| Tennessee Valley Railroad Classic Steam Updates |
| Scenes from East Chattanooga Shop December 20, 2002 |
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| Sparks begin flying as separation of 630's smokebox begins. A contractor's plasma cutter is slowly rotated around a pre-marked cut line inside the first boiler course. It took less than an hour to go all the way around. That is John Boone assisting inside the smokebox and Al Phillips getting an "up close and personal" view of the cut from outside the boiler. |
| In the above view can be seen where the cut has made it down the boiler side to just above the running board. |
| These two views were provided by the Backshop Gang from their December 21 work session. The smokebox was lifted off its supports for inspection of steam chest and other components. The smokebox itself was found to be very thin at the contact points (no surprise here). The steam chest on the other hand was found to be in good condition having been cast sometime considerably after 1920. The smokebox was actually lifted back into place after the evaluation....mainly because storage space inside the shop is at a premium. |
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