Re: Little Conveniences Added to Steam Locomotives

Just a close up of said manifold.

I like to think that I exercised some out of the box thinking on this application. Instead of welding couplings to a manifold, machining a fancy manifold, etc.... I simply found a flare fitting that had a internal passage diameter which allowed me to tap 1/4-28, as-is out of the box. I was able to thread the zerk fitting right into the backside of the flare fitting without issue. I then drilled and tapped the piece of angle iron with a 1/8 NPT tap and assembled the whole thing from there. Definitely a cost and labor effective alternative.

Would I do it differently next time? Who knows... I'm sure it can be improved on. But as John said, these applications are great.

There is a drawback to these manifolds - such as overgreasing... but also, one might fall prey to assuming that everything is properly greased, but also the thought process that since it's being greased from outside of the locomotive, no need for an daily internal inspection.