AT&SF #2926 RESTORATION

Please see the Op-Ed piece of mine that was just published in the Santa Fe NEW MEXICAN, on Friday, August 27, 2010:

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Opinio ... the-future

so, what's with that smokestack? i've never seen one with variable height

Deaylight 4449--
Taller smokestack makes for greater power and/or efficiency. (You want lots of air/gas flow from the firebox through the tubes to the smokebox -- exhaust steam, shot up from the "blast pipe" into the smokestack is what "pumps" air and gas through the boiler, and a taller stack makes this process work better.) Shorter smokestack, though, is better for going under low bridges (etc). The Santa Fe, which had long runs with good overhead clearance, had extendible stacks (I think raised by compressed air) on some of its locomotives, allowing them to fit into the clearance diagram where this was limited but also to get the advantages of a taller stack where clearances permitted.
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Another question for the 2900-class experts: I think I remember reading that these locomotives had a valve arrangement allowing steam-cylinder braking: letting saturated steam into the engine cylinders (with reversed gear) which would be compressed in the cylinders to provide a sort of dynamic brake effect. I couldn't find any reference when I looked a few months ago: is this true, or have I badly misremembered something?

As some people may know, the New Mexico Steam Locomotive & Rail Road Historical Society is restoring former ATSF 4-8-4 #2926 to operation in Albuquerque, NM. I wonder if when the restoration is complete, 2926 will run as a double header with 3751?

The flues are in,there should be a pressure test this summer,as of this sat(06/18/16),2926 now has an engine shed to
get out of the weather.
There's still some work to do,the hope is to be running next summer.
There's an article in last sunday's ABQ Journal which might be under a paywall.
http://www.abqjournal.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.nmslrhs.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Forgive the dust,2926 is roughly close to running again,and now has an enginehouse to get out of the weather.
Hope to be running by next summer.

http://www.nmslrhs.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Allen Hazen wrote:Deaylight 4449--

Another question for the 2900-class experts: I think I remember reading that these locomotives had a valve arrangement allowing steam-cylinder braking: letting saturated steam into the engine cylinders (with reversed gear) which would be compressed in the cylinders to provide a sort of dynamic brake effect. I couldn't find any reference when I looked a few months ago: is this true, or have I badly misremembered something?

No, Santa Fe did not use steam-cylinder braking. What it did use were bypass valves which allowed the air/steam in the cylinders to pass between them when drifting on long down grades. Otherwise when the throttle was cutoff the cylinders would suck in the exhaust gases from the smokebox.

Stuart

Stuart--
Thank you! I am not sure where I initially read about the Santa Fe's (later?) 4-8-4 having a form of "dynamic braking" (there was a big article in "Trains" -- basically a whole issue -- devoted to the Santa Fe's 4-8-4, and I re-read it carefully after I posted the question: it WASN'T there!), but it sounds as if it was from someone who had heard about the feature you describe, but didn't understand it very well...

Admin note: Two 2926 topics merged into one.

From a story in last Sunday's Albquerque Journal,sometime in 2018,the firing up of 2926's boiler since 1953 will happen.
A possible trip to Las Vegas NM will follow later. http://www.abqjournal.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hi
I don't when or if anyone has been going to the AT&SF 2926 website, http://www.nmslrhs.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; it might be a while before the locomotive sees's a fire in her. If you go up to there webpage, you will find why the locomotive has not been fired up for testing. They had a little trouble, dealing with the locomotive if you want to find out WHY, please go to their website.
There are also plenty of photos showing WHY.

2926 is back on the rails,Hutcher helped move it west of the drop pit,is stranded there untill repair to the track are done,as well as upgraded steel needed
to replace what was bent in the pit,this will require concrete removal/replacement,just east of the pit.
Hutcher's bill was paid,but nore $$$$ needed to repair track and the pit.
The Tender has been disconnected for now due to the minor derailment of 2926's trailing truck.
To meet PTC requirements, the trailing Diesel will be used(per July'18 Trains mag story on pg 60 of that issue.)