Please read the latest news about 765 on their web site:
www.765.org
NICKEL PLATE ENGINE WORK STEAMS AHEAD
July 15, 2005: The project moves along toward completion.
The July heat and humidity has finally arrived, making for some difficult
days at the shop. But, we continue to press towards an initial test fire.
The running boards are all in place, and for the most part permanently
secured to the locomotive. The new, straight, boards really give a like new
appearance to the 765.
The sand piping is nearing completion.
The smoke box front is now installed and bolted to the front of the
locomotive. Bob Gold is attaching the headlight bracket to the inner door
as this is written. Two additional rivets on the inner door hinges and the
smoke box can be bolted shut.
Lots of little and big projects are getting finished.
The cab gauge rebuilding is nearly completed.
Other cab hardware overhauls are completed.
The new AAR digital train radio has been received from Motorola.
The rebuild of the tender coal space sliding stoker cover plates is
done.
The air reservoirs and installed.
The new emergency air reservoir for the power was delivered this week.
The correct mounting brackets, per NKP blueprints,
have been applied. After the new mounting bands are manufactured, the
reservoir can be installed.
Almost everything which we attach to the locomotive now is pre-painted.
As the various
layers of parts applied, painting becomes nearly impossible,
so pre-painting is a
necessity.
Nathan
4000 injector lever - put on your sun glasses!
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June
29, 2005:
Work has really
picked up following a post Blitz Week lull. The sander
piping is nearly finished with the exception of the #1` driver set. These
pipes are more complicated since they must accommodate additional lateral
movement of the driving axle. The ALCO lateral motion device adds an inch
or more side to side movement of the drive wheel set. Consequently, the
front sand delivery system is designed to follow the lateral movements. The
entire #1 sanding device has a set of 5" guide wheels which contact the
inside of the driver tire and cause the sander piping to move sideways
following the movement of the wheel. This device was frozen in one position
and had worn the guide wheels flat. New guide wheels and mounting parts
have been fabricated and await installation. This will complete the sand
delivery pipe overhaul.
The smoke box front has been on our priority list of things to do.
The new smoke
box front installed on the 765. Over half of the mounting studs were
replaced along with all of the inner door studs. The inner door has been
polished to get rid of the tooling marks which resulted from the metal
spinning operation when the new door was formed. It is being shot blasted
at a local metal fabricator to give it a uniform surface finish. The door
should be finished this week.
Other work accomplished is the mounting the right side air reservoirs.
The right side reservoirs in place on the 765. The running boards are next.
We are awaiting the delivery of a smaller third reservoir to mount on the
right side. It will be used to supply emergency air to the power reverse in
case of a main reservoir air failure.. The 12" x 33" reservoir acts as an
accumulator to store sufficient air pressure to operate the power reverse
through one complete operating cycle.
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