Video: steam locomotive overhaul

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

If you're like me, you enjoy doing your own maintenance, and you enjoy watching shows like "How It's Made."

 

Here's the best of both worlds, with a vintage twist. Crack open a beer and sit down for this 16-minute documentary - filmed in 1938 - of the overhaul of a steam locomotive.

[enfoman]

Good Video. Of course I saw no signs of OSHA compliance. Ah, The golden years!

[Rocer]

Great show. I was surprised at the low mileage when the engines were overhauled. Recently I saw a show on scrapping diesel locomotives. It's amazing how much is saved. Pretty well everything except the steam, umm, smoke. A segment showed the diesel engines being rebuilt too. Amazing stuff. I believe the technique where the boiler engineer is repeatedly hitting the sides of the boiler is called sounding. Recently our boat went through a marine survey in which the same technique was used with a wooden mallet to determine if there was any evidence of osmosis in the fibreglass. The surveyor also used a moisture meter as a cross reference but said that the sounding was more dependable. It seems that some old technologies are still relevant in today's world.

[philbytx]

Great Mitch, thanks for the linky . That takes me back to my "trainspotting" days in the 50's and 60's. I still have my books with all the locomotive classes and numbers. That particular locomotive was built in the mid 30's and was one of the workhorses of the LMS Railway. The main repair centres were located in Derby and Crewe and this was filmed at Crewe I believe.

They still have about 4 of the Jubilee class preserved in the UK at a couple of railway museums and a couple are working.

 

I lived about 4 miles from a repair centre/engine shed in Plaistow, East London (London, Tilbury & Southend Railway) and also not far from the LMS depot at Kentish Town, North London.

I got to know the yard masters and spent many an hour there during school holidays. Even learned to fire and actually drove some different steam locomotives. The amazing thing is that locomotives in the same class and built at the same shop "fired" and drove quite differently.

 

My first job out of school was at British Railways Stratford to be an apprentice, training to be a Diesel Locomotive repair engineer.

 

 

 

 

[enfoman]

I believe the technique where the boiler engineer is repeatedly hitting the sides of the boiler is called sounding. Recently our boat went through a marine survey in which the same technique was used with a wooden mallet to determine if there was any evidence of osmosis in the fibreglass. The surveyor also used a moisture meter as a cross reference but said that the sounding was more dependable. It seems that some old technologies are still relevant in today's world.

 

That's an old practice. Was taught to me years ago when testing for cracks in grinding wheels. ...Hold the wheel in the bore with a pencil or similar and give it a slight rap with a tool. A screwdriver handle is perfect. If it rings, it is good. If you hear a thud or dull sound, it may be cracked and may implode when run. Throw away. Not a pretty sight to see when it happens.

[Bill_Walker]

No fat boiler inspectors allowed!

[philbytx]

British Rail 'Drivers' aka Engineers here in the U.S. used a hammer on the driving wheels to check them for any issues. The wheels had 'tyres' on them....metal tyres actually, that were shrunk on when the old ones wore out!