles.
Some oil driving boxes were fitted with round 'windows' for checking 
the porpper oil level, others were fittted with drip-taps, manually opened
to see what drips ...

Oil cellars made inspecting and filling a 2-minute job, per axle...
Much quicker than replacing a too-thin grease block....

Today, many operators are converting their grease-block cellars with 
oil-fed axles & crown brasses.

The biggest problem with plain bearings is that they do a good job
with rotating axle surfaces; but, are inadequate to the end-wise pounding 
and flat bearing surfaces.  On the inside of every steel driver-center 
is a flat disk of steel called the driver's 'hub'.  The driver hubs typically do 
rub against their brass 'hub-liners', on a continual basis. The hub-liners
are a flat, brass surface on each journal box, that bears the end-thrusts
of the axle as the engine sways, side-to-side, and when navigating track curves...

The hub-liners ( on each driving-box outer face) cover the top 180-degrees 
of the axles....providing needed lubrication there was never adequately 
solved.  Hubs and hub-liners were always trouble areas to keep lubricated.
Thats why engineers, at many stops,  used long-spout oil cans to dribble
oil down, behind the drivers' wheel spokes...

Timken's tapered roller bearings, when used in matching pairs, handled
end-thrusts very well.. and eliminated the plain-bearing hub problems.
So, that's why roller bearings are the preferred driver bearings for
larger steam locos...

​W.