Boxcar #181 [99jun5,box1]
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Steel boxcar #181 sits in Rockhill yard Friday night. Although the background was flashed, it made no difference so what's seen here is ambient lighting.
Boxcar #181 [99jun5,box1]
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Steel boxcar #181 sits in Rockhill yard Friday night. Although the
background was flashed, it made no difference so what's seen here is
ambient lighting.
Boxcars #181,#170 [99jun5,boxesnt]
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Steel boxcar #181 and wooden boxcar 170 under the floodlights in Rockhill.
Shop Complex [99jun5,shopnight]
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Some of the complicated construction of the shop complex as seen from outside the machine shop entrance.
Coach Track [99jun5,carsnight]
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Orbisona #20, caboose #28, and coach #8 sit on the coach track.
Orbisonia #20 [99jun5,20night]
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The Orbisonia posed in front of the blacksmith shop.
Car Shop [99jun5,carshop1]
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Looking into the car shop from the south. The (2?) foot gauge shop track is
visible running alongisde the grey Davenport. At right is the string of
amusement park cars.
Car Shop [99jun5,carshop2]
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Looking into the car shop from the north.
Boxcar [99jun5,box2]
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Boxcar #181 in Rockhill.
Boxcars [99jun5,box3]
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Boxcars #181 and #170 in Rockhill.
Morning Service [99jun5,14-1]
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#14 gets its morning ride on the turntable.
Morning Service [99jun5,14-2]
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The engineer blows out the cylinders and eases #14 back over the ash pit.
Morning Service [99jun5,14-3]
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The road crew cleans out the ash pan and lubricates the running gear.
Morning Service [99jun5,14-4]
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The road crew cleans out the ash pan and lubricates the running gear.
M-1 [99jun5,14atorb]
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#14 pulls into Orbisonia station for the morning train.
M-1 [99jun5,m1]
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After the 1pm train departed, Phill Glass brought the M-1 out of the
roundhouse for a run through the yard to get all of the bearings and seals
lubricated. After idling near Meadow Street for a few minutes, he took it
back into the roundhouse where it will sit until the Fall Spectacular in
October.
#15 [99jun5,round1]
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#15 sits in the roundhouse.
#15 [99jun5,round2]
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#15 sits in the roundhouse.
#12 Smokebox [99jun5,round3]
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A look at the screen and stack funnel inside #12's smokebox.
Wrenches in the Roundhouse [99jun5,wrench]
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If this collection in the roundhouse is any indicator, it looks as if every
job on the locomotives requires a special wrench.
[99jun5,16]
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Locomotive #16 sits in the sixth stall of the roundhouse. It is currently
inoperable, though the railroad management says it has no major problems and
could be restored easily given the money and motive.
[not available]
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Locomotive #18 sits in the seventh stall of the roundhouse. Like #16, it
is also currently inoperable but could be restored easily. This is a
composite of two photos. The wooden wall behind separates the
7th and 8th stalls.
Brake Parts [99jun5,foundry]
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These metal forms hanging in the foundry were steel cores for the cast
iron brake shoes. On the mountains, the EBT found that the brakes could
overheat and the shoes would break. The pieces of the broken shoe would
fall in the path of the wheel, threatening derailment. The steel cores
prevented the shoe pieces from falling and reduced the risk of derailing.
Shorter cores were for freight cars, while longer cores were for locomotive
driver brakes. The lower portion of the walls are brick-lined to reduce
the risk of fire when handling molten metal, and the piping is the steam
heating system used throughout the shop.
Machine Shop (B+W) [99jun5,shop1]
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This view shows the wheelset line in the machine shop. It was arranged to
reduce the amount of labor in moving the heavy wheelsets. Not shown is the
wheel press, which is beside the camera. To the left is the cribbing
erected to support a failed major roof member above the staionary steam engine,
and in the back are two of M-7's sisters on the shop tracks.
Machine Shop (B+W) [99jun5,shop2]
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This view is from the wheelset line looking west down the machine shop wing.
The electric motor mounted on an unused planing table in the center of the
photo was used to power the overhead belts and pulleys in the latter years of
operation. Belt tension could be easily adjusted by means of the machine's
moving table.
Machine Shop Belts (B+W) [99jun5,shop3]
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A closer view of the overhead belts in the machine shop.
Planing Table (B+W) [99jun5,planer]
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This planer was used to mill large objects. The table portion in the
forground moves toward and away from the cutting tool, which is seen
mounted on a transverse slide. This tranverse slide can move up and down
along the machine's frame, and the head holding the tool can move across
the table within the slide. Clamped to the table is the last item to be
worked on, a rail which is having the point cut for use in a point switch.
Tool Rack (B+W) [99jun5,toolrack]
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The A-frame tool rack, located at the end of the machine shop, still holds
its wrenches at the ready.
Bolt Threader (B+W) [99jun5,bolt]
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This machine cuts threads into the ends of bolts. The bolt stock is clamped
in (the rounded head of the last one in progress can still be seen) and the
cutting die spins around it.
Shop Roof (B+W) [99jun5,shop4]
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When in the shops, don't forget to look up! This is the boiler shop wing of
the shop complex, with less machinery and overhead belts than the machine shop,
allowing a clearer view of the roof construction. At left rear is the flue
for the forge. This particular building is NOT leaning, I just set up the
camera poorly.
Wheel Lathe (B+W) [99jun5,lathe]
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This is the wheel lathe used to cut the correct profile (slightly conical) on
a wheel's tread. The wheel tread wears at the point it contacts the rail, and
the tread must be restored to its correct profile in order to roll properly.
This lathe was used for all of the wheels on the railroad, including the
locomotives' 48 inch diameter drivers.
A wheelset from a freight truck is still mounted and the cutting tool sits on
the tread, perpetually in mid-cut.
To the far right is the edge of the wheel set turntable, used to turn the
wheelsets around so that the opposite wheel on the axle could be machined.
Orbisonia (B+W) [99jun5,20int]
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The evening train makes its way back into Orbisonia. After a busy day
it's easy to be lulled to sleep by the smooth rocking of the Orbisonia
and the clicking of the rail. And that's not a bad thing.
Pulling the Fire (B+W) [99jun5,serv1]
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#14 sits over the ash pit and the fireman hands a tool up to a crew member on
the footplate who will use it through the firebox doors to pull the fire.
Pulling the Fire (B+W) [99jun5,serv2]
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The fireman usually works from one side, the engineer from the other, and the
brakeman from the footplate.
After the fire is pulled, the engine is moved into the roundhouse on the
remaining steam in the boiler. At 3am the next morning, the hostler will start
a wood fire in the firebox, and switch to coal as it heats up.
This is easier on Sundays when the boiler is full of hot water from the
day before instead of cold water.
Pulling the Fire (B+W) [99jun5,shake]
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One of the crew shakes the grates.
Sand Tower (B+W) [99jun5,sand]
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At the western edge of the Rockhill Furnace yard the paint shop track squeezes
between the sand tower and the creek.
page by Bill Adams
