Re: Why 1472 hours?

As noted in another post, the condition of the flues isn't really the primary concern of the 1,472-day inspection. The concern is the overall structural condition of the boiler. The "meat" of the requirement is the UT survey of the boiler steel and the condition of the stays. Some boilers will require replacement of various components, depending upon what is found, and all boilers must have their maximum working pressure recalculated, based on the data obtained in the survey. The requirements were imposed because most (but certainly not all) steam locomotive boilers are rather old pressure vessels, made of materials that vary in quality. The FRA was also concerned that some operators were not maintaining the machines properly, and that the results could be catastrophic. The incident that precipitated the current rules was the Gettysburg firebox failure back in 1995, which was the result of poor training and maintenance practices. A bullet was dodged in that no one was killed, but that was the spark behind Part 230.

/Kevin