Railroad Shop Practice: Methods and Tools, by Frank A. Stanley, originally published in 1921 by McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, NY. Republished by Lindsay Publications, Bradley, IL, 2009. 5½ x 8½ paperback, xii + 331 pages, ISBN 1-55918-387-X.
Please note this book is new, not used. It is a reprint, not an original.
From 1917 through 1919 Frank Stanley, contributing editor of American Machinist Magazine, toured railroad repair facilities throughout North America including those run by Southern Pacific, New York Central, Pennsylvania, Santa Fe, Northern Pacific, Chicago & Northwestern, Canadian Pacific and others. In 1921 the collected articles along with additional material from Stanley and a number of authors was collected into this incredible book. You get details into the dismantling, repair and reassembling of engines. You get scores of unusual photographs and a large number of dimensioned drawings for the homemade tools developed by various shops to keep the railroad running.
"Everyone" knows that old steam locomotives used tires that wore out and had to be replaced. Imagine it's your job to replace the tires on 77" drivers. What size should they be so they will shrink fit properly? Then what should you know about turning them in a wheel lathe? And what does a tread forming tool look like? Geez... you'll even find dimensioned drawings for a gage that will measure wear of the flange and tread. How do you get the old tire off? And on, and on... (Lindsay remembers his grandfather telling him about replacing tires. Grandpa had seen it done many times. This is what he knew.)
This is a very scarce book. I have had the original for many years, and have checked repeatedly to find another copy available for sale on the internet, and have never found even one. Never. But, I have never had the financial means to afford getting this incredible book reprinted, and finally this past summer decided to show it to Lindsay himself. He loved it, and went right to work getting it scanned and set up. And, now, here it is!
Lindsay thinks there is a good reason it so difficult to find an original: Any loco nut lucky to have a copy is not going to part with it. It's essential not only to those who restore old locomotives, but is exceptionally valuable to live steamers and other modelers, as well as all railroad buffs. This is an exceptional window into a technology that is no more. After you read this, you'll appreciate how hard those old time machinists had to work to earn a living. (I'm glad it was them and not me.)
From the Preface:
The upkeep of rolling stock in the railroad repair plants of America constitutes an industry of first importance. The hundreds of shops and round houses along the railway lines of this country employ hundreds of thousands of mechanics and the expenditure in dollars for materials and labor amounts to several hundred millions annually. Scattered about the four quarters of the United States, often in isolated localities, these shops have built up a practice in engineering and in the mechanical trades that is of inestimable value to the railway systems themselves and to many allied industries. Individual reliance and judgment have been developed to a marked degree among shop officials and workmen as a result of the necesssity for initiative and prompt action in situations where the time element is all important and where only too often shop equipment is inadequate for the work in hand. Under the general conditions obtaining in such shops where usually locomotive and car parts are handled in comparatively rx small numbers at any given time, considerable ingenuity is required upon the part of individuals responsible for the machining and fitting up of the work passing through the different departments of the shop. While in some instances the shops are of such size as to make possible the methods of regular machine building plants, this is after all the exception to the rule; and in the main the railroad repair shop necessarily runs its work through in very small lots, often only a few parts at a time. Consequently the methods of the shops are apt to differ one from another and the special tools and devices for carrying on the work are oftentimes developed in the individual plant to suit its particular necessities.
A great deal is to be learned therefore by a study of operations in the different classes of railroad shops, large, medium and small, and it is the purpose of this volume to show typical methods and appliances as adapted to the work of various repair shops located at widely separated points about the country.
Much of the material presented in the following pages has been adapted from the author's articles in the American Machinist and other technical journals, and a limited amount of data has been included from the contributions of other writers to whom credit is given in the text. Much original matter is also here presented for the first time.
In the gathering of material for this subject every courtesy has been extended the author by the officials and shop executives of a large number of railway lines and acknowledgement is herewith made of the assistance rendered in this direction. Special thanks are due the shop staffs of the Southern Pacific, New York Central, Pennsylvania, Santa Fe, Lackawanna, New Haven, Milwaukee, Soo, Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Union Pacific, Chicago & Northwestern, Burlington, Frisco, Katy, Canadian Pacific, Oregon Short Line, and other systems.
Table of Contents:
- The Work of the Railroad Repair Shop
Importance of the Industry—Value of Rolling Stock—Comparison of Early and Modern Locomotives—Advance in Shop Methods — Handling Engines Bodily — Locomotive Erecting Department—Overhauling Big Engines—A Typical Machine Department—Some Special Apparatus—Machine Equipment—Portable Oil Forge—Shop Trestles—Boiler Test Outfit—Wheeling a Locomotive—Wheel Revolving Outfit—Rotary Snow Plow—Rolling Doors for Roundhouse.
- Operations on Locomotive Cylinders
Boring Valve Chamber—Planing Frame Seats—Planing Joint Faces of Cylinder—Laying Out the Work—Cylinder Detail Drawing—Another Important Machine Department—Radius Planing of Saddle—Planing Several Cylinders at One Setting—Cylinder Stud Hole Jigs—Milling Steam Ports—Portable Boring Apparatus—Boring the Work on the Lathe—Facing Operations—Portable Outfit for Milling Ports—Grinding in Cylinder Heads.
- Machining Pistons and Piston Rings
Assembling Piston and Rod—Machining the Piston in the Lathe—Piston Fixture on Vertical Turret Lathe—Methods of Holding Pistons—Grooving Tools and Taps—A Jig for Pistons and Follower Plates—Piston Ring Tools—Facing Large Rings on Vertical Boring Mill—Piston Rod Work—Grinding the Rods—The Use of Rolling Tools or Burnishers on Rods—Tools for Machining Packing Rings—Details of Packing Tools—Interchangeable Jigs for Drilling Packing Housing.
- Piston Valves, Cages and Rings
Piston Valve Parts—Construction Details of Valve and Cage—Machining the Valve Cage—Arbor Used for Turning Cages—Milling the Ports in the Cage—Another Method of Boring and Turning Cages—Special Boring Heads—Jaws for Chucking Pistons—A Valve Chamber Bushing Mandrel—Attachment for Milling Ports in Cages—Jigs for Steam Chest Valve Chamber and Valve—Forcing Cages into Place—Operations on Piston Valve Rings—The Cutting Off and Boring Tools—Boring Head and Facing Tool in Operation—Details of Tools—A Method of Removing Valve Bushings.
- Tools for Crossheads and Guides
Babbitting Crossheads—Details of the Fixtures—Shoe Babbitting Fixtures—Babbitting Gibs—Other Babbitting Fixtures—Wrist Pin Holes—Details of Locomotive Crosshead—Taper Reamer Details—Planing Crossheads—Fixtures for Planing—A Form of Planer Tool—Details of Crosshead Guides and Yoke—Shaping and Grinding Guides—Machining the Yoke in the Shaper—Aligning Guides.
- Connecting Rod Operations
Side Rod Details—Drilling Main Rods—Milling Rod Ends—Making the Channeling Cut—Operations on Brasses—Boring Brasses—Machining in the Shaper—Connecting Rod Racks—Fitting Up Brasses—Boring the Work on the Mill and in the Lathe—Milling the Sides of Rod Forgings—Slab Milling the Edges—Milling the Round End—Forcing Brasses into Place—Straightening Rods—Methods in Various Shops—Slotting Rod Ends—Fixtures for Brasses—Expanding Mandrel for Solid Brasses
- Making Driving Boxes
A Typical Box—Machining the Box for the Brass—Planing the Brasses—Press for Forcing Brasses into Boxes—A Planing Fixture—Planing End of Box in Shaper—Boring and Facing Operations—A Guard for the Boring Machine—Tools for Boring and Finishing Corner Radius—Babbitting Operations in Other Shops—A Turning Arbor for Brasses—Pouring Side Liners—Boring the Brasses—Planing a String of Boxes—A Blotter Fixture—Driving Box Chuck Details.
- Machining Shoes and Wedges
Fixture for Holding Several Shoes—Method of Setting the Work— Another Planer Fixture—Planing Small Lots of Work—A Big Double Planing Fixture—Using the Shaper on Shoes and Wedges—Fixture for Large Shoes—Tools for Finishing Both Sides of Shoes in One Operation—Details of Planer Tools—Shaper Tools with Back-stroke Release—Fixture for Milling Shoes and Wedges.
- Eccentrics, Links and Tumbling Shafts
Hollow Milling Tumbler Shafts—Turning Journals on the Shaft—Fixture for Machining Links—Hand Grinder for Links—Operations on Eccentrics—Reversible Drill Jig for Eccentrics—Turning and Boring Eccentrics—Making Brass Rings.
- Locomotive Frame Work
Typical Frame Construction—Details of Frame—Planing Frame Section—A Forge Shop Fixture—Handling Frames in the Forge Shop—Laying Out Bench for Frame Work—A Job of Slotting—Two Shift Levers for a Slotter—Other Shop Operations—Setting the Frames Over the Pit.
- Driving Wheels and Axles
Machining Driving Wheel Centers—Allowances for Putting on Tires—Turning Tires in the Lathe—Turning Treads and Flanges of Truck Wheels—Tread Forming Tools—A Built Up Tire Forming Tool—Gage for Measuring Wear of Flange and Tread—Lifting Rig for Wheel Lathe—Lifting Device for Tires—Tire Lifting Tongs—Heating and Removing Tires—Types of Tire Heaters—Pressures for Forcing Axles and Crank Pins into Hubs—Keyway Layout Gage—Crank Pin Turning Fixture—Fitting New Crank Pins—Finishing Crank Pin with Roller Tool.
- Wheel Shop Equipment and Methods
A Modern Wheel Shop—Exterior Views Showing Handling Equipment—Features of the Building—Floor Plan Showing Machine Equipment—Boring Tires and Turning Journals—Tire Turning—Boring Car Wheels—Wheel Shop Dismounting Press—Ram Head and Axle Support—Hooks for Axle Ends—Details of Hoist and Chute—Chute for Scraped Wheels—The Carrier for the Axles—Operation of Carrier—Axle Storage on Platform—Assembling and Mounting Press—Heating Tires—Data on Turning and Burnishing Tools—Details of Rollers—The Gages Used—Pressures for Mounting Car Wheels.
- Machining Pipe Joints and Other Parts
Ball Joint Reamers—Construction of Typical Reamer—Fixture for Grinding Spherical Reamer—Ball Reamer Operating in Dry Pipe—Ball Turning Attachment for the Lathe—Arrangement of the Attachment—Oscillating Machine for Grinding in Pipe—Grinding Steam Pipe Joints by Hand—The Hand Plug Employed— Operations on Pipe Flanges—Throttle Work—Speed Reducer for Driving Tools.
- Brass Tools For Locomotive Valves and Fittings
Work on Oil Feed Cocks—Brass Lathe Tools for Oil Feed Cocks— Chambering and Facing—Boiler Check Valves—Boring and Reaming Tools—Finishing the Pipe Connection—Ball Joint Tools—Finishing Valves and Caps—The Valve Cap Tools—Operations on Blow Off Cocks—Holding the Work—Boring and Facing Tools—Threading Dies—Box Tools for Valve Stems—Hand Tools for Finishing and Repairs—Hose nozzles—Machining the Taper Hole—Turret Lathe and Other Tools—Construction of the Box Tools—Armature Shaft Bearing—Lathe Tool with Combined Boring and Turning Cutters—A Shaper Tool.
- Some Portable Tools and Appliances
An Outfit for Rotating Drivers—Arrangement of Motor Drive—Boiler Washing Outfit—Handy Traveling Drill—Flue Cutter for Front End—Portable Chasing Lathe—Boiler Test Pump—Portable Rivet Heater—Details of Pump—A Portable Shear.
- Special Tools, Cutters and Tool Room Methods
High Speed Steel Tools for Turning Tires—Appearance of Right- and Left-hand Tools—Cutters for Milling the Tool to Form—Milling and Grinding the Tool—Use of Milling Cutters in Railroad Shops—Teeth of New and Old Cutters—Advantages of Coarse Teeth—Cutter Details—Recutting Mills in the Tool Room—Making a Large Slabbing Cutter—Construction of Cutter with Inserted Teeth—Reamers, Counterbores and Taps—Punch and Die Work—Punch Dies for Boiler Work—Rapid Method of Making Dies—A Set of Strainer Tools—Blanking and Forming Dies—Racks and Cabinets for Tool Storage—Storing Milling Cutters—Racks for Tire Gages.
- Air Pump, Hose Coupling and Miscellaneous Devices
Air Pump Apparatus—Adjustable Stands—Pop Valves and Other Work—Some Special Tools—Air Hose Operations—Testing Apparatus at Panama Shops—Expanding Reamers for Air Brake Apparatus—Air Brake Hose Mounting Machine—Applying Clamps and Testing Hose—Miscellaneous Tools and Devices—A Grinding Device—Chuck with Floating Jaws for Rough Bolts—Forming Page Tool and Holder—Tap for Castellated Nuts—Boring Fixture for Link Hanger—Jig for Drilling Sockets—Cotter Key for Railroad Service—Spreading Tool for Main Rod Straps.
- Blacksmith Shop Equipment and Work
Oil Furnace with Cooling Spray—Forge with Cooling Jet—Care of Tools—Racks for Tongs and Other Tools—Bending and Forming Machine—Sample Boards for Forgings—Dies for Draft Sill Plates—Forming Work in the Bulldozer—Dies for Push Pull Corner Plates—Dies for Draw Bar Carry Irons—Forming and Forging Tools—Forming Tools for Floor Rack Hinges—Dies for Brake Hanger Ends—Machine Forged Beading Tools—Bolt and Nut Forging Dies—Bolt Racks—Spring Operations—Furnaces for Shop Use—Tempering Baths.
- Boiler Shop and Flue Work
Machining Flange Sheets—Use of the Oxy-acetylene Torch—Trestles and Special Supports—Portable Shop Hoist—Large Laying Out and Forming Plate—Guarding Punches and Shears—Air Hammer Tools for the Boiler Shop—Scarfing Tools—Chisel for Cutting Stay Bolts—Miscellaneous Tools—Tools and Methods in Flue Work—Tumbler for Tubes—Flue Swaging and Trimming—Testing Under Water Pressure—Tube Tools in Various Shops—Tube Expanders and Beading Tools—Tools for Making Flue Expanders.
- Tools and Methods Used on Steel Car Work
Bill of .Material for Steel Car Plates—Types of Shears Used Various Forms of Shear Gages—Method of Shearing Channels and Z-bars—Details of Coper Tool—Anglo Shear Gage—Details of Dies—Punching Operations—Punch and Die Details—Other Operations in Connection with Car Work—Steam and Air Connections for Railroad Yard—Paint Shop Scaffold.
- Welding Operations on Locomotives and Cars
Oxy-acetylene and Locomotive Repairs—Illustrations of Typical Jobs—Piston Rod Renewal Eliminated—Building Up Crosshead Fit—Building Up Links and Reverse Levers—Other Applications—Locomotive Frame Repairs—Cylinder Welding—Safety Instructions for Oxy-acetylene Apparatus—Electric Arc Welding—Welding Tubes—Operations on Valve 'Spools—Piston Rod, Cab Saddle and Other Work—Precautions—Miscellaneous Welding Operations on Driving Wheels, Yokes and Frames.
- Reclamation Work
Scrap Docks at Railroad Plants—Making Scrap Material into Billets for the Rolling Mill—Reclaiming Nuts and Washers—Sharpening Track Spikes—Straightening Oil Box Covers—Melting Liners from Shoes and Wedges—Gang Punches on Tie Plates—Operations on Car Brasses—Saving Tin in Antifriction and Bell Metals—Table of Alloy Compositions.
- Handling Materials in the Railroad Plant
Hand Bars for Piling Axles—Axle Tongs—A Truck for Couplers—A Tank-supporting Truck—Truck for Draft Rigging—Spring Clamping Device—Ladle Truck for the Foundry—Car Used for Carrying Work Into the Soda Pit—A Crane Signal System. - Index.
Description copyrighted 2009.
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