5109

I think it's high time to post about the project that has been consuming the vast majority of my free time for the last several months: Toledo Lake Erie and Western locomotive 5109...
Over the course of the winter I have been involved in several nessasary repairs including replacing fan and drive belts, a severely belated oil change on the locomotive's air compressor, general maintenance and, most importantly, replacing the number 5 cylinder head and sleeve...
By now I have spent more time in the so-called "dog house" then I care to think about... But at this point I am not going to be satisfied until I watch this locomotive hitch up all three coaches and board the final coach for the trip to Waterville...

Unit 5109 is an S4, built by the American Locomotive Company (Alco) in 1953 for the Chessapeke and Ohio railroad (later known as the Chessie System). It is powered by a Seymour and McIntosh (Alco) 539 6-cylinder, turbocharged prime mover rated at 1,000 horsepower. It is a switcher-type locomotive, and thusly it's gearing and traction wiring are tailored for low-speed, high-torque operations.
This locomotive is over 50 years old, and is showing signs of it's age. Over the last three years the compression seal on cylinder 5 failed, resulting in a catastrophic compression leak. Uopn removing that cylinder's head it rapidly became obvious that both the head and the cylinder sleeve would need replaced; both showed a very obvious gap in excess of .020 inches (though this may not seem like much this is a compression seal that during the power stroke is subjected to tens of thousands of pounds per square inch pressure). Work ensued removing the damaged components from 5109 and scavanging replacement parts from one of TLEW's "dead" locomotives, engine 112.
This last weekend we seated the replacement cylinder sleeve, piston and cylinder head, and are striving to finish repairs and test the locomotive, and remove the "dog house" from the locomotive, hopefully before this weekend...
Here are some pictures of the parts involved, just to give an idea of the scale of the work involved...


The head of a single cylinder of the Alco 539 prime mover. Each cylinder displaces 1,595 cubic inches, for a total displacement of 9,572 cubic inches across all six cylinders. The two men in the background should give an idea of the size of this part.









The cylinder sleeve. This massive steel tube is pressed into the cylinder block, and is sealed by four O-rings. I had initially thought it would take two minutes to install the sleeve... In fact it took almost eight hours of excrutiating work. Installing the equally impressive piston (which I do not have pictures of) took a a mere two hours total...













The cylinder sleeve, installed into the cylinder block. The socket and extension at the edge of the picture are a 1-inch drive...

Chickens Pt. 2

Well after owning chickens for two weeks I have realized two things. 1: I in no way regret my decision to get them and 2: they are very messy birds! As of right now I am having to clean out my waterer at least twice if not three times daily because they keep fouling the water with depleted bedding... However the birds are progressing nicely, and have already doubled in size, with the exception of my rooster (pictured) who has almost tripled in size!
These are "Straight-run" chickens, meaning that there is no way of knowing what breed they are. However judging from their current plumage I have at least three if not four breeds. Most of the pullets (hens) are showing dark brown plumage, and are most likely Rhode Island Reds, or a descendant of that breed. The cockerel (rooster) has so far maintained his overall yellowish color and is most likely a white breed. And two of the pullets have noticeably different plumage than the other three, however it is still too early to be sure...
I will keep you posted on the birds' development, and will have pictures as soon as I move them to larger quarters (right now they are borderline overcrowded by the box I am keeping them in, making their care burdensome and any photography options poor at best). This week I hope to move them to larger quarters out in the old bar, I will take and post more pictures then.

Home Farming: Chickens

With my busy schedule I decided that I couldn't take the 2-3 days nessasary to prepare and plant a garden this year... So I decided to go for the other aspect of agriculture that I'm interested in, and to buy some chickens!
This is my flock of six as they looked a week ago. They've already grown, and are well on their way. I plan on erecting a henhouse on the concrete slab located on my property, however I have time to wait on that before these birds are big enough to require such housing.