Shop Work

RBG's from Dad's shop. A one shot and a double-barrel two-shot.

The Village Coal Tower

Pittsford, NY - How's this for creative? Turn a coaling tower into a restaurant? "The Village Coal Tower"  http://www.villagecoaltower.com/

 From their website: "The Canal Tower’s location is rich in history going as far back as October 1825 when the Erie Canal first opened. Boats were pulled by mules along the 362 waterway from Albany to Buffalo.
Schoen (Shane) Place was originally a lumber yard called Schoen Alley, located along the canal’s towpath. In the early 1900’s Joe and Charles Schoen constructed the Village Coal Tower using it for coal storage to service the boats on the Erie Canal and local residents. "

Mikado year end wrap-up

 Bill and I ended the shop year working on plumbing.  I had the day off so we worked a full day and got a lot done.  Bill finished a holding fixture to make 1/8" model pipe fittings--we needed two elbows for the lubricator lines.  I wrestled some 3/8 copper tubing out of shape to connect the axle pump to the check valve.

I used the coat-hanger method to make a template, then tried to make the tubing match it.

The tubing in place inside the frame.

It wasn't easy fitting the curvey pipe. I had to put it on and take it off multiple times to check each bend, which meant threading it through the frame, under the frame spreader, over the brake brackets and under the axle. I had to take the piston rod for the brake cylinder off to get the tube in.

The piped up lubricator

With the two model elbows finished, we threaded up unions and bent the 1/8" hard brass pipe to connect the check valves to the cylinder block fitting, using the same coat-hanger template method. After fitting all the unions and pipes it was time to test it. We tried running the pump (using a small corldess drill to spin the pump)  to test the connections, but it has lost it's prime.  We ran out of time to prime the pump, so that will have to wait until next year!

When we left off last year, we had just finished the fire pan and test fit the boiler to the frame. Completed this year was: painting the boiler, installing the boiler onto the chassis, installing the water check valves and blowdown valves, fabricating and installing the smokebox throttle bracket, fabricating a blower/exhaust nozzle, plumbing the throttle and blower in, fabricating the smokebox stays, fabricating and installing the manifold, installing the firedoor, making the throttle lever assembly, painting the boiler, test firing the burner, installing the lubricator and lube lines, cutting out the cab floor, installing the johnson bar assembly.

Tools/Fixtures made include a custom flaring tool, 1/4" and 1/8" model pipe fitting jigs, a drill and tap guide for the boiler, and the installation and operationalization of the freight elevator, and the fabrication of two engine stands.

One Last Fun Run

Saturday turned out to be an incredibly nice day, sunny and warm (62).  Tim had called me earlier in the week saying we should run out at the track, our friend Alan W. from TN was going to visit and that he was going to bring the 1" Atlantic out for one last run.  At the time it was 37 degrees out and sounded cold, but hey-I can dress warmly.

"Bring the Crab out!" Tim said.  "I'll think about it" I replied, looking at the cleaned and dried engine now sitting in the basement.  I made some Chili to warm up with, Tim brought the bowls and Fritos to share.

Saturday morning I did a solo load up -- hooked the trailer to the truck, ran the engine up the elevator and headed down the road to play.  Turns out Alan could not make it, but we had fun! Zach, Tim, Bill, Corey (who we forgot to call and say we were running--Sorry!) had fun running our engines and swapping engineers while the rest of the guys in the club walked the park with our expansion map and surveyor stakes.

Denis at the throttle, Corey riding along with Zach looking on.

This smaller 1" scale engine recently brought out of retirement from 15 years is a fine running machine, barks like a bigger engine and can really get up and move when asked to.  We tried some coal from Illinois to run our engines with, the coal burned great but was dirty.

At the end of the day Tim's wife came out with some of the girls and their three-week old daughter for a quick ride.  In all, a great day!

First full use of Elevator a Success

After finishing the lifting brackets earlier in the week, I managed to finish fabricating the jumper track from the garage to the stairwell.  Although today was a warm 64 degree day, a cold front is coming through and highs in the fourties are predicted for the remainder. It is only a matter of time before a good hard freeze comes through overnight and I still have a locomotive outside.  With that in mind, it is time to get the Crab down into the basement!

Using a temporary jumper from the trailer to the garage stand, I moved the engine out of the trailer, and alos push the trailer to the back of the driveway. Positioning the stand at the doorway, I locked the new jump track in place.

The Crab on the low garage stand

Things lined up well, the loco rolled onto the basement stand without any problems.

Going Down!

After a gentle 9 minute ride down, we were in the basement!  Success!

 Some fine-tuning of the chain guide system is still needed; this one slipped and started wrapping around the sprocket between the chain before the motor stalled. This time the motor controller did not register a fault and kept trying to restart before I could hit the stop button. After I unwound the guide from the sprocket it behaved the rest of the time, although a couple others 'popped' and 'banged' as the links started to snag them before sliding past.

St. Pete's Beach

At the finish line. photo by E.White

Finished my first 10K race today: 6.1 miles in 51:25 minutes, a personal best! My running partner, Laura (also her first 10K) finished with me and took 2nd place in her age group! It was a cold start - 38 degrees- but warmed up in the sun by the finish.  Feeling pretty good about finishing the race.