restor-axles

Post Abatement Activities - axle restoration

Our plans are to move the 905 about 150 feet to another location within Fuqua Park. This should take place in 2009. We are in the process of securing track and ties. Before any movement of the tender or locomotive takes place, we'd are going to remove all corrosion from the axles and lubricate them well.

We began with the tender.....it looked simpler. We were warned we might need a crowsfoot. We didn't have a crowsfoot.....so we proceeded as if the "might" might not happen...... sure, like in real life you can actually ever get away with that.

The weight of the tender is transferred to the axles through the journal box to the wedge, to the bushing, then to the axle.

The first step is to clean the packing out of the journal boxes. During normal operation, this packing is oil soaked and keeps the axles lubricated. Since we won't be moving over 100 feet, we are not replacing the packing, just coating the axles with a heavy coat of grease.

Cleaning the packing out of the journal box.

When the locomotive was placed in the park in 1954, all the brake shoes were spot welded to the wheels. Either that weld has to be broken or the linkage to the brake shoes have to be disconnected prior to trying to lift the journal boxes. Forgetting to do that is the other place we bent the base plate to our new crows foot. (just trying to save others headaches)

Yup, that's a real live Rock Island bottle jack. Our Historian's Father used to work for the RI. Her brother loaned us the jack.

We jacked up the journal box. There's a nice little spot on the bottom of the box just for jacking. But we could not clear the wedge with the ears on the box. The wheel was coming off the rail.

We tied down the axle to the rail. But the rail ends just past this wheel to the right of the photo, and the rail just lifted with the wheel. That's where we left Day 1. It was time to seek out the "crowsfoot".

crowsfoot & 20T air over hydraulic jack in action

This is a real crowsfoot - not ours. It looks like it was built out of bent boiler plate. Simple, about 18" base plate, a 6" rise and a 3" lip, about 1 " material. We didn't have this photo when we built ours - just a word description.
In Duncan, Oklahoma, there just aren't very many places that have the ability to heat this much metal and bend it without stretching it.......and they wanted $500.

       Well, money is too hard to raise so we sought out a safe alternative. A welder I trust, Davie Smith - Marlow, built us this welded crowsfoot with gussets for strength - $124. Then he loaned us a 1 1/4 in. x 5 in. x 32 in. bar to span the ties as a base plate. I hadn't compensated for this, therefore we have the little drop down on the lip.
       Notice we opted to use a 20 T air actuated over hydraulic jack. It has the screw out extension and more throw. So much for using historical equipment.
       During Day 2 and Day 3 we got one axle each.   It took us a while to find we needed to clean up the hole in the back of the journal box really good.
       For reasons explained previously, we bent the 1/2 plate on the bottom of the crowsfoot. We made modifications by changing the base plate for a 1 inch and dropping the lip another 3/4 inch plus the additional thickness of the base plate - an additional $75.
       Day 4 we got 3 axles. We have 3 left which we intend to do this next work session.

Emery cloth removing the corrosion from the axles.

wedge cleaned up and ready for installation

Removing the corrosion using strip emery cloth and two dowel rods. We also used sheet emery cloth with our hands. It's tight. Most of the corrosion is at the bottom where condensation runs and sits.