Re: Boiler inspections at Tweetsie

Here at Tweetsie, our boilers are inspected by the North Carolina Dept of Labor. The State conducts 2 tests every year. The first is an internal inspection, and the second either a hydrostatic test or seeing the engine under steam.
We have never been inspected by the FRA. We do have one grade crossing that is questionable for the insular rule. One thing NC does different than say Tennessee, is they allow us to use RR Pop valves on the engines. Tennessee requires the more modern ones with manual release. We also wash our boilers out at least twice a season. We tend to rotate engines about every 45-50 days.
Tim Smith
Engineer, TRR