UP Roundhouse & Steam Shop Tour 6/4/15

 Glad to see things are happening in Cheyenne

Al

In the roundhouse not too much has changed in the past year other than some inspected, cleaned parts in storage for re-installation on 844.

844 Drawbars

844 Siderods covered from the roundhouse leaky windows or roof.

844 superheater tubes?

The observation car all polished up.

6936

Challenger 838 missing a few parts

5511

and 3985 in storage

3985 Tender

3985 Tender needing some maintenance

The photos of the worker on the platform next to the 844's firebox show the immensity of the boiler. No wonder those 800's performed so superlatively!

Very interesting. Nice pictures and explanation. Thanks for sharing. 

Thank you very much for sharing.

Brad

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

What function do staybolts server?

Always amazing to see these monsters in relative size next to folks taking a view.

Huge!   Great stuff...........  thanks.

I'll give it a try. Staybolts support the firebox from the boiler wall providing the water jacket around the firebox. The worker was removing flexible staybolt covers and  inspecting the bolt head, cup, seal and cover. Any worn, broken or badly rusted parts were being replaced with new parts, then a new cap was installed. The photos of the 838 staybolts in the roundhouse photos show similar cups, bolt heads and caps.

More info here

https://www.nationalboard.org/...20NB11-1804%20MC.pdf

Elsewhere on the web someone claimed that the tender shown in the roundhouse was 844's. Not so. Per Ed it's 3985's tender and the rust and sediment shown in a previous photo would have been be removed in it's normal annual maintenance cycle. Here is another shot of the 3985's tender from a different angle.

Elsewhere on the web the opinion was posted that the Staybolt cap inspection and replacement was a waste of time. Maybe, but per Ed the goal with 844 (and I guess on 4014 too) was to repair or replace whatever was worn, rusted or broken etc so that this rebuild would last at least another 30 years. I guess this goal applies to items as simple as flexible staybolt caps and seals.

Here's some cutaway boiler pics with labels:

http://www.herculesengines.com...iler%20Construction/

Thanks for the pictures, as the saying goes each one is worth a thousand words, a real education. 

Jack

So where is the tender for the 844? I thought it would go through the same maintenance cycle.

Excellent pictures and narrative to go along with it, Kent.  I appreciate the time it took to put this together. I definitely have to put the UP Cheyenne Roundhouse and Steam Shop on the list of places to visit sometime down the road.

The FRA rules require the boiler be  inspected every 1472 days of operation or 15 years which ever come first so there is no way this overhaul will last 30 year. Especially if it gets maintained the way it has been. It wasn't due its 15 year inspection until 2019. The boiler on annual inspection was found to be so clogged they had to do the overhaul 5 years early.

While I'm happy work actually seems to be progressing, it made me sad to see the 3985 shoved in the corner, dusty.  

Kent in SD

I might have heard wrong but I think the point Ed was trying to make was that his goal was to repair or replace any part that shows any signs of wear, rust etc to avoid having to make unscheduled repairs prior to the mandatory FRA mandate. So far it appears that is what they are doing. Time will tell if it was worth the extra effort.

Clogged with pool chemicals!!

Better replace all the rivets too as they look rusty!!

If you zoom on the photo where the guy is working up on the platform it looks like most of the rust has been removed so my best guess is if a rivet or whatever has been rusted to the point it needs to be replaced it will be replaced.

Hope that IF they get the #844 running once again, they won't be using swimming pool chemicals in the water.  Incidentally, the #838 is not a "Challenger" but an FEF4, Northern.

So what's the timetable on getting to work and then finishing the #4014?  I had heard that it was to be completed in the year 2018, so as to be ready for full operations in 2019, the 150th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike at  Promontory.  With that in mind, I'd think that they would want to get going on the project ASAP.

Paul Fischer

and I thought Dickens was on the way out?

The shop overhaul and the super extensive overhaul of 844 are going to delay 4014. I wouldn't plan on seeing it on the mainline until 2021 of even later. Late last year Dickens himself said 2021 is the likely finish date.

Geez:  I hope I'm still around and still up and taking nourishment by the time they get the 2014 operational.  Too bad!  I was really looking forward to seeing her under steam once again, for the first time in about 65 years.

Paul Fischer

It's a mighty big if because there's a lot of opinions flying around, all from people who claim to be 'in the know' yet most are in opposition to the others...

That said, the old adage always will apply to steam boilers:

If you can't drink it, it shouldn't go into the boiler

From the recent photos posted by various people at the open house its clear 4014 has bare;y been touched. They when not working on the shop and other prioritys (rotary etc) are working on 844. I'm pretty sure there is pressure on getting THAT done. UP wants a working engine. I think Dickens and co have to have 844 done by early next year. We will have to see if it happens. It hasnt ran since 2013

Seems that the flexible staybolts, since they are just that, flexible, that they seem to last a long time. Taking the caps off and inspecting them is just part of annual maintainence. They get new seals and have to be torqued to a certain torque spec. Nice to see they are actually working on something other than the buildings. Collecting parts for 4014 is half the battle, having all they need to put it together on hand once the boilerwork and any frame/driving axle box work is done will make the reassembly go pretty quick.

Great question Chris! Only time will tell, as I thought it a total joke when the "Now Managers" were pointing fingers at Steve Lee's Team for not doing the proper maintenance during their reign. I believe that Ed's Team ran the program for what was it? 3 years after Lee's team had retired!.

Then blaming all of the problems on the prior stewards of the UP Steam Program.

Not to rehash old arguments on the UP thread, but it does seem like they are moving forward. Is it due to the new manager they got from Memphis? or has Mr. Dickens found Steve Lee's old book of "how-to-do it's" of a Steam Locomotive.....Brandy!  

Neither. They are doing work that didn't/doesn't NEED to be done. Besides, all the files and technical were thrown out a few years ago.

Yes, thanks for the pictures and information!  Very well appreciated.

Hot Water, sounds like Mr.Dickens must have taken a page, or chapter out of the book/books, that some of my prior leaders used.

That was, "if you can't dazzle em with knowledge, baffle em with B.S.

"

 With technology as it is today, and getting better, you wonder what they are trying to hide?

Do you actually think, that when they opened the 844 boiler, and found all of the residual's, that was just a build up for the last 15 years of operation. Yeah right, give me a break. 

I'm with Texastrain, and thanks for the photos and info on the UP bunch.....

Happy Father's Day to all of you Fathers out there!.......................Brandy!

Mr. Dicken's must be into jigsaw puzzles, or now, if, and when they get it done, and non of the predicessor's knowledge is to be found, he can say I did it all my self!