Restoration Journal - April 22, 2010

We weren't able to get the cylinder cover off the front end of the right cylinder 2 years ago (or so) when we started dismantling the engine, so today we took another shot at it. The cover was seized in place due to a great deal of rust and scale that had accumulated between the cylinder head and the cover, so to loosen things up, we cut the front of the cover halfway, from one edge to the middle to loosen things up a bit, and then proceeded to beat it with a sledge hammer for a while and eventually it came free. After it was off, we discovered that the webs of the cylinder head were all cracked. We figure maybe at some point some water got in the cylinder while she was still in service. Of course the next question, is how long did she run like that? Anyhow, we cleaned up the cut we made, which will eventually get welded up, and made good as new. We also ground off all the scale on that had built up on the inside. Its amazing how solidly the thing was built- its got to be made from at least 1/4" thick steel. If the engine ever gets scrapped, you could make a nice table out of it...

We also loosened of the radial buffer. First we burnt all the paint off the threads on the adjusting rod, then heated up and loosened those nuts. After we were done, we coated the threads in never seize.

Another job was trying to free up the Ash Pan hoppers and although we got the linkage freed up, we reckon that the doors are seized shut to the hopper, and we gave up for now. It would be nice to empty the hopper as its full of sand etc.

We then tried to deal with the stoker screw. We were able to cut the heads of the bolts off in two of the universal joints and soaked what was left with oil. All we need now, are several lengths of "Inanimate Carbon Rod" to pound it out, possibly while heating it with a torch, "In Rod We Trust".

I also finished cleaning the rest of the cellars. Its funny how mismatched everything on that engine is. Most of those cellar parts are stamped for other engines. Today I found a part stamped 6214, which has a bit of irony to it, as last year for a cheap laugh, we staged a shot of 6213 as 6214.

As for last Monday (April 19), we finished cleaning out the last of the driving boxes and proceeded to polish all the journals on the driving wheels as best as we could, and all of the Barco Flexible Joints were disconnected.

At this time, we are almost out of things to do in preparation for the move. Our priorities at the moment are getting one of the bolts out of the stoker screw and getting one of the drawbar pins out. Once that's done, the engine is effectively ready to be handed over to Western Mechanical. However as construction on the new pad hasn't even started yet, the move likely won't take place until the middle of May- that is if construction on the pad started today (which it didn't). Once construction does start and the pad gets poured, we will have to wait 2 weeks for the concrete to cure before we can move the engine.

Finally, much like with the move of 6213, where the City of Toronto was concerned about 6213 being too heavy for one of the bridges along the route, it would seem that the City of Guelph is concerned about 6167 being too heavy for one of the large water mains that happens to rest along the route to 6167's new home, and as a result the City will have to shut it down, and install temporary water mains...

The journal for the Driver R1 after the we cleaned inside.

The journal for Driver R1 again. I have attempted to show the band of corrosion that has formed on the journal just under the crown brass, as well as the corrosion to the collar of the journal. This is a a fairly common pattern of corrosion on most of the journals, and polishing them (especially the area under the brass is rather tricky).

The two massive brake cylinders that power the brakes on 6167's driving wheels.

Looking towards 6167's engine truck.

At some point one of 6167's valve gear frames developed a crack and CN applied this large plate of steel to reinforce it. Also note the stop welded onto the side of the valve gear frame. This was applied to both sides. We figure it was used when setting up the valve gear.

With the boiler empty and stripped down, it has lifted off the waist sheet.

Cutting the retainer plate bolts with an oxy-acetylene torch. The bolts were secured with cotter pins all of which disintegrated when we tried to remove them, so out came the torch.

The retainer plate. After it was removed, the holes were cleaned out and some of the edges that had mushroomed were ground and filed.

Heating up one of the nuts on the Radial Buffer.

The Radial Buffer with the washer removed. We were surprised to see that the hole in the washer had been flame cut. Before we put everything back together, we coated the threads in never seize, and the nuts turn quite easily now.

The cylinder cover after we finally got it off. The cut was ground smooth and will eventually be welded back up. We also ground all the scale off the inside of the lip. I was impressed at how solidly it was constructed, being made from at least 1/4" thick plate.

The cylinder head. We were surprised to discover that all of the webs were cracked and we suspect that some water entered the cylinders at some point. How long the engine ran in this state is what we would really like to know.