"can" be rebuilt. SorryJohn,Hi,The suck eggs side of this issue is that its the government who is forcing the move of the Powerhouse museum to Parramatta so they can make big money from the reuse of the existing PH museum. From my perspective since the move is being forced by the government they should pay for the move as they will be paying for the new facilities at the chicken wire enclosure that was a car park next to the Parramatta river.On the topic of restoring 3830 and all the options that have been talked about, I was at thirlmere recently and 3830 has been moved next to 3820 which looks great but just doesn't seem right. The buffer is extremely faded and the boiler clothing looks like it will pop of at any momentI've heard similar - that the damage to the boiler is significant. But I've also heard, and it was from a source who knows, that 30's boiler is still repairable. That doesn't mean that the boiler will be repaired. That will depend on funding as you say. Let's hope that any decision is made by someone who understands steam so that we don't have a re-run of the German boiler. The cynic in me thinks that might be a forlorn hope.
From talking to one of the NSWRM staff it seems that they found that the boiler is much more deteriorated than anyone thought, from what he said it seems that the NSWRM doesn't have the funds to do repair the boiler, the PHM doesn't have funds to repair the boiler, as most of their funds are going towards the move to parramatta, and that even if they combined all of the funds from both organisations they still wouldn't have nearly enough funds to repair the boiler.
Yet another great locomotive confined to the storage area
Whichever way things go, outside of 01 and it being readied for service, and lets not forget that the reason behind the German boiler being built was that the boiler on 01 was deemed unrepairable until the dud arrived. Tells me that both 20 and 30 under similar circumstances would be more than likely repairable.
Anything is repairable, especially if you are clever and can use some accounting tricks.
I understand that boiler Tab 3819 is mostly a new boiler. What is original? Maybe only the boiler barrel and the tab plug.
3830's current boiler can be rebuilt. It just depends on which and how many components can be reused.
Remember grandfather's axe. The NSWGR did this with many items of goods rolling stock, and possibly some engines. the S wagon fleet was almost completely rebuilt during the 1950's with new underframes, wheels and bodies, but the same R/S number.
Boiler Tab 3801 could be placed on a brand new boiler, hence 3830's existing boiler has been rebuilt!
Happy steaming,
John
My understanding is essentially the same as yours. Just about anything (boilers, tenders, connecting rods, even cabs - 3815's cab was damaged in an accident and replaced with the cab from 3805 which had been withdrawn earlier, making its number on the side of the cab look odd), except maybe the frame, could be interchanged with other locos. At one stage there were 2 6042s in service, Roundhouse (can't remember which one) referred to a 59 coming into Eveleigh for an overhaul and being outshopped under a different number. As you say, steam engines were a bit like grandpa's old axe.
As long as the boiler shell is sound, just about everything else in a boiler can be replaced - tubeplates, tubes, superheater elements, firebox. My understanding is that the boiler in 3830 (3801's original boiler) is quite sound boiler shell-wise. In fact, being the first boiler made, its shell is slightly thicker than the subsequent ones, which should be a bonus. So, if 3801's boiler cab be rebuilt there seems to be no reason 3830's can't be as well.
