January 5-6, 2008 Work Session

Climax Restoration Project

Summary of the January 5-6, 2008 Work Session

The year started off with a very productive weekend. The Terry House was very full, due to the fact that this weekend was also a MSR&LHA Board meeting weekend, which we normally try to avoid. If there had been more people on Friday night, some of us were going to be FORCED to sleep in a CABOOSE parked in front of the depot that was all decked out with Christmas lights.

Some of us were disappointed that a few more did not show up.

The following report will bring things up to date, but this is not to imply that all work discussed was completed this particular weekend.

LOCOMOTIVE FRAME

The back end of the deteriorated frame has been prepared for weld repairs. The flanges of the frame channels were wasted to sharp knife-like points, instead of being rounded, due to being worked on by acid and moisture for almost ninety years. The old flanges were removed by cutting the old flanges off with four inch diameter "zip wheels" powered by a hand held grinder unit.

Working under the lomotive frame to cut away badly deteriorated parts of the frame. This was difficult and tedious work despite being able to lay down on the job. (Photos by Walter Scriptunas II).

Removing the upper flanges was not fun, but working on the bottom side of the frame was pure torture, and nothing but drudgery. A scaffold plank was placed under the frame so that the operator of the grinder could lay on his back, reach up with the grinder, and judiciously grind along a line carefully scribed on the bottom of the frame for guidance. Try working on one's back with your arms up in the air for hours at a time. This process went on for several weekends, all day long.

The worst part of the job was the grinding debris: steel slivers, rust chunks, and grinding wheel chunks that were continually trying to get into one's eyes, ears, shirt, and regions lower! It was found very quickly that common face shields were useless on this job. The solution to the problem was for the lucky grinder operator to recline, and don the welder's face shield with a clear lens. This garb was in turn draped by a 2 by 3 foot piece of fireproof canvas with a small rectangular opening cut into it to fit over the lens opening of the face shield. The operator then reached up and around the canvass, and grasping the grinder, went to work, but for not long periods without interruption as moisture from breathing would coat the inside of the clear lens, and make seeing where to cut impossible. With luck, two or three wheels could be destroyed before the operator would have to roll out from under the frame, clean the hood (both internally and externally), clean his face, eyebrows, ears, and shirt collar. This process was repeated over and over and over, seemingly without end.

In removing in excess of 80 lineal feet of wasted flanges, close to 100 zip wheels were consumed, at a cost of close to three bucks each.

The person grinding was supported by two very necessary helpers: one person to maneuver the trouble-light and drape the canvass, and another person to keep new zip wheels on the three grinders that were being used, and feed these to the operator. Wheels lasted less than five minutes each, but in this time the grinder motors would become very hot, necessitating the use of three grinders to allow for cool-down time.

All the time that the above was being done, another team was band-sawing the replacement flanges that will be welded onto the frame by contract welders. This sounds good, but nothing happens easily, it seems. Previously our old band-saw, donated by a very generous firm, worked well for light cutting, but was soon found to be seriously in need of bearings. When the heavy cutting started, the smell of burning rubber soon developed, as the drive belt was slipping. The offending belt was tightened, but then the unmistakable sound of sand-filled bearings filled the air! It was found that the problem was greater than simply the bearings needed to be replaced: the bearings were loose in the aluminum pulley. Brass shims had been smashed into the gap in an attempt to hold the bearings in place, unsuccessfully. Now things are really getting complicated: the pulley needed to be bored and bushed to properly retain the new bearings. To make a long story short, one volunteer drove to Elkins to pick up the replacement bearings, while others secured a piece of 2-inch, schedule 80 steel pipe from the Cass Shop, and fixed the pulley. Three hours later the band-saw machine was back in operation, running perfectly. About mid-afternoon the real job could finally proceed.