N&W first-person story from Railroad Magazine 1945

[NW Mailing List]

I knew someone with an answer would turnip. (wincing even as I type that)
Well,  at least half of my questions are resolved.  I considered that he
meant half the loco wasn't powered,  but I guessed I imagined having one
piston to be more detrimental to performance than it was.  I didn't realize
they could operate well enough to run (limp) on the rail that way.
Thanks!
Mike Rector

On Mon, Apr 8, 2024, 9:05 AM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
wrote:

> Herr Mikhail von Rektor, et al :
>
> I receive the N&W List in "Digest Mode," which means that sometimes I see
> postings a day after they were posted. So the issue may have been resolved
> to your satisfaction by this time. But I offer the following in response to
> your questions.
>
> 1. To "take down" one side of an engine is to disconnect the valve gear or
> rodding so that the motion of the piston is not communicated to the driving
> wheels... on ONE SIDE of the engine. The engine thence moves only by the
> energy communicated from the cylinder on the opposite side of the engine.
> The danger, of course, is that the engine might then stop "on center," and
> an engine "stopped on center" is thence unable to move until bumped or
> nudged "off center."  To prevent "stopping on dead center" is one reason
> why engines were cranked "on quarters" (i.e. the the main rod crank pin one
> side was one-quarter of a revolution ahead of the main rod crank pin on the
> opposite side.)
>
> An engine thus "taken down on one side" was said to be "lame.'
>
> In the old days, when components were light, engines were "taken down" by
> disconnecting the wrist pin at the cross-head, or by disconnecting the main
> rod (ugh !) Just think about how much human muscle energy that must have
> taken, even when engines were small and light. Sometime M-of-W section
> crews were conscripted to assist with this heavy work. The large tool boxes
> we see pictured on tenders and sometimes on engine pilot beams held the big
> wrenches necessary for such repair work work.
>
> 2. I am unable to comment on your question about "collars" other than to
> speculate that they were somehow involved in the retaining of the main
> and/or side rods on the driving wheel crank pins. I had never seen the term
> before reading it in this article.
>
> Be Well.
>
>        -- abram burnett
> I Store My Turnips On the Cloud !
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