1915-built McCloud River Railroad 2-8-2 #19 has been in the backshop for quite some time now, with nearly every component having been removed, inspected, and repaired as needed. As work progressed many more necessary repairs were uncovered, including old repairs that had been made on top of even older repairs. In such situations, completely new parts were cast at the local steel foundry or machined in our shop.
#19’s boiler has been fully inspected and necessary repairs – including a new firebox door sheet and a patch on the front tube sheet – have been completed. Newly built superheater units, tubes and flues have arrived and are ready for installation. Receipt of many restoration materials has been delayed by COVID-caused unemployment and supply-chain challenges.
Recent work on #19 includes a thorough inspection of all brake rigging. During inspection large amounts of wear were found on some supporting components. These were welded-up and re-machined as good as new, and all-new pins and bushings were machined in the shop and installed. All of the locomotive’s frame pedestal surfaces – which guide the driving box shoes and wedges up and down – needed welding to build up missing steel. These surfaces were then re-machined to provide smooth, flat contact planes. Since you can’t simply set up a locomotive frame in the nearest milling machine, the machine shop crew designed and built an innovative portable milling machine that was bolted to #19’s frame and that allowed precision resurfacing of all of these built-up welds. (Great job, guys!)
The laying-out of #19’s cylinder centerlines was undertaken so that the cylinder bores are exactly parallel to the locomotive’s frame. This is important because #19’s pairs of pistons, piston rods, driving rods, and valve gear are connected together, so all of these parts must operate in a unified manner for the smoothest operation. Two other recently completed projects were the machining of the steam dome seat where the soft copper “round-ring” will sit and be squeezed to ensure a steam-tight fit between #19’s steam dome and its newly fabricated steel dome lid. This lid and its round-ring seal must contain the 185 pounds of steam boiler pressure constantly being pushed against them. Support springs and hangers for #19’s main driving axle have come to the workbench as the next project.
The Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum will continue its complete and safe restoration of #19 until it is ready to operate once again. We will periodically update you as to this loco’s progress and look forward to returning this famous engine to service soon.