Re: The K-37s

Fred Folk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 492 supposidly has the better boiler...

As old as the K-37's boilers are, it’s possible that none of them has a “good” boiler. There is no way to tell without doing a UT survey and the modern Form 4 calculations.

Under the old ICC rules that were in effect until 1999. Boilers built before 1911 were “grandfathered” to allow a factor of safety of as low as 3.25 times working pressure. That grandfather clause is no more, and all locomotive boilers have to have a factor of safety of 4.

Even more modern boilers such as the K-36 boilers have design flaws that were found when calculating their new Form 4's. A lot of progress had been made in the 24 years between those two boiler designs, not to mention 24 years of more wear and tear on the K-37 boilers, and I’d be surprised if one could be brought into service under the new rules without heroic effort.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2009 08:41AM by Kelly Anderson.