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While the boiler pressure comes up, Lee Hawbecker is busy
loading wood
onto the tender deck from a wood crib. This vintage Hyster
forklift
plays a vital role in keeping the Sumpter Valley Railway running,
though
it's not exactly typical of the historical image the Restoration
Railway
is trying to project. |
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With no lubricators for the running gear, each bearing must
be manually
lubed each day. In this view we see Jerry Hellinga greasing the rods on
one of the two trucks. Only the outside axle (the one on the left
in this picture) is powered and connecting rod on each side of each
truck
transfer power to the inside axles allowing all eight wheels of the
locomotive
to be powered. |
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Lee has crawled underneath the Heisler to lube and inspect
the engine.
Yes, space is pretty tight under there and at times one feels more like
they're "wearing" the locomotive. |
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Long spouted oil can in hand and looking every bit like an
engineer
of yesteryear, Jerry tends to various lubrication points on the
trucks. |
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In this view, Jerry is dribbling oil into an oil reservoir
cast into
the truck frame. In the background the main drive shaft comes in
from the left and connects to a massive universal joint. To the
right
of this U-joint is the large bull gear that drives the outboard axle
out
of sight to the right. |
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One side of the V-2 engine that drives the Heisler. At
the top
is one of the cylinder and valve cases set at a 45 degree angle to the
ground. With a similar arrangement on the other side, a 90
degree V type power arrangement is formed with the open crank visible
below
the side frame. The drive shafts are just visible on either side
of the crank with another U-joint on the left. |
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Steam pressure is up, the lubrication and inspections are
complete
and the locomotive is ready to get underway. One last chore is to
lightly beat on the stack screen to knock loose embers that have stuck
up there. Failure to do this results in diminished draft and poor
steaming. In acute cases, the draft will cease all together
putting
out the fire and filling the cab with smoke. (Yea, I got a
tee-shirt
for that one, too) |
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Jerry surveys his charge, ready for a day's work. |
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Last step before moving a steam locomotive that has been
parked for
any period of time is to blow out condensed water from the
cylinders.
It's obviously a warm day here, as on a cold day the entire locomotive
would be enveloped in a cloud of steam. |
