Re: How thin can it be and still hold pressure? #3

Back in 1968 or 1969, when I was a college student, I would occasionally help out Carroll Stahl, the owner of the narrow-gauge Carroll Park & Western RR near Bloomsburg, PA. One day Stahl called me and said that his Climax #3 was leaking water, and they couldn't get water into the boiler with both injectors fast enough to keep up with the leak. A couple of days later I went to the railroad and tried to locate the leak. I removed a safety valve and put a hose into the boiler and turned the water on. Soon I had a fairly steady stream of water running into the ashpan.
Looking around inside the firebox, I could not locate a leaking staybolt, so I crawled up into the ashpan but still could not find the leaky bolt, though I could see the water running down the side of the mudring. I finally realized the leak was behind the grate bearer, so I removed the grates and the grate bearer. There I found a hole the size of a pencil between two staybolts. I got to poking around, and soon I had a hole the size of a silver dollar just by sticking my finger in and bending the stratified and scaled inner sheet.
I crawled out of there and called Stahl to report my finding. Carroll was a rotund man, and there was no way he was going to crawl into the ashpan to investigate, nor was he getting into the firebox through the firedoor. He said he'd get it fixed, and I started discussing a patch. He said he'd take care of it.
A week later, he called me to report it was all fixed and would I come and put all the pieces back together. I was appalled when I arrived and found that a welder had pretty much plug-welded the hole. I told Stahl that was not an adequate fix, but he said I shouldn't worry about it. I told him I would not reassemble the engine until he got it fixed right. I picked up my tools and left, and I never went near the place again! I'm not certain if he ever fired the engine up after that, but I sure didn't care to be within shrapnel range!!
Note -- #3 left Pennsylvania in 1974 or thereabouts and is at Roaring Camp now, where I believe it awaits a new boiler.