Rebuilding the Central of Georgia #408

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Soot n' Cinders
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Re: Rebuilding the Central of Georgia #408

Post by Soot n' Cinders »

Pontiacguy1 wrote:Awesome! I am hoping that there are quite a few locomotives that we've not seen at Mid-South in quite a number of years that will be there. I know that Art Olds had a mogul, a consolidation, and the narrow gauge 0-4-2 that I personally remember seeing there over the years. I knew that Bill has the 0-4-2. Who owns the Consolidation?

I'm hoping that Larry Taylor will bring Bud Bartholomew's 4-4-2 Atlantic over for the meet as well. If that happens, both of Bud's locomotives will be in attendance.

Glad to hear that you are coming!
Bill has the consolidation as well.
-Tristan

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John_S
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Re: Rebuilding the Central of Georgia #408

Post by John_S »

Didn't snap any photos this weekend, but work continues. Both running boards are back on and the new fireman side injector is just about completely piped up. Just have to make two more fittings for the steam supply side and it's good to go.

Next up will be to install the steam operated cylinder cocks and related piping. The loco had manual cocks but Mike wanted to give the steam operated ones a try. They require a valve off the turret piped to a tee with another valve for bleeding to atmosphere, and a copper line to all four cocks. Should be some good fun running the piping to them!
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John_S
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Re: Rebuilding the Central of Georgia #408

Post by John_S »

Haven't had time to stop and take photos as I've been grabbing shop time when I can. Things are going good and the loco is almost piped back 100%. Both injectors, steam operated cylinder cocks, steam locomotive brakes, and blower are all piped and ready to go. All that's left is the BIG whistle under the fireman's side running board, the dynamo, and the pressure gauge.

Well on track (pun intended) to have it all wrapped up in time for the 50th Anniversary run at Mid-South Live Steamers.

I will try to get some pictures this weekend.
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John_S
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Re: Rebuilding the Central of Georgia #408

Post by John_S »

A little work today piping up the supply line to the brake cylinders behind the smokebox saddle and some prep work for the BIG whistle that will be mounted under the running board.

A couple pics of overall progress:
408_179.jpg
408_180.jpg
We just might be firing her up this coming Saturday if I can get the last important bits together this week!
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Fender
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Re: Rebuilding the Central of Georgia #408

Post by Fender »

John,
I think this rebuild would be characterized by the New York Central as a Class A (some railroads called it Class I) repair:
Classified Repairs.jpg
Congratulations!
Dan Watson
Chattanooga, TN
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John_S
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Re: Rebuilding the Central of Georgia #408

Post by John_S »

All the new piping is complete and the plan is to take her out to the CSPPRY next Saturday and fire her up!

Can't wait to see how she fires and runs after all this work. I will be sure to take lots of photos and video of the big day.
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John_S
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Re: Rebuilding the Central of Georgia #408

Post by John_S »

First fire
First fire
408_2.jpg
408_3.jpg
408_4.jpg
Everything went very well yesterday. A few minor issues like leaky/weepy solder joints in the piping, a stuck-open boiler check on the engineer's side, etc., but the loco fired and steamed very well. It does need another pass at equalizing the wheel load as it is still very slippery. I plan on building a wheel scale like Fred V has shown on these forums so we can go through each driver and adjust the spring rigging.

I shot some video as well but haven't had a chance to get it edited and posted. Will get that done later today.
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John_S
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Re: Rebuilding the Central of Georgia #408

Post by John_S »

Short video. Sorry for the shaky-cam, was more concerned about how the loco was running than getting beauty shots!

mikeehlert
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Re: Rebuilding the Central of Georgia #408

Post by mikeehlert »

Looks Super!
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NP317
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Re: Rebuilding the Central of Georgia #408

Post by NP317 »

After all of your efforts (shared here), you must be feeling very satisfied!
Well done!
~RN
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John_S
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Re: Rebuilding the Central of Georgia #408

Post by John_S »

As is typical in life, the owner of 408, Mike, won't be able to make it to Mid-South for the 50th anniversary. I will be there with the locomotive and plan on running all day Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday.

I can't believe it's NEXT WEEK. Where in the world did all the time go?!

I've still got to fix a couple leaky solder joints and get the new handrails installed before next week.
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John_S
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Re: Rebuilding the Central of Georgia #408

Post by John_S »

Made it to MSLS with 408, if only for a brief time. I was only able to stay until Wednesday morning before heading back home.

The locomotive fires and steams great. Runs like a champ but has one valve motion issue. It appears that the fireman's side reversing lift lever is lower than the engineer's side, causing the fireman's side die block to bottom out in the expansion link. I haven't had time to dig further into it yet; thanks to Scott Reedy for helping take a look.

The only other issue was with the steam brakes on the loco. The first time I used them they wouldn't release. Turns out the brand new brake valve I installed had a badly machined slot in the teflon disc. When you moved the lever to the release position the slot wouldn't reach the exhaust port in the body of the valve, leaving the entire brake supply line under pressure and eventually full of condensed water. A few minutes with a pocket knife to lengthen the slot and all is well -- and the brakes work VERY well!

Here's a photo, courtesy of Bill Bryan, of Don Sager, Joe Holbrook, and myself from Tuesday morning.
408atMSLS_1024.jpg
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