Re: K36 Smokebox Fronts - fabrication?

Thank you - the dimensional drawing tells me a whole lot and confirms what I had kind of suspected about the profile involved.

First, you cast the hot-forming die segments.... Then you hire about a dozen high school football players, build about two dozen ironwood mallets, buy a lot of acetylene and have them start beating to fit. The paint to match will come later.....

I agree, an expensive challenge.

SRK

Kelly Anderson Wrote:
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> Smokebox fronts and doors like those on the #480's
> were hot stamped out of relatively thin steel
> plate on dies sort of like a car fender. Not to
> easy to replicate without the die, furnace, and
> the multi thousand ton press.
>
> [attachment 48327 069.jpg]
>
> California Western fabricated (I assume) a
> replacement for #45's. You can see that it has
> corners instead of the radiuses of the original.
>
> [attachment 48328
> California_Western_Railroad_Locomotive_45.jpg]
> photo from Google
>
> They can be replaced with castings, but will
> probably need to be thicker.
>
> Original cast iron doors are pretty easy to spot,
> generally being thicker, flatter and with fewer
> fasteners than steel doors, since they are not
> prone to warping like steel is.
>
> [attachment 48329 475closeup.jpg]
>
> [attachment 48330 100_5451small.jpg]
> photo from NGDF
>
> [attachment 48331 smallIMG_1302.jpg]
> The cinder deflector on #20's door was broken, go
> figure.