B&M 3713 Restoration

Does anyone have any current information on the B&M 3713 Restoration at Steamtown?

Thanks

I think that is funny that the guy posting as "firefighter 25dfd" said he removed staybolts in 1998. The staybolts were removed by cutting torch, not teenagers. He may have loosened nuts off the bolts, but not staybolts.

Work is still going on, and funding is flowing well, but no finish date is in sight yet.

A torch isn't exactly a complicated piece of machinery.

With an experienced individual coaching him, there isn't any particular reason (other then liability i guess) that hemight not have been able to cut out a staybolt or two... or two hundred?

That may very well be, but the railcampers in 1998 only removed nuts off the faceplate bolts. The stay bolts in the firebox weren't cut off until this current century. The internal portions of the firebox are totally removed now, with the mud ring being repaired. Portions of the firebox wrapper sheet will need to be cut out too. The replacement material is in the Steamtown shop, but every job takes time and a steady crew to do the work. The boiler is reasonably sound, with the running gear needing a lot of work when the firebox is completed.

Thats how it always works.

When the A&A took 2-8-0 #18 out of service and tore her down, first both tube sheets got torched, then they found out the four sides of the firebox were bad from teh mud ring to about 24-30 inches above it. Then they found bad spots in the crown sheet, then they found out that all the appliance studs were bad.

Finally, they had a whole list of things externally that needed work, and no doubt they only replaced what was absolutely bad.

It was a perfect example of jack the smokestack and bell up and replace/repair the rest.

Just to bump an old topic, does anybody know what the current restoration status of the B&M 3713 is? I'm considering taking a trip down to Scranton to see it at some point. This locomotive has a special importance to me since it's one of the few still-existing tangible links to my great grandfather. Below is a photo of him (Oliver Oster Lewis) standing in front of it while it was in service while he was General Foreman.

Regular updates and links to PDF newsletters are posted here:

http://laurellines.org/3713/sec-3713.php

The project to restore the Boston & Maine No. 3713 is a partnership between the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley RHS, Inc. and the Steamtown National Historic Site. The partnership was formed in 1995, and its goal is to restore the engine to operating condition. When completed, the restored Boston & Maine Locomotive will be the first American manufactured engine to be used in regular service by the Steamtown National Historic Site for its excursion service. Boston & Maine No. 3713 was used in high speed passenger service beginning in 1935, serving important routes including Boston - Bangor, Maine; White River Junction, Vermont and Troy, NY; Worcester, Mass. and Portland Maine; and Springfield, Mass. and White River Junction, Vermont. It operated at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour. The locomotive was purchased by F. Nelson Blount in 1960, and displayed at points in Massachusetts and Vermont, including the Boston Museum of Science.

-otto-

when?

Work is progressing on the top half of the fire box. Looks like she is having the top half constructed now, with the pattern in place.

Hate to be a wet dishrag, but how long does it take to restore a locomotive.
Work on this loco started in June of 1999. It is now almost March of 2012.
That's almost 13 yrs. now since the work started. Andy

Badandy wrote:Hate to be a wet dishrag, but how long does it take to restore a locomotive.
Work on this loco started in June of 1999. It is now almost March of 2012.
That's almost 13 yrs. now since the work started. Andy

Check the Friends of Steamtown facebook group. One of the volunteers, Kimberly Allen, usually puts up a little tidbit of info when there has been progress on 3713. They finished riveting the outer side sheets a few weeks ago.
The group page, which also has consistent updates on DL&W 565:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/109493199162415/

A video showcasing some of the work being done:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFu0AqcmzeI

I would also cite the restoration of Southern 630 as a standard. While it had been run before, 630 took since the late 1990s to complete. Compare that to 3713, which has never run in preservation, and one can gauge how much work is being done.

I'd imagine the steamtown people are really under the gun now to get 3713 going again with 3254 out of serivce...

Hope I live long enough to see it . . . . the years are flying by.

Hi All
Here are two photo's of B&M # 3713 in not so happy times , the wreck took place in Lebanon , NH at a place called Bakers . Both photos taken by Arthur Butler 1949 , Pat Fahey collection .