The Home Machinist!

It should, and on my CliShay the ashpan bolts up flush to the bottom of the mudring. With it having 5/8" holes drilled all the way around the top of it on centers for air. Works quite well, and it lets a lot of air through it to the grate.

Does anybody have a rule of thumb for the amount of air opening under the grate of a coal-fired loco? Maybe some ratio of the of the "vent area" to the flue or tube or grate area?

I made mine fit quite tightly , figuring I will add vent holes later, but I think I will need something to start with?. Some pictures of my virgin ashpan/grate/arch are in the thread about ashpans from a couple days ago.

Here's version 1 of my ash pan design. Still needs air holes drilled, a latch on the rear to secure it to the frame of the locomotive, and support brackets for the grate. I would have liked to use a slightly thicker stainless steel instead but that was beyond the capabilities of my neighbor's welding machine.
Even though it's close to running shape, I've been itching to repair the boiler jacket, so I decided to start disassembling the 'easier' stuff to see what the job would entail. Of course that went further than planned. Looks like the boiler insulating material is asbestos, and certain pieces like the forward facing cab section and steam dome base are stuck in there due to rust and corrosion expansion. Anyone know if the Allen steam dome base was ever drilled and tapped to secure to the boiler somehow? I don't want to damage something in my attempt to remove it.

I'm trying to work out a plan to deal with the asbestos once I remove the cab and steam dome. Looking up California law, the engine falls below the minimum square footage that requires a licensed contractor to dispose it so I plan to buy a bunch of painters plastic, roll the engine on it, remove as much asbestos as I can and then hose it off, and throw all the plastic away. That's the idea anyway...

Hello Tyleirs,
If you haven't yet done so take a look at the May 2016 edition of the LALSRR Engine Booster, page 6, bottom photo. Almost in the center of the photo is a loco that may look familiar to you. I don't think that is Art Laidlaw with his hand in the cab. Could this be your engine? HMMMMMM.
See you at this week end. Cary

Cary Stewart wrote:If you haven't yet done so take a look at the May 2016 edition of the LALSRR Engine Booster, page 6, bottom photo. Almost in the center of the photo is a loco that may look familiar to you. I don't think that is Art Laidlaw with his hand in the cab. Could this be your engine? HMMMMMM.
See you at this week end. Cary

Great catch Cary. I stumbled across the photo in the LALS archives a few weeks ago and took a picture. I'm pretty sure that's my 2-4-0 from the 1968 spring meet. Meanwhile, work continues...

Cary Stewart wrote:Hello Tyleirs,
If you haven't yet done so take a look at the May 2016 edition of the LALSRR Engine Booster, page 6, bottom photo. Almost in the center of the photo is a loco that may look familiar to you. I don't think that is Art Laidlaw with his hand in the cab. Could this be your engine? HMMMMMM.
See you at this week end. Cary

How does one view the Booster? I haven't seen it in a while on the website, last time I saw the booster was before the website was updated.

David

Hi David. On the LALS web site, once you have logged in go to "Members Home" and open up the Documents page. I could not find it at first either.

I'm trying to work out a plan to deal with the asbestos once I remove the cab and steam dome. Looking up California law, the engine falls below the minimum square footage that requires a licensed contractor to dispose it so I plan to buy a bunch of painters plastic, roll the engine on it, remove as much asbestos as I can and then hose it off, and throw all the plastic away. That's the idea anyway...

I'm sure you've already planned to but if not I strongly recommend soaking the asbestos on your boiler for a few days before removing the cladding plates so that you don't get any loose fibers blowing around. Maybe see if there's a convenient gap or joint in the cladding plates to poke a hose in and use a spray bottle as you remove them. Best of luck with your project.
Ray.

marshall5 wrote: I'm sure you've already planned to but if not I strongly recommend soaking the asbestos on your boiler for a few days before removing the cladding plates so that you don't get any loose fibers blowing around. Maybe see if there's a convenient gap or joint in the cladding plates to poke a hose in and use a spray bottle as you remove them. Best of luck with your project.
Ray.

Thanks Ray. I managed to soak the asbestos pretty well before removal. Chipped off the boiler with a good layer of corroded metal along with it, which is a little worrying. You can see the pitting from the corrosion in the photo pretty well. After cleaning with a wire wheel and painting with bbq stove paint, it's looking a little better. I've also begun stripping the paint off everything else while I make a plan for fitting the new boiler jacket.

At this point I'm debating whether I should pull the boiler off the frame to access the broken valve link easier and additionally will allow me better access to clean and paint while troubleshooting a slight alignment issue between the boiler and the smoke box (a small gap at the top of the smoke box and the boiler probably caused by corrosion over time).

Pull it so you can do it right. You will thank yourself later. This is an awesome project and it is looking good.

I agree with Charles: Pull the boiler to do the work "properly."
Perform a boiler hydro test when you can see all parts of the boiler.
This might be especially important given the visible corrosion on the shell.

Nice work so far. I'm enjoying following your important restoration project.
~RN

I will "third" that. While at it. You may want to just take it all thw down. Inspect, paint and reassemble thw chassis. The amount of pitting that i can see on the shell. I would be a little concerned, some of these look deep. And if that is a sch40 shell. It may be getting too thin. Just imho