GrahamH's photos

The completed brick arch in the firebox of loco type BB18 1/4 No. 1037. April 2024. Happy Wall Wednesday for 01/05/202.

In the cab of loco BB18 1/4 1037 Damien is passing the last brick, the keystone brick for the second of the two rows to Andrew and Oliver who are in the firebox installing the arch. Mouse over for the PiP to see Oliver on the left and Andrew on the right installing the first row, the one against the front of the firebox. Short lengths of timber support the bricks until the keystone brick is added. Then some wiggling and adjusting is done to get them into their final position. The same is repeated for the second row.

The 10 specially shaped 'bricks' were made with a cement able to withstand temperatures to around 1800C. These are part of a steam locomotive's firebox. It is called the brick arch. The upper level text denotes the types of locomotives which this set of molds is used in. When installed they form an arch over the forward part of the fire. They create a longer path for the flame from the coal burning on the grate to the tube plate of the cylindrical part of the boiler. This enables more energy to be obtained from the coal used. They also cause the fire's heat to be more evenly spread over the tube plate thus reducing stresses in the metal while heating and cooling. March 2024.

This shows disassembled molds with a can which holds its screws. The battery powered screwdriver, lump hammer and large flat blade can be seen, these are the tools I used to extract the bricks. 8 bricks are now on pallets. The molds need to be cleaned of cement remnants so they can be returned to Queensland Rail's heritage unit. March 2024.

Over several days the cast bricks cure. As sufficient strength is achieved the mold frames are disassembled and the brick is placed on a pallet for further curing. The generally rainy weather during this time meant the curing took a couple of days longer than expected. March 2024. See PiP.

With the initial quantity of Vesuvius bought, 8 of the 10 required were made. Two more bags were bought. This enabled the last 2 molds to be filled. March 2024.

5 of the 10 molds waiting for Vesuvius to be poured into them. PiP 1 Self knocking gas bubbles out of the liquid. PiP 2 A mould filled with the Vesuvius cement. March 2024.

Much horn blowing and waving from a Watco grain train going past DownsSteam's site on the Queensland Rail main line. Loco 106 responding with whistling as it moves from the shed to the platform for an afternoon crew training run. April 2024.

Doug and Andrew mixing up some Vesuvius. March 2024. See PiP. SURCAST 65P-RT High strength, thermal shock and alkali resistant. Rapid turnaround castable 1760C working.

Visiting magpies. March 2024.

On Saturday 13/04/2024 a meeting of people who do Postcrossing happened at DownsSteam. This is a scan of the souvenir postcard. www.postcrossing.com Thanks to SV1XV (a Contact here) for educating me about this on Ipernity some time ago.

Loco C16 106 in DownsSteam's Drayton siding, lit by late summer afternoon sun, between light engine training runs to Wyreema. February 2024.

Loco 106 has just restarted after the points have been set for DownsSteam's sidings. Watch the main line move away to to the right as 106 slowly enters it's home track. February 2024. Happy Train Tuesday.

The Australian state of Queensland has this weekend had its four yearly Local Government election. To encourage us to vote for the current Councillors in my region some of our streets received gold paving. :-) March 2024. See the PiP to be disillusioned.

My wife went to the letterbox this morning and the magpies were interested in what was happening. March 2024. See PiPs.

Happy New Year fellow Ipernities. Today, 11/01/24, is my first day at DownsSteam for 2024. The main task of the day was to clean up the brass window frames belonging to loco 1037. Some experimentation showed that wire brushing was the best starting action. This photo shows the tools, drill with brush and woodworking vice, and the partly completed third of the four frames. The PiP shows two completed and the one not yet started frames. January 2024.