Restoration Journal - September 29, 2007

Over the course of the past few months, 6218's decrepit state has grabbed the attention of Bill Jones and Ken Cutmore who have decided to do something about it. Correspondence with these two fellows led to The Boss and myself heading down to Fort Erie to share our expertise in the field of steam locomotive preservation. Here is what we found during our inspection.

The previous regime had no concept of what they were doing. A cosmetic restoration was performed on the engine at some point during the 1990's but wound up doing considerable damage to the locomotive. When the boiler jacket and the asbestos lagging were removed, fiberglass insulation was installed beneath a new jacket. This act essentially condemned the locomotive, as any type of insulation will do nothing but absorb moisture which will only continue to corrode both the boiler shell and the new jacket, which is exactly what has happened. We found several large holes in various places around the jacket. Common sense would dictate that when you take the old jacket off, you use it as a pattern for a new jacket so that it fits the locomotive perfectly, but sadly this is not what was done. The new jacket can only be described as perfectly awful, in that there is no merit to its design once so ever. Aside from looking just terrible, its design actually traps water inside the jacket speeding up the deterioration of jacket and shell. On a proper jacket, the joint where the two halves of the jacket come together is at the bottom of the boiler, which has the advantage of allowing water to exit the jacket as opposed to collecting. The new jacket has a sheet that runs along the bottom third of the boiler which does not allow water to drain period.

Another problem that could have easily been solved thus preventing catastrophic damage to the engine was the stack cap. It's design also flies in the face of common sense in that it is actually recessed several inches inside the stack (as opposed to being flush as 6167's and 6213's are) allowing water to collect in the recess. In addition the cap was sealed with silicon which has long since failed. The end result was that water has been entering the smokebox for a very long time, to the effect that the smokebox front has several holes rusted right through it, one of which was large enough for me to stick the lens of my camera through and photograph the interior of the smokebox. The worst part about all this is that this was repaired several years ago (most likely during the restoration), but no one had the brains to figure out what caused the corrosion in the first place. My photographs show how badly corroded the smokebox is.

We also found evidence that some sand blasting had been done, but this seemed to be limited the the pilot, while the water tank for example is still caked in about 100 other paint jobs. Also, she wasn't even put back together correctly. The steam pipes that feed the air and water pumps are missing, and we noticed that someone had even removed an alemite grease fitting from the main rod and hammered it into the steam inlet! Even more bizarre was the lubricator fitting we found screwed into the air line used to power the pneumatic grease gun.

Another fault that caught my attention was the number of missing parts, which include (but aren't limited to): the Pyle National MO-6 Dynamo (which was replaced with some other type of dynamo and was installed parallel to the center line of the boiler, while it it should be perpendicular to it); the Hancock W-2 Inspirator in its entirety; all plates (Number plate, builder's plates, superheater repair plate, Northern Type plates, and badge plate); numerous light fixtures (including the headlight which was replaced with a generic fixture, all lamps from the cab, and parts of the filling hole lamp); numerous cab fittings; the bi-fold door on the back of the cab (which allows access to the coal bunker); one of the jump seats in the cab; the tender tool box; numerous grease fittings, numerous pip fittings (including drains on the air tanks and wash-out plugs on the cylinders); the cylinder cocks; the cab windows are mostly all gone; and lastly, most of the check valve has been removed.

What I find extremely alarming is the disappearance of the wash-out plugs on top of the cylinders which allows water to enter the cylinders and cause further catastrophic damage to the machinery. In addition to all that, 5 of the 8 Cab Numerals have cracked due to corrosion.

The goals of this restoration should be: removal of the old jacket and insulation; sand blasting the entire locomotive; replacing the old jacket with an accurate replica; replacing the cab windows; repairing the cab numerals; and sealing the leak in the smoke stack and repairing the holes in the smokebox front. The boss and estimate this work with be cost between $100,000 and up. Unfortunately, less then half of that sum is available at the moment, which limits the work to sandblasting the engine and patching up the holes in the jacket, which really accomplishes nothing, and will prove to be a waste of time and money when the jacket rots out again.

When I attempted to paint over 6167's mangled jacket in 2002, I quickly realized that the peeling paint was the only thing holding the jacket together. As I scraped away the old layers of paint, every few inches I would discover another small hole. No doubt 6218's jacket is in the same state. Painting over it will not do anything except make it look good for the day when the locomotive implodes on itself.

I wish Bill and Ken good luck with their project, but unless enough funding materializes, there isn't much that can be done for 6218.

6218 was built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in September 1942 (And delivered to the railway on September 16) and assigned boiler # 69716 and was of CNR Class U-2-g. Like the rest of CNR's U-2 Class Northerns, she had 25.5" diameter cylinders with a 30" stroke, 73" driving wheels and operated at 250 PSI. boiler pressure. These attributes allowed her to exert 56,785 lbs of tractive effort, while developing 2930 HP. Her grate measures 126 1/8" x 96 1/4" which works out to about 84.3 Square Feet. She measures 94' 9 3/8" coupler to coupler and has a wheel base of 82' 4 3/4" (engine and tender). She has a combined engine and tender weight of 677,600 lbs while the tender carries 18 tons of coal and 11,600 gallons of water.

The U-2-g glass had a number of improvements over the U-2-e/f classes of 1940. Aside from being better looking, their design incorporated a one piece cast frame, which saw the frame, cylinder blocks, air and water pump brackets, and pilot beam combined into a single massive casting which eliminated such maintenance headaches as keeping the cylinders in alignment with the rest of the frame. Another development which was first started out on the U-2-e'f classes was the enlargement of the steam pipes that fed the cylinders. The pipes were so large in fact, that they necessitated the bulge on the side of the smokebox. The U-2-g's were also the first class of Northern to be equipped with Walscheart valve gear, whereas all previous classes of Northerns were equipped with Pilliod-Baker valve gear.

Although I have not been able to establish a firm timeline of her assignments, she appears to have spent a fair amount of time in and around the Montreal District. She did spend some time in the Western Region, being one of the first Northern assigned to Winnipeg's Fort Rouge Roundhouse in 1952. After that, she most likely returned to the Montreal district, and was assigned to the Turcot Roundhouse in August 1957. I suspect that she stayed in the Montreal area after her retirement (most likely on January 1, 1960 - the end of steam on the CNR), until 1963 when she was hauled down to the Stratford Shops and restored to operating condition for service in the CNR's Excursion Program.

She has the distinction of being the last steam locomotive overhauled at Stratford, emerging in December 1963. Upon her completion, the Stratford Shops were closed for good. Her first Excursion trip was the doubleheader with 6167 on September 26, 1964, running from Toronto to Scotia Junction and on the 27th from Toronto to Paris Junction. These trips would be 6167's last, as afterwards, she was retired and stored at the Spadina Roundhouse until 1967 when she was donated to the City of Guelph.

6218 carried on in this capacity until her last run on July 4, 1971, after which she was retired. Her last trip of any sort was in October 1973 when 6060 towed her to Fort Erie. She was stored at Fort Erie yard for several months before being moved to her present location at the Fort Erie Railway Museum in Early 1974.

Peering into the firebox. Most of the Arch Brick is gone.

Looking down the filling hatch. The pipe entering the left side of the hatch is the vent from the Oil Skimmer. Also note the wasp nest underneath the right hand filling hatch.

Looking down into the water tank. The two pipes are drains for the Oil Skimmer.

Looking down into the water tank.

This photo was taken through the large hole that had formed through the smokebox front. The exhaust stand, netting, and superheater units are visible.

Another look inside the smokebox.

Yours truly. Note the large hole in the smokebox front just above the handrail.

3/4 view of the engineer's side.

3/4 view of the fireman's side.

Broadside view of fireman's side. Notice that the replacement dynamo rests 90 degrees out of its proper position, and the cab windows are gone.

The tool box would normally occupy the space between the two tender trucks, but has since disappeared.

Engineer's side.

The extent of the damage to the cab numerals is plainly visible, as is the fact that the jump seat in the cab is missing, as are most of the window and arm rest, and the piping to the distributing valve. However, to make up for it all, the locomotive has been fitted with about four or five electrified brakeman's lanterns in the most unusual places.

Cab numerals on fireman's side.