Broken parts...

Running gear failures have several common causes . The most common is working water into the cylinders . Water won't compress and that is where failures start . Bent piston rods and main rods ,and broken cylinder heads of ten result .Another cause is keys loosening and slipping out of piston rods . Another cause of rod failure is broken pins and out-of-quarter drivers . Rods that are too long also cause stress that result in broken pins . worn-out spring rigging and bearings may also contribute to failures . Poor lubrication of bearings will certainly cause running gear bearings to self-destruct .A broken crosshead(I saw that once) can cause a catastrophic failure as well as broken wrist pins(holds main rod to piston rod ). It is the shop's responsibility to inspect running gear closely for defects like loose keys . Good engineers look at them as well . On the road engineers paty close attention to wheter or not the bearings are too warm ,a sign of trouble . I donb't remember exactly what caused 463's failure .I suspected a quartering problem but i can be wrong . I took that engine out after a replacement rod was kindly lent to us by Jerry knox at Huckleberry .We were 14 miles west of Antonito when we almost broke that rod ! It forced off the nut and came free of the pin! .Fortunately I had Sonny Honneger with me and the two of us reattached to rod and backed to Antonito , after walking back 1000 feet looking for parts in the weeds . Somehow it was fixed and made it though the rest of the season .