How they did it in the '30's: awe-inspiring video of steam locomotive building.

I figure there something here for everyone. Just thought I'd share.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hRsYIiUxZeQ

Related, how they rebuild it after a while

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktHw1wR9XOU

Pay attention at 7:25, a man uses a hot rivet as a cigarette lighter.

That is awesome!!!

Thanks for posting it.

Very cool to watch, wish they had filmed the axle being built.

Imagime a re-fresh of the voice over with James May....

Somehow, I just didn't think they had those abilities back then.

The casting, yes but the machining... I had no idea.

Wow, 130,000-miles then the who locomotive needs stripped to the frame and rebuilt. That couldn't have been cheap. Just estimating, that task could have been a yearly requirement.

In reply to petegossett:

Now consider that the "modern" ones we have now, some of them 40+ years old, often go years between shutting down, let alone being rebuilt. Though I'm told a rebuilding effort of a similar, if not larger scale is currently underway to skirt some upcoming emissions laws for as long as possible.

That was awesome

I understand that all things being equal, "modern" is better but these guys had no CAD, no robotics, not even the modern metallurgy we have today.

I've had the opertunity to be up close to a few of these things and very few things instill me with wonder quite like this.

And to think, moving all those tons of iron and steel with HOT WATER!

Amazing I love these old manufacturing videos

Awesome video. Thanks.

It seems that the British use a lot of manual labor to do some of the operations that in this country even back in the 30's we used machines to do. I had to laugh when I saw a group of workers sitting on a metal bar to balance the steel plate they were placing into a furnace to heat up. I wonder what they got paid? It was a simple way to get the job done but in just don't work if you want to mass produce something.

My Grandfather worked for the PFE (Pacific Fruit Express) at Taylor Yard in Los Angeles. Cheap labor and almost no safety rules. Hundreds of men crawling all over locomotives and cars like ants on a bread pile. Lots got injured (he did) and if you didn't, or couldn't come back. you got replaced. Looking at that guy boring holes in the side plate, metal worms flying around and no goggles. That's what happened to Grandpa, He caught one in his left eye and carried it to his grave. Used to show me the dark spot, gave me the creeps!

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing

ebonyandivory wrote: Somehow, I just didn't think they had those abilities back then. The casting, yes but the machining... I had no idea.

i wish they would have shown more of the machining... we've got some old Bullard manual lathes at work that were built in the 30's and would have been more than capable of doing the final machining on the wheels and what not- the small ones can do up to 36" diameters, but the big one (not a Bullard, forget the brand name) can do up to 12 feet in diameter..

In reply to ebonyandivory:

How many truly critical dimensions are there really on a locomotive like that? It's all good so long as it all bolts/rivets together, aside from the cylinder bores, pistons, and journal surfaces (but not diameters or even alignment aside form being parallel as those are all poured bearings). Not like the thing will explode if the pressure gauge isn't +/- .010" of the smokestack. Which makes me wonder, how much longer does one get running flat out?

Back then, labor was cheap and technology was expensive. Now technology is cheap and labor is expensive.

In reply to Kenny_McCormic:

The fitment of the wheel to the axle was "pretty tight" tollerances.

i don't know, I supposes if you dig into this stuff and especially if you compare it to modern industrial practices, one might be inclined to say "meh, big deal". I tend to frame things with the reality of the era (1930's) and I just shake my head.

From the hundreds of drawings to the final assembly, I felt like a kid watching it.

ebonyandivory wrote: I understand that all things being equal, "modern" is better but these guys had no CAD, no robotics, not even the modern metallurgy we have today.

A lot of "those guys" developed the modern metallurgy we have today.

They call the outer band of the drive wheels tires, er excuse me, tyres. I had no idea.

That was a cool video, thanks for sharing.

I wonder what the early 1930's equivalent American or German factories were like technology wise. It seems like the Brits always manage to do a lot with the least amount of tech.

In reply to ebonyandivory:

In my 11th edition copy of Machinery's (1941), there's actually a chart on page 1119 "wheel and axle press fits" that is given as actual practices taken from four different railroad shops(data may well be from an even earlier time), they give a interference of around 0.010-.020" depending on the shop, sometimes incorporating a slight taper.

Great video.

Wonder where 'ol #6207 is now?

There's a place in northern Illinois called the Illinois Railway Museum. They have a number of working steam engines as well as a few diesel powered ones. The steam ones aren't run as often as you would expect. Thety have some of the large machine tools that are required to true up RR wheels, etc. They also are a volunteer organization. I would be one if it wasn't so far away. It's about 100 miles in Union, IL Cool place though. They have hundreds of rail cars. Many street cars from the late 1800's and early 1900's. There is also the Penn Central RR Museum near Hershey, PA. Also a interesting visit. I went to both last year.

Looks like Health & Safety office wasn't a thing then. Pouring a giant vat of molten metal and the guys have pants, rolled up sleeves, and maybe a cap on, with splatter and vapor inches away

The Cog Railway in New Hampshire is something to behold as well. It's a smaller version of these steam engines but on flat ground they're pitched up the rear a few feet to be level chugging straight up the mountain.

It's a messy job maintaining these old beasts!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D6_k1zA_yak