What is the integral part of a steam engine that is retained when it is rebuilt.
Reading about the B&O rebuilding engines at Mt. Clare. When the President Pacifics were 'rebuilt' they went from an fabricated frame to a single piece cast steel frame? Other engines were rebuilt using the boiler from one form of engine to create a different kind of engine.
To my mind, the only thing that remains is the engine number. Everything else can be changed but the number.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Think about the Reading's rebuild of I-10a Consolidations into the T-1 Northerns. Reportedly, the only components carried over were appliances, gauges, and the firebox section of the boiler. It is interesting to note that the tube/flue configuration (not length though) was carried over from the 2-8-0's to the 4-8-4's. It seems an awful lot of the original engines were left cut up on the floor of the erecting hall when the new T-1's emerged.
The number doesn't always stay the same either. Illinois Central's Paducah rebuilds in the steam era were re-numbered when they were rebuit.
Must have been some financial advantage to calling them "rebuilds" even tho they were actually 98% new? Like when SDP40Fs were "rebuilt" into F40PHs? What do we suppose the advantage was, circa 1940?
timz Must have been some financial advantage to calling them "rebuilds" even tho they were actually 98% new? Like when SDP40Fs were "rebuilt" into F40PHs? What do we suppose the advantage was, circa 1940?
In some cases, it could have been seen as a way to get around War Production Board restrictions on new locomotive designs.
Many were rebuilt before WWII. It might have something to do with equipment trust leases if payments were still being made on the locomotives.
Examples are the 25 Missouri Pacific Berkshires with 63-inch drivers that were rebuilt into Northerns with 75-inch drivers, cast-steel beds and roller-bearings.
https://www.railarchive.net/randomsteam/mp1921.htm
https://www.railarchive.net/randomsteam/mp2102.htm
The Frisco "rebuilt" 2-8-0s into modern Mikados with boosters and a number of typical late-Forties 'mod cons' like Foam-Meters. I was told by several people that this was done for "tax reasons" probably relating to the depreciation clock on older power being 'reset' when more than a particular amount of the 'historic fabric' was replaced.
Select members of the 1912 Schenectady-built Frisco 1300 2-8-0 class were chosen for rebuilding into the 1350 2-8-2 class at Springfield, MO, in the 1940s.
Here is 2-8-0 1317:
https://thelibrary.org/lochist/frisco/friscoline/images/photos/p01384.jpg
Here is 2-8-2 1352, which was rebuilt from 2-8-0 1318:
https://thelibrary.org/lochist/frisco/friscoline/images/photos/p01389.jpg
Sister 1351 is at Collierville, Tennessee, where it retains essentially all its 'special features' intact for examination. As rebuilt it is probably one of, if not the best, class of surviving 2-8-2s, with lightweight running gear, the starting power of a 2-10-0, and pretty good looks.
I'm not sure what the status of the restoration of 1352 is, but there are continuing efforts to move 1351 to the new complex adjacent to the old IC Central Station and restore her, either to operation or cosmetically.
Handsome examples of the US 2-8-2!
http://frisco.org/mainline/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2-8-2-1351-at-St.-Louis-Missouri-in-1948-Joe-Collias-Frisco.jpg
Frisco 1355 in Pensacola FL seems well cared for, including a moniker "The Pride of Pensacola".
http://www.rgusrail.com/flslsf1355.html
kgbw49Handsome examples of the US 2-8-2! http://frisco.org/mainline/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2-8-2-1351-at-St.-Louis-Missouri-in-1948-Joe-Collias-Frisco.jpg
BaltACD What is the integral part of a steam engine that is retained when it is rebuilt. Reading about the B&O rebuilding engines at Mt. Clare. When the President Pacifics were 'rebuilt' they went from an fabricated frame to a single piece cast steel frame? Other engines were rebuilt using the boiler from one form of engine to create a different kind of engine. To my mind, the only thing that remains is the engine number. Everything else can be changed but the number.
There may have been book keeping, tax, and banking advantages, but that aside it would seem to be that in the case of a steam locomotive the labor to rebuild and the labor to build from scratch would be similar. With disassembly labor being offset by reduced labor to fabricate parts reused, and materials costs reduced by parts reused.
So there may have been measurable cost savings - 25%?. And, complete replacement would have raised the question - "what do we do with the old one?".
Yes, B&O P7's got one piece frames, many got new drivers at various times, other details were refined or upgraded, and tenders got rebuilt or replaced. But it still seems like there would be a lot of original parts, assuming they were in good condition.
And, I think some of the time, these engines would have been disassembled for repairs, bearing replacements, etc in any case - so, as we say in the remodeling and historic restoration business, "while we are here and have it apart.....".
And, be it creating a new wheel arrangement and design like the Reading T-1, or just keeping up to date with advances in design and appliances, like the B&O P7's, those improvements were apparently worth the money.
Sheldon
Note the interesting provision of the stack light on a coal-fired engine.
Yes!
I was going to post that also.
You beat me to it!
Thank You, Sir!
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