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How not to run a steam locomotive

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Posted by pennytrains on Monday, August 16, 2021 6:09 PM

True.  But the overlying issue of allowing the boric acid to eat a football sized hole unnoticed in the first place suggests lax safety standards.

Big Smile  Same me, different spelling!  Big Smile

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, August 15, 2021 7:00 PM

pennytrains
At the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station they let the head of the pressure vessel corrode down to 3/8 of an inch of steel cladding to hold back the 2155 psi of reactor coolant!

But it didn't cause any overt problem!  And failure would have been hydrostatic...

https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/br0353r1.pdf

Appalling just the same! -- see fig.2.  Some of the language in this is a masterpiece of euphemistic expression...

Similar wastage was observed in stored Q2 boilers...

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Sunday, August 15, 2021 6:34 PM

Overmod

 

 
gmpullman
Reminds me of an event that happened not far from me in Ohio.

 

You left out the appalling one: boiler plate wastage to ONE SIXTEENTH OF AN INCH.  

 

 

I can beat that!  At the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station they let the head of the pressure vessel corrode down to 3/8 of an inch of steel cladding to hold back the 2155 psi of reactor coolant!  Tongue Tied

Big Smile  Same me, different spelling!  Big Smile

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Sunday, August 15, 2021 2:56 PM

7j43k
No, not deer.  Squirrels, rabbits, some birds.  These were generally .22's.

And believe it or not muzzle-loaders were still in common use up to the time of the First World War.  Muzzle-loading was cheaper than store-bought cartridges.

(It still is, actually.  Maybe .22's excepted.)

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Posted by 7j43k on Sunday, August 15, 2021 2:46 PM

There are still people alive who used to bring their guns to school, so that they might pick up a bit of meat on the way home after school.

No, not deer.  Squirrels, rabbits, some birds.  These were generally .22's.

Ed

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Posted by Overmod on Saturday, August 14, 2021 7:03 PM

gmpullman
Reminds me of an event that happened not far from me in Ohio.

You left out the appalling one: boiler plate wastage to ONE SIXTEENTH OF AN INCH.  

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Saturday, August 14, 2021 6:47 PM

pennytrains

Yeah, but look at even the "safe" toys of the 19th century: cast iron to smash with, gunpowder to blow up with, lots of kids were given knives.  No, there's no substitution for common sense and it's something that has to be taught.

 

Well, yeah, but cast iron was the plastic of it's day, toys were made of it as it was inexpensive, easy to work with, and tough.

Gunpowder and knives?  Maybe not for city kids (depending on the neighborhood) but it wasn't unusual for country boys to be out huntin' by the age of ten, and just about every one of them had a pocketknife.  In fact, if a teacher in a country schoolhouse needed something to cut with all she had to do was ask the class, it was a certainty someone had a jacknife!  

Different times.  Better times?  Worse times? I leave it up to all.

But you are right, there's no substitute for common sense.

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Posted by pennytrains on Saturday, August 14, 2021 6:35 PM

Yeah, but look at even the "safe" toys of the 19th century: cast iron to smash with, gunpowder to blow up with, lots of kids were given knives.  No, there's no substitution for common sense and it's something that has to be taught.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Friday, August 13, 2021 8:53 PM

Like the man said:

"It's not a toy if it can kill you!"

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Posted by 54light15 on Friday, August 13, 2021 8:36 PM

The explosion of the boiler in Ohio in a steam tractor is the reason that the repair methods for such boilers were put back into the National Board Inspection Code, a copy of which is on the shelf above me as I write this. 

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Posted by gmpullman on Friday, August 13, 2021 8:09 PM

Boilers of any size should not be toyed with by yahoos like these guys.

Reminds me of an event that happened not far from me in Ohio.

https://www.dli.mn.gov/workers/boiler-engineer/inspector-report-antique-boiler-explosion-medina-ohio

Read all those defects. 125# Safety valve upon testing would not lift even at 200! Fusible plug sealed with "compound". Main steam gauge at least 25# off. Staybolts with 1.5 thread engagement.

Killed five people. Ya' can't fix stupid.

Regards, Ed

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Posted by pennytrains on Friday, August 6, 2021 5:38 PM

That's why I like havens like this one.  Wink

Big Smile  Same me, different spelling!  Big Smile

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Friday, August 6, 2021 10:10 AM

54light15

Interesting how the YT comments include insults along with Trump and Biden. It always comes to that, no matter what the subject is. 

 

It's like that on a lot of YouTube sites, sites that have nothing to do with current events or politics.  Some people just need to get lives.  

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Posted by 54light15 on Friday, August 6, 2021 9:15 AM

Interesting how the YT comments include insults along with Trump and Biden. It always comes to that, no matter what the subject is. 

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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, August 5, 2021 10:51 PM

Overmod
 
SD70Dude
At least the (relatively) light weight of this locomotive should make it easy to recover. 

You hear them in the audio discussing how they're going to get the, I think, Bobcat to yank it back.  Sure hope they don't forget the injector while they're running around!

As a group - they should not be allowed within five miles of anything.  Repeat ANYTHING.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, August 5, 2021 9:40 PM

SD70Dude
At least the (relatively) light weight of this locomotive should make it easy to recover.

You hear them in the audio discussing how they're going to get the, I think, Bobcat to yank it back.  Sure hope they don't forget the injector while they're running around!

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Thursday, August 5, 2021 7:58 PM

Sara T

Flintlock76

No, don't. She wouldn't comment on it anyways,

Sara

 

 

Hi Sara!

Well, she did to me, privately.  She couldn't watch the whole thing.  I don't blame her, I could barely watch the whole thing myself!

It was like a horror movie, you want to stop watching but you just can't!

How by all that's holy could a pack of idiots get their hands on such a beautifully restored locomotive like that?   "It passeth all understanding."

PS: The only horror movie I WAS able to stop watching was "The House on Haunted Hill" when I was eight years old.  I was so scared I ran across the living room and buried my head in the sofa cushions!  

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Posted by pennytrains on Thursday, August 5, 2021 5:16 PM

I'm surprised a rod din't come flying toward the guy with the camera.  "Duh...let's put all the power down to the rail!  Dunce"

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Posted by Sara T on Thursday, August 5, 2021 8:07 AM

Flintlock76

No, don't. She wouldn't comment on it anyways,

Sara

 

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, August 4, 2021 11:33 PM

In the words of Bugs Bunny - "What a maroon!".

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by SD70Dude on Wednesday, August 4, 2021 10:27 PM

Paul Milenkovic

  the overrun of the extent of the track.

I'm gonna use that one at work! Laugh

At least the (relatively) light weight of this locomotive should make it easy to recover.

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by Paul Milenkovic on Wednesday, August 4, 2021 9:57 PM

Overmod

Grandmother of all valve blows.  I never saw a cylinder cock open, which might be part of why the poor dumb bastid can't get the Johnson bar to take up any intermediate position... in between the steam blow and his thinking the throttle has only two positions he's getting enough priming to fill a swimming pool.

And then he thunders over the switch...

 

So you are saying that there must have been water in the cylinders that was not let out through the cylinder cocks?  And that water was lifting the slide valves accounting for the large escape of steam through the stack on starting?

I thought it was mismanagement of the blower, but this explanation makes more sense.

As the locomotive was being operated, this "blow" of steam appeared to diminish.  I guess the other thing was the wheel-slide stops and the overrun of the extent of the track.

If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, August 4, 2021 9:48 PM

Jesus, Mary and Joseph!  What a bunch of yahoos!

I wouldn't let that bunch near my O Gauge layout, much less a real steamer!

I should forward this to Juniatha.  On the other hand, maybe not.  She'll have a nervous breakdown seeing steam run like that!

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, August 4, 2021 8:35 PM

blue streak 1
like the flat wheels he is making for stops.

Let's hope it's not hydrolocking... Whistling

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Posted by rixflix on Wednesday, August 4, 2021 7:58 PM

Looks like they'll have fun until someone gets maimed or dead.

Rick

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Wednesday, August 4, 2021 7:47 PM

like the flat wheels he is making for stops.

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, August 4, 2021 6:12 PM

Grandmother of all valve blows.  I never saw a cylinder cock open, which might be part of why the poor dumb bastid can't get the Johnson bar to take up any intermediate position... in between the steam blow and his thinking the throttle has only two positions he's getting enough priming to fill a swimming pool.

And then he thunders over the switch...

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Posted by PNWRMNM on Wednesday, August 4, 2021 6:10 PM

Well, at least he did not loose the crown sheet. That we know of!

Mac

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How not to run a steam locomotive
Posted by SD70Dude on Wednesday, August 4, 2021 5:50 PM

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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