steam locomotive manufacturing

[gacuster]

When railroads like the Pennsylvania and Norfolk & Western built their own locomotives, how much of the machine did they actually fabricate?  Did they make a frame and buy a boiler, wheels, etc. and bolt everything together, or did they make all the major components and just buy the smaller appliances like air pumps and headlights?

[tomikawaTT]

Altoona built the entire locomotive except for items like compressors, electrical appliances and 'patent' parts like stoker engines.  When I visited the museum there, one of the items I personally found interesting was the wooden form used to shape the sand casting mold for a locomotive driver center.

Roanoke, too, built most of the locomotive - especially the boiler.  The tape Norfolk & Western #611 includes some footage of the construction process - including rolling a flat sheet (drilled with about a gazillion holes) into a cylindrical shape for the boiler course surrounding the combustion chamber.

Certain items were purchased from specialty suppliers:

• Baker valve gear.
• Booster engines.
• Mainframe and truck frame castings.
• Compressors.
• Bells (don't laugh.  Bell founding is a very specialized subset of metalworking.)
• Standard valves and fittings.

It's always less expensive to purchase standard, off-the-shelf items than it is to make them.  OTOH, those items that require custom design and fabrication methods were usually made in-house.

Everyone thinks of Roanoke and Altoona, but seldom mention Sacramento.  The SP shops built a lot of that road's locomotives, and also built locomotives for other railroads  The V&T locomotive on display at Virginia City has the biggest builder's plate I've ever seen - the fancy filigree between the drivers identifies the builder as the SP Sacramento Shops.

Chuck

[timz]

One-piece cast frames-- they didn't cast those, did they? GSC or somebody did?

Boilers-- they didn't make boiler or superheater tubes, did they? How about the shell-- they would buy flat plate, already rolled to the desired thickness, and maybe cut to the right length? Firebox sheets also came already rolled to their final thickness?

They never made disc drivers (Scullin/Boxpok/Baldwin)?

How about the drivers (and whatever else) they did cast-- in what form would the steel arrive at the locomotive works, and who would they buy it from?

[gacuster]

Thanks for the detailed and informative answer, I've read about Soo Line and Illinois Central building locomotives in their shops and no doubt other railroads did the same.

[AgentKid]

Interestingly, the "look" of certain railroad's steam engines can be attributed to the fact that the railroad's shops manufactured certain parts that were used across many classes of engines. The CPR began doing this after WWI at their Angus Shops in Montreal, and this continued right up to the end of the steam era.

This so called "look" was achieved because you were actually looking at a number of interchangeable parts.

There used to be a joke that after CNR was formed from many predecessor railway's, with locomotives from many manufacturers, that the only common part among them was the number plate mounted under the headlight!

AgentKid

 

[Grand Ave]

HI,GRAND AVE LEES SUMMIT HERE,I HOPE YOU ORSOMEONE ELSE WO READS HIS IDENTIFY THE FIRST STEAM LOCOMOTIVE IN RODE IN PASSENGER SERVICE DURING WW 2.THE ENGINE WAS OPERATED BY THE WEST SHORE RR WHICH BECAME PART NOF THE NYC AND LATER I BELEIVE IT IS NOW OWQNED BY CNEE.ANYWAY IT OPERATED FROM THE ALBAY NY TERM ON BROADWAY VIA THE WEST SHORE OF THE HUDSONNTO WEEHAKEN NY WHERE YOU BOARDED A FRRY ACROSS THE HUDSON TO NYC.THE STEAM ENGINE WAS I BELEIVE A 2-4-2 BUT SINCE I WAS ONLY 9 YEARS OLD IM NOT EVEN SURE OF THAT.I DO REMBER THAT IT TOOK OVER 3 HRS TO REAH WEEKHAWKEN FROM WHERE I BOARDED WITH MY DAD IN KINGSTON,N.Y.IT STOPPED AT EVRY LITTLE TOWN THAT WAS ON THE WEST SHORE INCLUDING,ESOPUS.WESTPARK,HIGHLAND,W HARVERSTRAW,ETC.I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE EITHER A PHOTO OF THE STEAM ENGINE THAT OPERATRED THESE LOCAL TRAINS OR ANY PERTINENT INFO YOU CAN PROVIDE.THE SAME TYPE OF ENGINE OPERATED THE PASSENGER SERVICE BETWEEN KINGSTON AND ONENONTA VIA THE CATSKILL MTN.IT WAS CALLED THE ULSTER AND DELAWARE RR. THANKS, GRAND AVE,

([e-mail])

FRANK PASSER 111S.E.GRANS \D APT 16 LEES SUMMIT,MO 654063-2670

[spikejones52002]

 Hi Grand Ave.

Do you realize how hard it is to read all capital letters?

Also one long sentence.

[pajrr]

spikejones52002

 Hi Grand Ave.

Do you realize how hard it is to read all capital letters?

Also one long sentence.

 

Be nice to Grand Ave. It probably took him all day to type that. I'm sure his finger kept getting tired. Hey guys! Ever hear of English as a Second Language courses? Most of you guys should consider taking it as a first language.

[henry6]

I am betting Grand Ave is an old timer just getting around to learning the internet...look at the way he introduces himself and signs the post.  Yeah, his spelling is bad, and his composition isn't the best.  But he wants to share his experiences with us along with his love for trains.  There are plenty of others who are better targets for misspelled words and poor writing skills than Grand Ave. 

Grand Ave...welcome...hope to hear more from you in the future...please tell us your stories!

[spikejones52002]

Do You get mad at a teacher when you are told how to correctly do something?

All I did was point out that it is hard for someone to read his point of view.

 

[henry6]

Not mad...understood what you were trying to say....but did not want him to feel slighted or like a child being scolded by a teacher...want to encourage him to participate and not run away.

[Anonymous]

Paraphrased from "My Fair Lady", it isn't what you say, it's how you say it. 

Courteous vs blunt.  Helpful vs arrogant.  Instructive vs critical. 

I try to spell correctly, but there is a nice example where every word is misspelled or a homonym used in place of the correct word, yet the meaning comes shining through.  Some of the smartest people are not good spellers.  Ergo, proof readers and editors.

I have often typed ''there'' for "their''; poor ''they're'' never ever gets aired.

 

[daveklepper]

Frank, I think I have the photos you want.   I will look for them, scan them, and attach them to a message to your email address.

 

From a trip in 1947, when I was 15 years old, and sent to visit relatives in Hollcott Center, NY.  Rode the NYC ferry to Hoboken, the West Shore to Kingston, the Ulster and Delaware branch of the NYC to Flioeschmans, where my relatives met me.   Returned the same way.   Power inlcuded K-3 Pacific and a J-1 Hudson on the West Shore, and 4-6-0\s on the branch..