THE K-36 BACKHEAD - PART TWO

The below photo is of 480(As I recall) taken some years ago when it was on the rip track in Chama being used for parts. It does show the haphazard - but successful - methods used by mechanics trying to keep trains running when there was little or no money for the job. The photo shows the Automatic Brake Valve with everything else pretty much stripped away.



As for the drawing:

Working with color and layers helps keep things a bit easier to track. I create layers such as Piping, Fittings, Brackets, Etc., assign different colors to each, and this helps to keep the drawing from becoming a jumble of black lines.


This is all pretty easy at this point, since most of these pipes aren't going anywhere and are not hooked up.



Combining everything so far and we have:



Getting a bit crowded, that's why color helps. There is still a lot of stuff to add... just to this one elevation. And then there's the side elevations and top/bottom views to do yet.

For any purists out there, keep in mind this represents piping routes and fixtures from three different K-36 locomotives, so it does not accurately depict any particular loco.

Nonetheless, it's still a pretty drawing.

CHASING THE PIPES

It didn't take long to realize that just trying to connect all the piping correctly by looking at a few photographs wasn't going to cut the mustard, so I decided to research the braking systems of the era and settled on a more recent system (circa 1916) that was "designed for any locomotive regardless of its type of service without modification or change, and could be used in any kind of service such as high speed passenger, double pressure control, all ordinary passenger and freight and all switching service without any changes of special adjustments."(1)

The below drawing is of such a system called the ET equipment system. On the surface it appears to be very similar to what I am seeing on the K-36, so for the purposes of creating drawings for my K-36 scale model, this is the system I will employ.


Some items on the K-36, such as the air pump, the airpump governor, the distribution valve, and other components are obviously later versions than those shown in these drawings, but for the purposes of understanding the operation of the brake system, it should make little difference.

About the only way I can get more accuracy is to go camp out in Chama or Antonito and create more reference sketches and take many more photos. That's out of the question nowadays, and at age 72, I'm running out of time anyway.

I will most probably never build such a model, I no longer belong to the NMRA and don't build contest models anymore, but I want to complete and record all my research anyway.

I have several unfinished models already. One such is the ON3 scale rotaty shown below:




And this ON3 scale caboose:


There has never been enough time... Never will be.

One other thing I have discovered... Many train buffs I have come across that do have valuable collections containing some of the information I have needed to complete my documentation seem steadfastly unwilling to share. That's a shame because many of these one-of-a-kind collections will be - and have been - discarded as useless by the survivors of the collector. I've seen it happen.

A friend of mine I knew in the NMRA once went to a flea market and discovered a cardboard file box full of HO scale brass locos and tenders, all just tossed in, all severly damaged. He bought the box full for five bucks. To the gal selling her Dad's "toy trains" and his collection of photos, articles, etc., it was all mostly obsolete junk, and worthless.

Sad but true.

However, once you post something on the Internet, it's there forever.

(1)CYCLOPEDIA of LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERING - SWINDLE - Frederick J. Drake & Co. 1916

PROTOTYPE BOOK

A photo of my book of the 1904 roster of passenger cars found in the D&RW Folio six. 68 drawings, not including drawings of stuff like the Baker Heater, doors, windows, couplers, trucks, etc.




All the drawings are scaled and dimensioned using my drawing program, which means I now have very exact measurments of all those cars.

Not the prettiest of pictures, but it does show the progress.

Left click to enlarge

A typical page. (above)

I printed out the drawings on my Lexmark 3400 and took the prints down to Staples and they put the spiral binder on.

THE INDEPENDENT BRAKE VALVE

This valve has four operating positions which are, Running, Service, Lap and Release.



RUNNING POSITION:
This is the position this valve should always be in when not in use. In this position, a connection is made between it and the application chamber of the Distributing Valve and then to the Automatic Valve.

LAP POSITION
This position will hold the independent brakes applied after the desired cylinder pressure is reached.

RELEASE POSITION
Used to release pressure in the application chamber when the Automatic Brake Valve is not in running position.

SERVICE POSITION
This position will apply the independent brakes when moving the Brake Valve to the application position. The supply pressure is then regulated to a maximum level as set by the reducing valve, preventing overpressure of the cylinders.

THE TYPE H BRAKE VALVE

This valve has six operating positions which are, Release, Running, Holding, Lap, Service and Emergency.


RELEASE POSITION
Provides a direct passage from the main reservoir to the brake pipe that permits a rapid flow of air into the brake pipe, allowing for a quick release and recharging of the train brakes without releasing the engine and tender brakes.

RUNNING POSITION
This position releases the engine and tender brakes and also charges the brake pipe, releasing the train brakes.

HOLDING POSITION
This position is so named because the locomotive brakes are held applied as they are in the Release Position, while the train brakes feed up to the feed-valve pressure.

LAP POSITION
This position is used to hold the brakes after a Service application, either to make a further brake-pipe reduction, or to release the brakes. It also prevents the loss of main reservoir pressure in case of an event like a burst hose. LAP Position is also used on an engine in a train not controlling the train brakes.

SERVICE POSITION (automatic service)
This position gives a gradual reduction of brake-pipe air and allows it to flow to atmosphere. When the pressure is reduced to the desired amount, the handle is moved to the LAP position, stopping the discharge of brake-pipe air.

EMERGENCY POSITION.
This position is used when the fastest application of all brakes is needed.

The valve also contains ports to provide connections to gauges and governors.


This valve works in conjunction with other devices such as the Independent Brake Valve, the Distributing Valve, the Equalizing reservoir, the Pump Governor and various smaller valves such as the Feed Valve and the Reducing Valve.

THE K-36 BACKHEAD - Part 1

Anyone who has looked into the cab of a K36 walks away with the impression of a nightmare of pipes, fittings and fixtures. What is all that stuff, and why does it take so much of it just to make a steam locomotive move?

In my many photo-taking and measuring visits to the Cumbres & and Toltec, the Royal Gorge(where 486 used to be on display), and Antonito, I managed to amass a large selection of material on the backheads of the K36.

The creation of accurate drawings of this piping nightmare is something I have - for better or worse - put off for years, but now its time to "get 'er done".

First, just finding out what and where all the pieces of equipment is and goes required an accurate rendition of the stripped down backhead so I could determine where all the rivets, staybolts, openings and mounting bolts are.

With that in mind, I took several photos of the the 487 backhead when it was stripped down for a major overhaul.

Here's one of them:


This is of locomotive 487, and in no way assures me that any other K36 has an identical layout, but nonetheless, it is my master pattern for everything else that follows.

The first drawing is below:



Then the sheet metal jacket which covers and protects the insulation is added.


Included on this drawing is the small shelf on the left in which typically you would find things like oil cans, etc., and a bracket on the right side which supports the Automatic Brake Valve.

The next drawing shows most of the "fixed-in-place" items that would be found on any K36: The Butterfly Fire door with its hand lever and the foot-controlled actuator for powered operation, above it the two sight glasses for boiler water level observation, the three petcocks that physically test for water level, the catch pan for the petcock drain tubes, the Independent Brake Valve, and finally, the Automatic Brake Valve.


After this, it gets pretty hairy. Seems that every locomotive is plumbed differently, some using a vast array of iron pipe and associated fittings, others using a lot of flexible and easily bendable copper tubing. Different repair shops and different maintenance crews used whatever parts and material was at hand to keep these locomotives running. The result is that today each locomotive is unique.

The reference locos I will be using are 486, 487 and 488 to plumb up the backhead, so the drawings will not be any one locomotive exclusively. However, all the connections will be correct as possible.

One other disclaimer...

The names I attach to any particular item in a drawing is the name used in the 1916 Cyclopedia of Locomotive Engineering, and may not be what today's trainmen call something.


More on Part 2.

THE "LA VETA" REVISITED

Below is a more accurate rendition of the La Veta. The first drawing used standard D&RG library blocks I have created and have on file.

This new drawing has the correct trucks and corrected windows and window trim. Also included are the air hoses and the remaining paint trim.

This will probably remain the final version unless I find new and more accurate data.

INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND ANYWHERE

I was thumbing through Forney's "THE RAILROAD CAR BUILDERS PICTORIAL DICTIONARY" and ran across the below advertisement for the Billmeyer & Small Company, a late 1800's railroad car builder.

A close look shows this car to be named "La Veta" and was built for the Denver & Rio Grande.



Since all the drawings in my D&RG Folio 6 (1904 issue) has cars built from 1880 and onward, this advertisement with the date of 1876 indicates to me the La Veta was manufactured at least four years before the folio 6 entries were made.

At any rate, it had enough detail for me to draw the below rendition.


I'm presently searching for more information on this car so I can include it in my projected book of drawings. (someday)

THOSE DANG 4-4-0's...

While I frustratingly fish around for more information on the earliest 4-4-0's, the 1876 builds, I can at least post this unfinished drawing of the Ptarmigan, which will be re-posted later when it's finished. Pipes are unconnected, levers go nowhere, the brake system is not yet added and some other known details are missing.

left click to enlarge

The Ptarmigan, built in 1880 and numbered #88, was named after someone or something in the Steamboat Springs, Colorado, area.

The only things I can find named that today near Steamboat Springs are three motels.

MORE POTHOLES IN THE ROAD

The next drawing is/was to be of the D&RG's first 4-4-0's nos. 16-18, but the amount of available data out there on these locomotives is astounding in it's inaccuracy and just plain wrong guesswork.

So... It may take me awhile to come up with even a close approximation of what these locomotives were like.

D&RG's FIRST... Part seven

No locomotives were purchased in 1875, primarily a result of the financial panic which started in 1873.

Four new Baldwin Class 40 2-6-0's were ordered in 1876, #13, #14, #15, and #19. They were again slightly larger than the previous 2-6-0's, but did not have the second steam dome.

left click to enlarge

These locomotives were the first to come with two-truck, eight-wheeled tenders.

Names were still being applied to motive power:

#13: "Santa Clara"
#14: "Chicosa"
#15: "Raton"
#19: "Monte Cristo"

None of these drawings are in any way finished. I anticipate upgrading and correcting them often as more information is gathered.

If anyone has photos, drawings, sketches, or measurements on any of these locomotives and does not mind sharing, make a comment indicating so and I'll forward you my e-mail address.

Keep in mind any information offered may be presented publicly in this blog and possibly later publications. Credit for information will be given to whomever offered it. I will update these drawings with any new information that is usable, an easy task for computer-generated drawings.

My intention is to compile and present the most accurate information possible before we all bite the dust and take whatever knowledge of these mountain railroads we have with us.

Too many fantastic lifelong collections of photographs and memorabilia have been carelessly tossed away by unknowing or disinterested family members who thought that Dad's collection of train junk was just that... Junk.

In my view, it is the information that is important, not who had it stashed away.

D&RG's FIRST... Part six

The D&RW wandered afar for this next locomotive, an English-built 0-4-4-0T Vulcan Farlie. Originally used to pull coal trains from South Pueblo to Divide, it was re-assigned to La Veta Pass as a helper. The very limited quantities of coal and water it could carry is most likely the reason the D&RG did not buy more than one of these units.

left click to enlarge

When the conventional numbering system overtook the number 101, the number was changed to 1001.

The locomotive underwent many modifications. One headlamp and one bell was removed. The steps near the engines were removed. The cab was "winterized" with several of the windows boarded up and doors installed. An additional and higher capacity water transfer pipe was added between the two tanks. Two coal bunkers were added, both going across the entire top of the tanks and boilers.


left click to enlarge

Imagine having to shovel coal from one of those bunkers in the middle of winter on La Veta Pass.

If ever there was a locomotive the D&RG should have saved for prosperity, this would have been it.

D&RG's FIRST... Part five

Double steam domes... #11, "Cucharas", and #12, "Las Animas".

These two Baldwin locomotives were the last of the Class 35 2-6-0's. They both sported a second steam dome just to the rear of the stack. The idea behind such a forward-mounted dome was that a much shorter throttle pipe would increase efficiency. One must assume that it didn't pan out very well. Perhaps the savings created by the increased efficiency - if any - were not enough to justify the cost of the additional dome.

To my knowledge, these two were the only 2-6-0's the forward steam dome concept was applied to. However, the D&RG tried this forward steam dome idea on it's first three 4-4-0's in 1876.

left click to enlarge

If you look on page 18 of Robert A. LeMassena's "Rio Grande... to the Pacific!", you will see one of these locomotives and how those larger steam domes were polished to a mirror finish.

Both of these locomotives were rebuilt into Class 39 0-6-0T's, #11 Mar 1885 and #12 Mar 1884.

Since the Class designation generally indicated the tractive effort of a locomotive, upgrading the class of these units from Class 35 to Class 39 indicates - to me- more tractive effort.

To do that, they had to either:

1- Increase operating steam pressure... very risky,
2- Install larger engines... very expensive, or:
3- Improve the HP-to-weight ratio... very simple

I vote for #3. Eliminating the pilot, pilot truck and the tender would improve the HP-to-weight ratio, increasing the Class designation. But that's just a guess, since the weight of the new water tank would be substantial.

D&RG's FIRST... Part four

The first Tank locomotives.

The D&RG built three tank locomotives from the Class 35 2-6-0's. In the process they lost their "names", and were referred to only by their number, which remained the same.

left click to enlarge

This drawing is largely a collection of assumptions. I have only one photo of a D&RG tank loco, and it may not even be of the first three, but of tank number 20 or 21.

I do have a copy of the Baldwin 1877 locomotive catalog, and some details in that book may be close enough to use. Maybe not.

This is a drawing where I really can use some information from anyone that has some.

D&RG's FIRST... Part three

These next three locomotives #8,#9 and #10, had larger fireboxes and wheelbases then the previous 2-6-0's. Note the rear drivers are placed further back than on locomotives #2,#3 and #5. They were still considered as Class 35 locomotives, since the boiler and the engines were still identical.

A larger firebox only meant that these locomotives could generate steam faster, and that they would be less likely to literally "run out of steam" on hard pulls.

These three, built in 1872, were #8, the "Arkansas", #9, the "Huerfano" and # 10, the "San Carlos".

left click to enlarge

The tenders were now larger, and the rear pedestal-mounted wheels have been replaced with a standard pivoting four-wheel truck.

Although the D&RG had purchased Westinghouse air brake assemblies during this time, I have no information about which locomotives were so equipped.

If anybody out there knows, I would appreciate the information so the appropriate drawings can be updated.

D&RG's FIRST... Part two

The D&RG Railway Company's locomotive roster for the first year of operation consisted of seven units. Four were the 2-4-0's shown further below, and three were 2-6-0's, shown immediately below.
left click to enlarge

The three 2-6-0's were #2 "Tabawachi", #3 "Shou-Wa-No", and #5 Ouray".

These units had no air brakes... No air pump, no air storage tank or piping, no brake shoes. None of that started happening until the following year, 1872, when the D&RG started purchasing air-brake systems directly from Westinghouse.

All seven of these locomotives sported a minuscule four-wheeled tender which lacked such basics as rear boarding steps, handgrabs, tender ladders and back-up lights.

But they were painted up really fancy.

D&RG's FIRST... Part one

The Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company started operations in 1871 with 76 miles of track running between Denver and Colorado Springs.

Their first locomotive was a Baldwin 2-4-0 sporting a four-wheeled tender.

(left click to enlarge)

Locomotive #1 was named the "Montezuma".

The D%RG purchased four of these locomotives, #1 "Montezuma", #4 "Cortez", #6 "Ute", and #7 "Del Norte". None survived the D&RG after 1888.

The above rendition is almost complete, most details having been gathered from multiple sources, so don't go thinking that it is a 100% accurate drawing. Drawings of this nature will always be a collection of assumptions based on whatever information I can get my hands on.

But it's probably pretty close.

If I ever do batch together that book of drawings I keep yammering about, it will include a front elevation and top view.

THE "GENERAL" OF THE GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE


Did you know that the General, built in December of 1855, was originally a tank locomotive, a 4-4-0-T, no tender?*

It's original stack was a Radley and Hunter balloon type designed for burning wood.

A bit of technical info:

Original cost $8,850.

Empty weight 50,300 lbs.

130 flues, each 11' long, 2" diameter.

The leading truck had a rigid center.

Original cylinders 15" diameter, 22" stroke.

Driving wheels 60" diameter.

Horsepower was betwween 220 and 254 HP, depending on steam pressure.

It had no water injectors. Instead, it had ram type pumps powered by the crossheads.

The below photograph is of engine #3, Serial #631, built by Rogers, Ketchun & Grosvenor, but certainly not a builders photo, since it sports an added-on tender.


Where - and how - was the water tank and wood bunker installed originally? I have found no detailed information yet of the locomotive in its original configuration.

*I have found only one article describing engine #3 as a tank engine, so this may be incorrect.

COMPUTER CRASH

Had a computer crash awhile back and am just now getting to the Iron Horse and restoring it to something similar to what it was.

The DRGW Ring info at the bottom is giving me fits, unless this is the new look Holmes wants.

Anywho, work on drawings has continued. Below is my rendition(unfinished) of the Baker Passenger Car heater, which will be in the "Car interior" section of the upcoming book, along with its associated piping layout throughout the car.

leftclick to enlarge

3-D DRAWINGS, AND WHY THINGS SLOW TO A CRAWL

This is a 3-D wireframe drawing of a K-36 front pilot frame.

(left click to enlarge)

Not shown is the Bissell post, the snow plow assembly, springs, wheels and axle, and a host of other detail items.

Like most locomotives, the K-36 has few 90 degree angles to contend with. Most everything is designed with arcs and curves.

Arcs and curves are things computer 3-D drawing programs do not like.

The more points of reference that are identified on any arc or circle, the more memory it takes to store those points. It also takes more time to display it.. Refreshing or regenerating a view port can slow to a crawl when the drawings get large enough.

As an example, a straight line from point A to point B, regardless of length, takes only 2 data points, each having an X, Y and Z reference. however, a circle, regardless of size, having a point of reference every degree, has 360 data points, each having an X, Y, and Z co-ordinate. If it's a sphere, it's the square of that number, or 129,600 X, Y, and Z co-ordinates. They all have to be stored in memory.

But that's not my real problem... today's incredible computers can handle all that data easily. Look at the above wireframe. Every one of the circles and arcs have a center, a place where its radius is measured from. That center has its own X, Y, and Z co-ordinates, but this time, I have to know and label these points. They are identified using what is known as the UCS system, the Universal Co-ordinate System. The USC can be moved any place on the drawing and it can be pointed in any direction relative to the World Co-ordinate System, which is a fixed X, Y and Z used as a master reference.

When you get enough of these UCS points, it can become a nightmare just to remember them, and figuring a unique name for each one. And 3-D locomotive drawings are really just a massive collection of arcs and circles, with an occasional straight line here and there.

If you are a computer game player and play say, World of Warcraft, you will see there are no true 3-D circles or structures. They are all constructed of several straight sections, joined in such a way as to form the appearance of a "round" structure, generally using around sixteen sections. If Blizzard had used 360 sections to show the appearance of a true circle, the game would never move faster than a crawl. Don't confuse a 2-D circle drawn on the face of a 3-d structure.

I generally use 40 reference points - or isoframes - for each 90 degree segment of a circle. That's good enough to display a fairly reasonable rendition of an arc or circle. Each one of those points are shown as a straight line across the Z-axis of the arc or curve.