How were steam locomotives serviced?

[Paul Cutler III]

I'm trying to model a fairly large steam engine facility in HO scale at my club. There is a roundhouse, a machine shop, and a backshop, plus the usual inspection pits, ash pit, coal pocket, sand tower, etc.

All our locomotives have 3x5" cars with clear pockets on them, just like a car card. My plan is to treat this area like a switching puzzle, but with locos instead of cars.

What I need to know are: what were the typical repairs done to steam locos, and in which kind of building did they occur in? What could a roundhouse handle? What jobs needed the backshop to complete? Would the machine shop have a hoist inside to lift locos off the drivers? I've heard about Class repairs on steam engines, but how often would they occur? What would be the typical cycle? How long would they be shopped for?

What I'm looking for are realistic "waybills" to stick in my loco cards to give the impression of a working steam facility. I know there's a fine line between fun and work, and I'd like to stay on the fun side if I can. So keeping it simple is okay, but with realistic problems requiring realistic engine hostling would be ideal (without, you know, waiting hours and hours for steam to be generated before moving a cold loco).

[Brakie]

Paul, From the information I gathered over the years from talking to my Grandfathers, uncles,my dad and some other railroaders plus knowledge gain by reading Trains Magazine I can give some examples.

1.Loose throttle links.

2.Whistle adjustment.

3.Broken hinge on the tenders water hole cover.

4.Improper working gages.

5.Broken bell cord or clapper.

6. Bell adjustment-On air operated bells some times the bell would not swing enough to activate the clapper.

7.While it was a odd occurrence a lift pin chain may break.

8.Tender truck wheel bearing/roller bearing needs replace.

9.Brake shoes on the tender or locomotive needed replace.

10.Broken headlight lens on engine or tender.

Some class repairs would take several days while others may take weeks all depending on the work and modifications being made.Some of these shoppings would include a visit to the paint shop.

While working on the PRR it was told to me by a engine shop foreman that my Grandfather once wrote a engineer report on a H9(2-8-0)and all he wrote on this report and in large bold letters was "Junk" Sign engineer D.A. Miller.

[bridge2nowhere]

An interesting question. Generally, a steam engine off an inbound train would be taken to the inbound service tracks, then to the roundhouse for inspection and any minor repairs. Then back to the outbound service tracks, ready tracks, and finally an outbound train. Unless something drastic was found, this was repeated until scheduled maintenance was due. Scheduled maintenance was normally at 30 day and 90 day intervals, and 5 year heavy rebuilds.

As to where repairs occurred, it would depend on the facilities available. As various shortlines and restorations have shown ,you can do almost anything to a steam engine in a dirt lot, the infrastructure just makes it more efficient. Generally, the roundhouse would be for daily inspections and maintenance, and light repairs between scheduled overhauls. Larger roundhouses could have different areas for different levels of inspection and repair. The larger, longer overhauls would take place in the backshops. The engine would go a bay or stall cold, and stay there until done. The machine shop would never see an engine, just parts.

Of course this is generalized, and varied by railroad and location and time. Since movement to the backshop would be relatively infrequent, I'm not sure how it would apply to a typical 4 sided car card. I'm curious what you come up with.

[Paul Cutler III]

Brakie,
Thanks, I'll save these examples to use. If you think of any others, please post 'em.

bridge2nowhere,
Good points. What I'm hoping for is what would happen during a 30-day or 90-day interval. Boiler washes, flue replacements, etc.? A 5-year interval would be a total rebuild, I figure.

What's interesting about the machine shop is that in the NH's Southampton St. roundhouse, they had a "Whiting hoist" stall that was part of the attached machine shop. I Googled "Whiting hoist steam" and it shows a 4-jack post lift raising an entire loco off the drivers. The same NH facility also had a drop table for drivers, one for pilot/trailing wheels, and one for tender wheels. So I'm not sure what the point is of being able to lift a loco off their drivers when you have a drop table available because to use the hoist, you have to uncouple the tender. The pic: www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/photos/cpr_steam/2818_wheeled.jpg

We can't use a 4-sided waybill because we use a clear plastic pocket. A 2-sided one is possible, but something we've never used. For freight cars, we've been using switch lists for the last 15 years or so. Before that, we used handwritten, 1-sided waybills for 15+ years in 3x5 cards dating back to the early 1980's. Before that, we didn't even have car cards; just handwritten waybills.

[gmpullman]

I'm going to like having this prototype section of the forum 

I came across this list of USRA "Classified" locomotive work that was apparently intended to make Wartime repair efforts more efficient. By my estimation, class I and II repairs would be done in the backshop and the rest could be performed in the roundhouse. I am always amazed at the amount of work and how quickly it could be performed back then.

Here's the list:

In June 1918 the USRA set up a standard classification of repairs to locomotives and tenders. There are five classes of repairs as follows:

CLASS 1

New boiler or new back end. Flues new or reset.

Tires turned, or new.

General repairs to machinery and tender.

CLASS 2

New firebox, or one or more shell courses, or roof sheet.

Flues new or reset.

Tires turned or new.

General repairs to machinery and tender.

CLASS 3

Flues all new or reset (superheater flues may be excepted).

Necessary repairs to firebox and boiler.

Tires turned or new.

General repairs to machinery and tender.

CLASS 4

Flues part or full set.

Light repairs to boiler or firebox.

Tires turned or new.

Necessary repairs to machinery and tender.

CLASS 5

Tires turned or new.

Necessary repairs to boiler, machinery, and tender, including one or more pairs of driving-wheel bearings refitted.

General reapirs to machinery will include driving wheels removed, tires turned or changed, journals turned, if necessary, and all driving boxes and rods overhauled for a full term of service.

Running reapirs unclassified.

Locomotives receiving class 1, 2, or 3 repairs must be put in condition to perform a full term of service in the district and class of service in which they are to be used.

Locomotives receiving class 4 repairs must be put in condition to perform not less than one-half term of service in the district and class of service in which they are to be used.

Locomotives receiving class 5 repairs must be put in condition to perform not less than one-fourth term of service in the district and class of service in which they are to be used.



Nearly all of the roundhouses I have had the pleasure of visiting had drop pits for wheel, axle and tire work, also the bearing brasses (driving boxes) needed considerable attention that required dropping the drivers. Flues could be handled by leaving the tender outside so there was extra room to pull the flues and superheaters out the smokebox. Most larger facilities had a wheel lathe, too. Staybolts, air brake work, hammer testing of air reservoirs, Magna-flux testing of side rods, journals and tender drawbars. Boring of cylinder and valve sleeves (relining). Hydrostatic testing of the boiler. Just to name a few items...

Separating the engine from the tender was not much of a sweat back then. Helpers and apprentices would disconnect the lines in a matter of fifteen minutes. The stoker auger came out of the trough and would be blocked up then removed at the universals. Some engines had stoker access panels but most didn't and the gearbox was way back under the coal space.  I have an ICC book here somewhere with the testing intervals for steam locomotives. Pretty sure the drawbars were checked for cracks every 90 days. Boiler wash every 30. Staybolts leaking was quite common. So was front-end plugging due to poor grades of coal.

Here's a photo of modern-day Whiting locomotive hoists in use. They are wired to a common control so that they lift in unison.



Maybe you have seen this but there is a little insight into repair work on the NYC. Several good videos from across the pond showing British locomotive construction and repairs are worth looking at, too! (they should appear in the suggested features on the Youtube page)


Neat Stuff!
Regards, Ed

[Paul Cutler III]

Ed,
Thanks for the info and the video!

Do you happen to know how often the different Class repairs were done? Were they part of the 30, 90 and annual inspections? Or were they on another schedule?

[gmpullman]

Paul,
It seems to me the items that were carried out on a periodic basis were the ICC mandated inspections and boiler washings. These requirements came about from the hundreds of wrecks and boiler failures prior to the "authorities" i.e. regulators, that came out of the efforts to protect the life-and-limb of the travelling public and employees. I believe the Hartford Insurance Company became very involved with boiler safety regulations. Maybe there are ICC inspection books available on line. The book I have is from May 27, 1947 and a great deal of the inspections centered around the boiler, air brakes and wheel wear.



I have scanned and posted six of the inspection sheets. I know the annual and monthly inspection certificates had to be notarized and displayed in the cab when the locomotive was in service.

Perhaps you could use some of the information on these forms for your own "work order" cards.



MONTHLY



Annual



You should be able to click on these images and after you're in Photobucket, click enlarge again. I scanned them at 400 dpi. The original print is pretty ragged.






Reverse side of Boiler Alteration Form 19.

As far as the work outlined in the class repairs I believe there were several factors regarding frequency of repairs just as we may find with our automobiles or appliances. Much depended on the operating climate, the original design of the locomotive and it's prior repair history, the quality or lack thereof of the coal and water used and the findings of the railroad's experience for each particular class of locomotive after x amount of miles after x amount of days in service.
For instance, every boiler of the New York Central's Niagaras had to be replaced and many of the J-3s too because of cracks that developed due to the type of manganese steel that was used. It seems like some engines spent a great deal of time in the shop while others just kept racking up the miles. Others became part of a "program" to make upgrades, remove boosters, install superheaters, modify throttles or valve gear and in some cases even completely change the wheel arrangement.

Hope that helps,
Regards, Ed

[Deleted]

Due to World War II, and the shortage of steel, many steam engines were built with inferior alloys that posed durability problems and resulted in complete boiler replacements and/or early retirements for some classes.

Another "problem" steam loco class included Rio Grande Class L-105 4-6-6-4's. Most if not all got brand new boilers, but also because their service territory was more readily taken over by diesels, they all got early retirement, and one had a boiler explosion due to malfunctioning low water alarm combined with stuck/malfunctioning water injector. Thus, the L-131/132 2-8-8-2's outlasted the Challengers.

Some Santa Fe 4-8-4's ended up weighing more than originally intended due to alloy substitutions, and some I think did have boiler replacements, too.

Other engines had problems with cracking frames and got all-new cast frames even if they kept their original boilers. I think this included the UP 4-10-2's (4-12-2's got new technology 1 piece cast frames) but also much more mundane locomotives and some of the big articulateds.

N&W replaced boilers on some of the Y-Class 2-8-8-2's, and replaced frames...