Monday September 26:
This past weekend we got an outstanding amount of work done despite the nasty weather. Bob moved the work bench just inside the shop on Friday in preparation of wet weather.
Friday, Bob finished the form for the corners. He built a custom form that is the shape of the three dimensional curve needed for the knuckles. Both a left and a mirror image right curve are on the same form. The front fire box
corners (knuckles) are not just a straight right angle bend, but a flared angle to fit the irregular shape of the fire box.
On Saturday ITM volunteers and contractor Bob Gold heated the first knuckle (engineer side, front) and beat it around the form for the correct angle. Project patriarch Harold Stark was on hand to "school the youngsters" on proper heating technique.
With alot of heat and determination the 3/4" steel came around nicely with persuasion.
Since it takes several hours to cool enough to handle we called it a day late in the afternoon.
Sunday morning started out rainy and cold. Bob Gold and volunteers removed the
knuckle (started Saturday) from the form and started to fit it to the inside of the fire box. After several rounds of fitting and trimming, the raw edge of the steel was ground to a sixty degree angle, ready to weld into place. In addition, to the final fit, volunteers heat and bent the fireman's side corner to the correct shape. It was still too hot to touch when we closed the shop Sunday. It will get it's final fit next weekend.
Thanks to everyone who came out to work---visible progress is what it's all about!
Michelle
April 5, 2011 update
Michelle reports:
"This past weekend volunteers started swedging the smaller tubes for NKP 587. It is exactly the same process as the larger
flues done a few weeks back except that tubes, being smaller are much more easily handled. Two volunteers can easily pick up
one and set it into the cradle.
"Bob made a new die to fit inside the larger die used previously on the flues. The tubes were reduced by .25 of an inch in
diameter. Swedging a tube uses less than half of the hydraulic pressure needed to swedge a flue.
"The photo shows four bundles completed out of six total bundles. If you are doing the math, we will have 222 finished tubes
and we need 216. Extra tubes and flues were ordered in the initial order not only to have some extra, but because they are
much cheaper when ordered in bulk."
March 31st, 2011 update
Cameron passed along this message.
"Smokebox work began on 587 yesterday. Mitch and I have spent the
week purchasing supplies to start the work. We will be working Friday
and Saturday as well. This is part of a 2-3 month subproject Mitch is
working on to repair cracks and bad areas of the smokebox. This is the
first smokebox work the locomotive has seen since the Nickel Plate did
it (prior to 587's retirement in 1955 - editor's note) . No smokebox
work was done in the 1980's restoration."
March 25th, 2011 update
"Just wanted to bring everyone up to speed.
"Last week Harold, Mitch and I had a meeting concerning the smoke box. In the end, we decided the smoke box has about a half dozen cracks that must be ground and welded. For the most part, the
needed repairs are around the ring that the door fits into and around the lower hinge. The area around the stack also needs attention. Harold informs me that ITM has never done any work on the smoke box, so
it is all from the 1950's or earlier.
"Bob has been working this week on the two new dies needed to swedge all of the 216 smaller diameter tubes. He was also planning on working on the hydraulics and hopefully get the bug worked out. The smaller tubes won't be so bad. They are lighter and they take roughly half of the hydraulic pressure to swedge. Bob was hoping to work on them the weekend of April 2 if all is ready. I won't know until early to mid week.
"I hope that unloading tubes at ITM will be easier. The storage box car is already in place on the line. Better planning equals a shorter day.
- Michelle"
March 14th, 2011 update
On March 12 and 13, 2011 several I T M volunteers traveled to the shop
of our steam locomotive contractor in southeast Indiana. The purpose was
to swage tubes that will be placed into the boiler of NKP 587. Swaging
is a forging process that reduces the diameter of the ends of the tubes
without removing any material. For an explanation of swaging visit the
Wikipedia page. Also, a web search on the word "swage"
should result in numerous links to information about the process and the
equipment used to do the job. This process is sometimes called "swedging"
although this latter term more correctly describes performing the task
with hammers.
Photos taken Saturday can be found at the bottom of the page.
Michelle, one of the volunteers overseeing and deeply involved in the restoration of
NKP 587 filed a report on the weekend activities:
"We spent Saturday at
the shop swedging the 40 larger diameter tubes for NKP 587. Bob,
Justin and I got started around 9:30 or so and were joined by Harold,
Jeff, Craig, Les, Lavonne and Jake.
"Each tube weighs 256
pounds. Lifting them is not easy. It was definitely an Advil night. Two
men lift the tube into the cradle, it is strapped down, and the end is
hydraulically forced into the die to narrow the end. In the end, we got
all but two done. The machine was not operating properly at the end
and rather than mess up the last two, we decided to do them later.
"After swaging, four
or five tubes are banded together to make them easier to handle.
Les used the fork lift to load them on Justin's trailer. After chaining
down the load, we left Bob's around 8:30. It took us three hours
to make it back to Noblesville. A long day. But that is not the end of
the line.
"On Sunday, the tubes needed
to be unloaded so that Justin could take the trailer back to his dad. I
have to say that we have great guys that drop everything to help out.
Kirk, Dan, Ed, Justin, and his friend Rodger all worked another 8 plus
hours to move a box car into position, get the crane running (not an
easy thing!!) and unload the trailer. It is not an easy maneuver to get
the bundles through the end doors of a box car where they are stored.
Another 8 or 10 hour day.
"I want to personally
thank those who helped out this weekend. It was a huge
undertaking. We still have the 216 smaller flues to do (and the
two remaining large ones), but I hope that it goes a little smoother
(lessons learned and all). In addition, a special thank you goes
out to Justin and his dad. Without the use of his trailer, we
couldn't get this project done. And to Jake who donated the use of tie
down straps so the tubes could be transported."
You, too, could help at I T M
- if not directly in a project such as this then in one of many other tasks.
Visit our "Volunteer" page for
information on how to get involved.
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