http://www.agsem.com/200708-allingd.html

First, here is a progress report on our steam road roller. I went out to the boiler shop to see how the repairs were going. They have removed the old boiler tubes and prepared the boiler for the new tubes.

The new tubes are ready to be installed – one tube slid into place -- Dean Alling July 17, 2007 picture above left. You can see the new tubes on the trailer – behind the front roller -- in our back cover July 17, 2007 Dean Alling picture. So far so good! You can also see an array of dots all over the boiler. They have done a very detailed examination of the boiler. This will be needed for our final state certification. They have taken several hundred thickness measurements. There is one measurement taken every 4 square inches on the boiler and firebox – top right Dean Alling July 17, 2007 picture.

I met with the shop foreman /owner to discuss the remaining repairs and options. All boiler shops report to an AI. That is an “Authorized Inspector” that works for the state. He has to OK every repair that will be made. He works in the same capacity as an electrical inspector would if you were building a house. The AI that works with this shop is not so familiar with our antique boilers. This may cause us some grief as he has a couple of requests that are not appropriate for our riveted boiler. We will see how this goes.

I have another meeting with the shop foreman and this time with the AI as well in a week or two. Ultimately we have to make the AI happy and do what he asks but so far he has been very open to discussing the details with me. It should not be too much longer before the work is done and we can get the road roller back to our Museum.

It seems like there is no end to the maintenance these old engines require. If you have looked at the Museum web site – agsem.com -- lately you may have seen some information about a leaking pipe on the museum owned Advance traction engine. This was a small bit of pipe that was cut off and plugged long before the museum took ownership of this machine. This pipe was 105 years old when it developed a small leak.

We found this leak during our inspection – above left picture. This is why we do these inspections, to find small problems before they become large problems! This small leak needed to be repaired before we could operate this engine again. This little leak threatened to stop the Advance from operating for our show! However, we did run for show.

Just like I mentioned above. We had to have a repair plan and get it approved by the AI. We are very lucky to have an Inspector that is willing to work with us. Our repair plan was approved on the condition that when we removed the old pipe the hole was threaded. Otherwise there would have to be a patch made and welded into place and we would not be allowed to do this kind of repair ourselves.

I was pretty sure it was threaded so on the Friday before show The Steam Team got together and we removed the old pipe as carefully as possible and sure enough the hole was threaded -- above right picture. I was able to fit a pipe plug to the hole and we re-tested the boiler. Everything was OK! Again, we are really lucky to have an inspector that is willing to work with us. I called him that afternoon and on a moment’s notice, he came out to the museum that evening to witness our repair and the boiler test.

He approved everything and gave us a permit to operate for show! We made a test run that evening and it happens that Jake Williams came by so Jake got his last run on the Advance – front cover picture just before driving off for New York. Jake has now turned the “Keys” for the Advance over to my brother John who ran it for June Show.