Steam & Excursion > Former C&O 4-8-4 Class J3a Greenbrier 614

Well, I still get a kick out of some rail enthusiasts who after reading all the news releases about the former C&O 614 being sold to RJD America, LLC as to what eventually will happen with this mighty fine steam locomotive.  We can all guess as to where it will operate, whether or not CSX will do something with it, for example leasing it in 2027 for another birthday celebration of the original Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, or will the engine be leased by another major railroad.  It's fun to speculate, however, please do not start false rumors about the engine.  RJD America, LLC has made it clear that it will be going to the Strasburg Rail Road Company located in the general Lancaster area in Pennsylvania where it will be completely rebuilt for operation.  No specific date has been stated as to when the engine will be moved up to Strasburg, but we all know that steam fans are very anxious to know when it will be hauled up there and to which routes it will take to get there.  Trust me, be patient, all of this information will be made available at the proper time, supposedly in early 2025.  Meanwhile, here is a photo of the 614 that was taken back in 1979 when it was moved from the B&O R.R. Museum in Baltimore, on the former Western Maryland Railway, to Hagerstown, Maryland, where it was restored to pull the Chessie Steam Safety Express Train in 1980 and 1981.  Everyone stay safe and stay well, Happy Thanksgiving.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

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First-rate scene.
Bob

John's words and photo says it very well. That scene will very soon be reinacted as she will soon move DIT from Clifton Forge, Va. to the gold standard steam shop in the nation at Strasburg, Pa.where she will receive a world class going over and emerge ready for years of full monty ( no diesel(s) anywhere in sight, track speed 79 or 90 depending on the different railroads speed limits, real multi speed runbys, choice of open window or a/c coach seats at reasonable prices, or 1st. class seats in elegantly restored early 20th. century PV's, professionally organized and reliable) , for steam lovers who will come great distances to enjoy this, not offered anywhere else in No. America.

    Onward & Upward. Thanks, Ross Rowland  

The REAL purpose of 1472-day ( 4-year)  boiler recertification is to 
comply with  the requirement that the structure of the boiler and the operating pressure,
meets the original design dimensions.

For degreed Mechanical Engineers, the boiler is designed, on paper, to be built 
as if it's operating pressure was 4-times its actual, certified, operating pressure.

Thus, the staybolts, their spacing, the riveted seams, steel sheet-thickness,
all are designed as if the boiler were operating at the higher pressure.

The calculations are based on the actual steel thickness readings -- derived from
ultrasonic testing ---- the "numbers" reveal tte actual thickness of the sheets.

The certifying engineer uses the thin-est ultrasound reading to calculate the
permissible boiler pressure.  He would calculate the allowed boiler pressure
by using thinnest ultrasound numbers, found on the boiler sheets.
You're looking for that ultrasound number that is the lowest value, then calculating 
the allowable design-pressure to certify that no adverse effects lowers 
the permissible design pressure.

If your intended boiler pressure for a new loco's boiler is to be 250psi, then the 
4:1 Safety Factor would be a boiler constructed of materials, staybolts, and
rivet-spacing, as if it were going to operate at 1,000 psi.

At the time, 1910, when the revised, new boiler construction specs were adopted,
the PRR was the world's largest corporation, and had out-due influence over the
decisions of the lawyers at the ICC.

 So, PRR's experience was that they had more incidences of train collisions with steamers,
other than head-on collisions --- they didn't wasn't collisions to become monstrous
boiler explosions... in America's ctities and towns. So, they wanted really strong boilers.  
Their worst case scenario was two locos colliding in a head-on collision.
So, they calculated that two locos, built to the new standards, could collide,
and not result in uncontrolled boiler explosions.

So, Strasburg's major legal obligation of the 1472-day,  is the submission of
current physical dimensions and the current calculations using the materials,
and the thickness, & ultrasound numbers, that clearly meet the 4:1 calculations.  

Obviously, Lima and its engineers and suppliers provided materials that collectively
far exceeded the minimum numbers...and the 614's boiler is plenty strong.  
But, they didn't have ultrasound science, like we have today.  
The up-to-date math figures are certified by the signing Mechanical Engineer's
 signature, and his license.   Each boiler-shell sheet has its own serial number and
it's manufactured tensile strength is recorded and is part of the boiler's preserved 
original construction documentation.  

Those original records are vital to the recertification process.  Luckily, those records
are preserved at the document collection in Lima Loco Museum records, Lima, Ohio.
Also, those records for 614 would have been preserved by C&O, and kept with the
locomotive, through its recent journeys and  stages of preservation.
Also, the original documentation papers supplied at the time of manufacture,
are on file at the ICC's documents, now the FRA's files.

All the related NEW documents, ultrasound readings, etc, are submitted for
the FRA's files --- on every operating loco boiler.    
Like in Algebra class, you gotta' "show your work".

Do not confuse the design safety-pressures requirements, with the required
hydrostatic tests.   Hydrostatic test pressure is 125% times the operating pressure.  
Example: 250 psi operating pressure Xs 125% = 312.5 psi.*

So, when ALL  the math & the tests say that the boiler is "in compliance", you're good
to re-assemble and return the boiler to service.

Oh, yes, the 4-year boiler-operating period can be extended to 5-years, with
12-month's ' out of-service credit.   If you're an intermittent boiler-user, you can
stretch the 5-years out to 15 years of accumulated boiler-days.. but, then you
 gotta' do the total re-certify process,... once you get to 1,472 'boiler-days'.

If you're like Strasburg, or the 765-crew, or other frequent boiler-time users,
your allowed "boiler-days" are still 1472-days, + 12 mos. out of service time.( 5-years).

So, because 614 was last in service in the 1990s, it has not had to meet the current 
operating and inspection law, as adopted in year 2000;  so, this is 614's first compliance
with the current law, and controlling dates.

W.

( The FRA testing-pressure --- 125% above operating pressure--is testing, only.  
It is common to use lower pressure for other loco firebox inspections.  
Hydrostatic pressure, above 180psi, can stretch and widen any partially-cracked staybolts.  
Also, many staybolts in later-designed fireboxes have round, ball heads, in steam-tight,
outer sockets.  

Most staybolts are threaded into the outer and inner firebox sheets.
[ Now, welding of stays in sheets is acceped]

The common test for cracked or broken staybolts is hammer-testing, under
boiler pressure. A boilermaker's rap with a hammer is direct, yet rapid blow..
.. you want the shock-wave inside the solid bolt to "kick" the hammer head away,
very quickly --- a hard, too firm grip of the hammer-blow will not give you the
bounce of a secure bolt.   Many broken (or cracked) staybolts will close-up 
a crack when no pressure is applied.  A hammer test-rap will still reveal a defective bolt...
the shock-wave will not cross a crack.

But, often cracked 'flexible' stays also will close-up, with no pressure. 
So, Flannerys must be stretched to open any tiny cracks.  The 'electric' test
simply tells the testor that the hole is clean its entire length, and the light simply 
says that the hole is open it's entire length.

Many staybolts have a ball-head, and are loose when not under pressure, or tension.
Without being under tension, the hammer test is ineffective.... the hammer don't bounce.
So, fireboxes have to be under substantial pressure, like 70% hydro-pressure, or better,
so that the boilermaker's hammer-blow is kicked-away easily, if a secure bolt.

Hammer testing, when correctly performed, under modest hydro-pressure,
goes very rapidly, from bolt, to bolt, to bolt---- marking defective bolts and moving-on.

Special,  ball-headed stays were manufactured by Flannery Corp, and had tell-tale
holes their entire length, into 1/3 the head diameter at top.  Breakage usually occurs 
near the fixed-end, at the firebox sheets.  Cracked or broken bolts will leak water out
the telltale hole, when stretched under hydrostatic, or steam pressures.

Flannery Bolts had the telltale-holes internally copper-plated.  A hole-testing probe 
with only it's tip exposed --- was used to confim that the hole was not blocked
for it's entire length.  With only the tip exposed, the test lamp only lites with the 
probe-tip at the top of the hole, completes the circuit.

 A flashlight bulb in the testing tool lighted, when full-continuity was successful.
If you're using the test lamp to verify open telltale holes, DO NOT use power drills,
or power tools to 'clean-out' the tell-tale holes --- you'll risk stripping the copper 
lining, and failing the "open-hole tests" .  

Any Flannery bolt that fails the continuity testing, is considered a " broken bolt",
and must be replaced.   I doubt if any Flannery tester tools are still around.
They had marketed a whole cleaning and testing sets for easy processing.
ICC boiler inspectors typically used random hole testing, when inside a 
firebox, under pressure.... they wouldn't necessarily individually test over 
1,000 Flexibles per installation for entirely open tell-tales.

At less pressure, RR boilermakers could get a good rythm going off of 
each 'bounced' bolt.

As a shortcut, at NKP's Conneaut Roundhouse, Boilermaker Joe Karal,
would hammer test the staybolts in the firebox, while the boiler was still under
residual steam pressure.... like 150 to 200 psi....

After the fire was dumped, and the bare grates were cleaned, Joe would climb
in the firebox and rapidly rap each stay bolt, "rigid" or "flexible", to ensure there were 
none that needed replacing.  

It could be dangerous, when sometimes a bolt would be broken so that a
quarter-coin sized disk would be held only by a few screw-threads.
When rapped --- the disk would shoot across the firebox, and hot water and the steam 
[ the water ran through the bare grates… still, it was a hot, steamy mess…] would fill
the firebox  ....

Joe always wore lots of clothing layers, and always tested the rear areas of the
firebox, first.  He always kept his escape path to the open firedoors clear & open -
-- so he could get out quickly.  

The rest of the hammer testing would have to be done later and using cooler water
& and using pumped, hydrostatic pressure.   And, yes, the broken bolt would have to
be replaced, to enable successful hydro test pressures.  
Often the subsequent hydro might reveal more broken stays that Joe couldn't get to,
in his hasty exit.

The reason Joe did the 'hot' testing was that ( most of the time) it was an uneventful
procedure, and saved him a lot of time, and also made for a quicker turn-around,
in under an 8 hour shift.   He wouldn't have to hammer every staybolt, the longer 
ones, like crown stays were flexible enough that could accommodate lateral displacements
without stressing the threaded connection.

It was a great time-saver and labor-saving practice, compared to the labor and time
to set up, and tear-down involved for a complete hydro. The only way to stretch-open
any cracked staybolts, was when under pressure, and the stays each supporting
10 to 16-tons of 'stretch'.

Joe could hammer the bolts, mark the defective bolts, and quickly get out....
then the loco's boiler blowdowns would be connected to the roundhouse's, insulated,
hot-water retention tanks, and the boilers drained.

Later, at fire-up time, boilers were refilled with very HOT water from the storage system..
and get back to operating steam pressure, in a matter of minutes !

During the rest of the "30-day work"; later, boilermakers could easily replace 
the few marked bolts, and be done in quick order.  Remarkably, all the crafts
routinely completed the 30-day "tests" in an 8-hour shift .... repairs and all...

So, today, the integrity of Flannery leakage testing is not "rigorous testing" to identify 
cracked or broken Flannery bolts.  The Flannery bolt's tell-tale holes are individually
plugged at the firebox-end, when the testing and bolt replacements are completed.

The Flannery-use tell-tale plugs were tapered, pourous ceramic plugs, that leaked
water if the Flannery bolt was cracked or broken.
 A leaking Flannery bolt, at any time, is a "broken bolt".

 At hydro-testing-time, all Flannery the telltale holes were opened, and blown clean
for hydro testing...  At 125% hydro pressure, Flannerys were stretched, and any cracks
opened-up....leaking water out the tell-tale.   

It would be interesting to know the FRA's current interpretations of Flannery
staybolt testing in today's enforcement environment.  
How do they determine compliance ---- the completely 'opened' tell-tale hole--
in testing Flannery-type staybolts?  A partially plugged tell-tale can prevent water
leakage.  Does the FRA issue Flannery testing tools to their inspectors?)





 



Edited 17 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/24 09:58 by wcamp1472.