Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

[Harlock]

After a very busy January and February dealing with the B-Class project, here is a small update on the MEG. The cab is now largely finished. There are few more trim details that could be added later if desired.

I rolled a roof for it and had it powder coated, then we matched the powder coat paint with regular paint for the window frames. I'm really pleased with the unique shade of dark green.

The front windows hinge from the bottom to open. I studied a number of different cabs and found all manner of window mechanisms, and in the end we just picked one that would look reasonable.

[Harlock]

Here are a few more pictures of this lovely cab designed by myself and built by my father. The cab is largely inspired by the cab on Jack's #9, which is a similar aspect ratio.

On the engine it looks funny without the saddle tank, but that will be remedied in the coming months.

[Harlock]

Here are some odds and ends. We made new crossheads as the old ones were built to plan quite well then mangled to fix a clearance problem with the front axle crank. These are built from the start to get around that.

The sight glass is made by Essex Brass just like the displacement lubricator mentioned earlier in the thread. Essex is still in business and they can provide replacement parts in many cases.

It's likely we'll re-make the cylinder chest caps to fix the clearance problem between the lubricator and the snifter, they're quite crammed up against each other at the moment.

Here also is a picture of the new slide block. The old block was too short and traveled too far off the end of the side, making it more prone to rotating and wearing the block out prematurely.

Lastly, here is a paint match sample. The rectangle piece with the hole in it is powder coated, the cylinder cap is painted.

As we go along we find the usual assortment of unexpected surprises, but thankfully in this case nothing severe. Most of the valve rod bushings are worn and need replacing, but the cylinder, rings and piston are in excellent shape and move very smoothly.

Now comes the very hard part...making a fairly elaborate saddle tank.

[Harlock]

By the way, I am *SUPER HAPPY* that Chaski now orders the photos in the order you uploaded them! It was endlessly frustrating to have to think backwards!

[Jerry_H]

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!

Your Dad is a genius with wood.

Jerry

[Ray Cadd]

Nice.
R

[Phil Tucker]

Incredibly nice work! That's a real transformation from how I remember that engine looking before. I hope we'll have the chance to double-head some time; I reckon our engines to have about 200 lbf of tractive effort apiece! (Maniacal laugh...)

[Harlock]

Here's some updates on the front end.

The old exhaust pipes met at a tee and then went straight up. No guidance for the exhaust flow at all in the straight tee. But oddly enough it did run well before. We changed it to a tee with a little separator in the middle so the gasses would be directed upwards. A "Y" shape is also another idea.

There is a new petticoat that has been positioned for the 3:1 expansion rule, you can see the white piece of cardboard indicating as such.

This is a nominal start and we'll adjust as necessary.

There is also a larger cone gently expanding the flow into the main stack, which is a larger diameter. However the flow does have to go straight before it hits the top of the stack, without cutting the stack down significantly.

The major visual component missing here is the saddle tank, so that's why the cab looks funny.

Another visit to Jeff Badger's place yielded the front pilot step hardware. We gave it new wood and attached it. More logger-like now. I also am now in possession of the original coal grates. The grates themselves are worn out, but it is set up just like Dave Sclavi's, with the nuts between the plates on all-thread. Easy to re-make. With the marine boiler setup, you can swap out from gas to coal in about 15 minutes. Jeff ran it quite a bit on coal when he had it.

The smokebox and stack has been painted duplicolor cast iron grey, 500 degree engine enamel. Thanks to Robert Morris for that idea. I also used that color on the Chloe's riding tender trucks.

The last thing to do is the blower ring, then it's back to running gear as well as a new boxcar shell for the propane tender.

-Mike

[sabin]

Looking good Mike. What is/will you use for coal grate material? CRS, HRS, stainless? Hope to double head with you at Bitter Creek when you are done.
Jim

[Harlock]

Looking good Mike. What is/will you use for coal grate material? CRS, HRS, stainless? Hope to double head with you at Bitter Creek when you are done.
Jim

I haven't decided yet. There was a discussion about that on the thread about Sclavi's grates. Some people think the stainless is worth it, others don't. Probably just a 'pick your poison' type of thing in the end. If the stainless is not too much more expensive, then there's probably not much reason not to do it, for the higher temp resistance etc. although drilling is harder depending on the type of stainless.

-Mike

[JJG Koopmans]

Hi Mike,
Re your pictures stack_3 and _4. The appears to be what is called a Lempor, straight entrance/mixing chamber and
diffuser type chimney. This is meant for a multiple orifice blast pipe and may probably not function properly with
a single orifice.
Kind regards
Jos Koopmans

[Miserlou57]

Beautiful job so far. Very jealous.

Now, whatever happened to MEG steam? This big steam stuff is neat... are drawings or castings still available for these anywhere? Patterns?