Like pretty much everything else around Rollag, this happened in a round about way. There’s a group of really talented younger folks (well, just about everyone is starting to look young to me) that have been working in the Machine shop and foundry for the last couple of years. I was having dinner with Jim Nowell during last year’s show and he pointed out that these would be the ideal sort of folks to take on the Porter as what the engine needed is some dedicated friends. We showed them the engine and made a play date to start on it the second week in May. They all showed up, along with Phil and Vern, and got it done.
The manifold and all valving and appliances in the cab had to be removed (Vern did that previously) as well as everything in the smokebox. All of the plumbing in the front end was removed, the steam dome opened up and the throttle valve removed. The main dry pipe and all internal joints were pulled out the front end. Next, the smaller dry pile that goes from the steam dome to the manifold was fished out. This one froze full of water and was split almost it’s entire length, which is what made the engine inoperable as injectors, lubricators and the air compressor run on steam, not hot water. Also, one of the ball joints on the main dry pipe was leaking as well.
The small dry pipe to the manifold was replaced, the manifold’s shutoff valve and seat was machined and lapped so it closes. The main dry pipe originally had 4 copper O-ring joints and 2 machined ball joints (required for flexing as the boiler goes form ambient to full pressure/temperature). All of these joints were sealed with steam services O-rings. The whole mess was reassembled and passed inspection. The throttle valve itself took about 4 attempts to lap to a decent seal (install valve, seal dome, fill boiler with water, pressurize, find leak, drain back boiler, open dome – rinse and repeat).
As a result of sitting, the lubricators all had to be removed, disassembled and cleaned, the independent valve and compressor valves were froze up, and both cylinder and both valve stem packings were replaced. At this point the engine has a work list of about 30 items, but it basically runs and has about 40 operating hours over the past week, before and during the show.