Re: NNG - SLRG 1744 with her innerds showing....

From what I have been told, many other SP engines had the same sort of fix around the staybolts in the firebox, where the old holes had gotten too big for the bolts so they were drilled out and bushings inserted so that the proper sized staybolts could be used. With the bolts in, you could not see the bushings. As long as you don't need any sort of firebox repair, the system works. The problem is exactly as Earl described it, that when you need to fix the firebox, the bushings fall out, and you are confronted with the worn out holes. Putting new bushings in just postpones the day when more major repairs have to be done. The SP did this sort of thing in the 1950's because they new that the repairs were only going to be short term, and it was most likely that the engine would never go into the shops again before it went to scrap.
You can see in Earl's pictures that most of the staybolts were leaking so repairs were definitely in order.
The good news is that the place where the boiler is going won't do less than high quality repair, and that Earl and SLRG are willing to pay to send the boiler there rather than do partial repairs just to get her going again. When the boiler is put back on the frame after these repairs the 1744 will be as good as the day that the first fire was lighted in the firebox. What they are doing will insure that 1744 will be around for a long time.