A major milestone was achieved on the Northern Pacific Railway steam locomotive 924 last week: substantial
completion of the new cistern (tank) for the tender. For more than five months, a replacement tender tank has been taking shape on the floor of the Conservation and Restoration Center. Other than a couple
additional baffles and the rear coal board, all structural and seam riveting
was completed such that is was time to move on to other aspects of the project.
The tender frame had already been rehabilitated and prepared for placing
the tank some weeks before.
During this phase of the project, additional research determined
that this tender frame is actually far more ancient than the locomotive and
tank. The tender frame and trucks were originally built for a Northern
Pacific 4-4-0 C class locomotive in the early 1880s, predating the construction
of 924 by more than 15 years. Later in 924's service life for the NP, the
original frame and trucks were replaced by the running gear from one of the
many 4-4-0s that were being retired in the 1910s and 1920s. Contemplating
the implications, this tender frame hardware and trucks were potentially in
service prior to completion of the Northern Pacific as a transcontinental
railroad!
Before the tank could be placed on the frame, the water valves at
the ends of the water legs needed to be remachined and installed in the floor
of the tank. The lack of access and upside-down nature of this work would
have made it very difficult to install once the tank was in place. The valve
bodies were faced, bored, and valve seats recut using one of Museum’s large
lathes. Then the valves were fitted into position, holes drilled in the
base of the tank, and mounted.
With the bottom valves in position, it was finally time to install
the new tank on the tender frame. Weber
Construction is the Museum’s neighbor and is also owner of the local rock
quarry. Their repertoire of machinery
includes large excavators and loaders that each can lift tens of thousands of
pounds. So Weber was hired to perform
the lift and arrived Friday, June 26th with a very large loader with forks
mounted on the leading edge. The 16,000
pound tender tank was picked up from the floor, removed from the CRC and placed
on the frame. Everything fit perfectly the first time, and the total
elapsed time from start to finish was just two hours!
A significant amount of work remains to be done on the tender before
it is ready for service. The tank requires installation of the rear coal board,
filler hatch, four small baffles, hand rails, rear headlight, additional seal
welding, and interior and exterior paint. And not to forget, large white
numerals proudly displaying her number! However, the shop floor is now
open and uncluttered so that Museum forces can begin placing and powering up
the new large machine tools that were acquired earlier in 2015. This will
allow work effort to slowly transition to the locomotive and its many needs.
This achievement was made possible by the hard work and sacrifice
of many museum volunteers and staff, and is a testament to the scale and
quality of work that can be accomplished through teamwork. At this time,
there still remains much work to complete 924's return to operation.
However, the list just got a lot shorter!
--Special thanks to Dave Honan for taking photos of this special day, and to Stathi Pappas for providing the content of this post--
