Re: Question about shafts, rods, and broken parts.

Tom,
One thing I do know about side rods other than their soul purpose, is how they are made, or atleast their make-up.
They are made of a number of different metals, some of you guys will know which i'm sure, so that they can actually bend to a certain extent. Although un-noticeable to the naked eye side rods to bend and flex when in motion. In the old days when they used to break rods quite often, the rods were of a different make-up.
I am not totally sure what can cause a rod to break, wether it's the engineer, and I am pretty sure it isn't, or if it's simply that that particular rod was under alot of pressure. I have talked to a guy that was an engineer on the UP out of Cheyenne and was telling me one time he was firing on a UP 5000 2-10-2 over Sherman on a double header with a Big Boy and he remembers leaning out the window and watching the main rod come up through the running board, along with the air pumps and the air reservoir...
But yeah, i'm not totally sure why it happens.