Feb 2008 update

After Ray and I removed the last engine block, the crankshaft turned a little bit. My goal at the end of stage 1 was to turn the engine (just a crankshft now) over with the starters. The main bearings have to be dry of oil. I want to get some oil to them. I took empty 2 liter Pepsi bottles and hooked plastic oil lines to them. I connected the lines to the oil fittings on the side of the engine. The oil went in the motor, Im not sure that it got to the main bearings.
Other things that got done were that I found an 2 and 5/8 inch ammeter that fit in the dash (it is separate and larger than the dash gauges). I ran 10ga wire from the battery to the ammeter. I got 2 battery cables from the freight house and put them through the dash. The ends need drilled for a larger hole. I used some 3/8 copper tubing from the freight house and flared the ends and connected the air pressure gauge to the main tank. James is going to check for leaks in the air system in the spring. The starter switch on the dash was wired to the starter solinoids. I used the extension cord from the frieght house and used my 4.5 inch electric grinder to remove the old rusted off headlihgt bolt. I got an old 11 inch headlight and put a 12v sealed beam lamp in it. A row of light switches that I thought was OK turned out to be rusted to pieces. I got new toggle switches to replace them.

Hood Lock Rods

I thought it was a good idea to have some way to lock the engine bay access doors on the side of the hood. I decided to put 3 eye bolts on each side of the hood and make a piece of pipe that would go through the eye bolts with a lock on one end. This pipe blocks the engine bay access doors from opening. I looked at many eye bolts trying to find ones that were not too large and not too small. I finally decided on an eye with a 3/8 threaded bolt on it.I was thinking of drilling 3 holes on each side of the hood for the eyes As it turns out there was a 3/8 bolt holding the hood together close to the spot that wanted the eyes. I removed the 3/8 bolts and substituted the eye bolts. I bought 2 pieces of 3/8 pipe and had them cut and threaded at 8 foot 4 in. I flattened one end of the pipe and drilled a hole for the lock. James found 2 locks at the station that I can use. I know that we are going to have a bunch of money in the motor and lot of hours of hard work. I feel better already that the engine bay is locked up.

Starting Motors

The 1500 cu LeRoi engine has two 12 volt electric starting motors. The motors are about a third larger than typical tractor starting motor. The distance between the mounting holes is 5 inches, normal tractor motors is 3.5 in. Originally we could not find any staarting motors from the locomotive or the spare engine. I took measurments from the mounting holes and searched electric motor rebuilders. I had no luck. Ray contacted Roger and he said he had 2 good starters. I got one rebuilt starter from Roger and a box of starter parts. I made another starter from the parts. I had to have some bushings machined to match one starter to the Leroi engine. The Delco number on the older starter is 412. The delco number on the newer starter is 1109889. They are clockwise rotation, 12 tooth, direct drive starters. I believe a brand new updated starter could be found for about $ 200. I contacted several after market starter manufacturers listed on the internet but they could not cross reference our Delco numbers and were not willing to open boxes and check measurements against my list. One starter bolted right in and the other has some clearence problems. I may have to re-orient the case at a later date.

Christmas at the Museum

I went up to the museum Dec 2rd for the last of two weekend open houses 'Christmas at the museum'. Food was served in the dinning car by volunteers Charlie, Tom and Al. Jared worked in the gift shop. Curt was selling model trains in the station. Roger kept the HO train layout going for the visitors. Ray and James helped me get some LeRoi heads out of the Freight house. James gave me a tour of the South Shore Little Joe electric locomotive.

The instrument panel

When I put the brake controller back in, I took out the instrument panel and 4 inch duplex air gauge. The panel had been vandalized, the glass had been broken and the pointers removed from the gauges. The panel consisted of a volt meter, oil pressure and water temperature gauge. I bought 2 inch gauges that are pretty readily available. The prime mover type and serial number are also part of the panel. The type is GM which stands for Gas, Mechanical. The s.n. is 13204. I spent quite a bit of time working with the ignition switch. It has 4 positions, magneto on, battery on, both on, and off. This allows you to run a set of spark plugs with battery, coil and distributor, or a second set of spark plugs with the magneto, or both at the same time. This is a redundant system for reliability used on fire engines and expensive cars at the time. I cleaned up the switch but I had trouble with continuity. You had to wiggle the switch on the position to get a good contact. I didn't want to trust that switch so I put in 2 toggle switches, 1 for battery ign and 1 for magneto. Of course you can have both on or both off as needed. I painted the panel like the one in another museum. I put in all the gauges and made a lens for the instrument cluster. I believe the fuse is 20 amp KTK type.
The air pressure gauge indicates the pressure in the main tank and the pressure in the brake cylinder. I found 1 side of the gauge still worked and glued a needle pointer on the shaft. I made a lens for the gauge. Im looking for a working 4 in. duplex air pressure gauge for the locomotive

Independant Brake Valve

Whitcomb loco has an independent train brake system. That is it has no provision to power air to train cars that it is connected to. The Leroi engine has a 7th cylinder located in the center of the engine between number 3 and 4 cylinder that operates as an air compressor. Compressed air is stored in cylindrical tanks under the cab of the loco. A Westinghouse SA2 brake controller supplies air to the air brake cylinders. When I got the brake controller, the handle was stuck and would not turn. It was questionable as to whether it could be fixed. I took it over to a friends house. The controller was built in an age when things were meant to be repaired. We thought something in the valve was stuck causing the handle not to turn. Taking it apart there were some heavy gaskets in it. These were molded rubber, both were brittle and one broke as the parts were separated. after disassembling the valve there was nothing stuck or broken just the bushing on the valve was corroded and dry. with blaster and oil the valve handle was began to move. It moved a little further in each direction with each try. Finally it moved nicely in both directions. we cleaned the parts in gasoline and did not disassemble the smaller components. The valve was reassembled, wire brushed and painted.
I decided to go on the Internet and see if I could find the gaskets. I found the phone number for WABCO in Pittsburgh Penna. I called and the gaskets were available. They are in the mail to me.

Whitcomb background

The Whitcomb Locomotive works was located in Rochelle Ill and founded by G Whitcomb. Its 6 cylinder LeRoi engine is a whopping 1,500 cubic inches. That's 4 and a half Chevy 350 engines or about 5 times a normal car engine. It is an over head valve engine with cylinders cast in pairs The pistons are 6 and 3/4 inches and the stroke is 7 inches. The horse power is close to 200 hp in 1941 measurements. The crankcase holds 7 gal of oil and the radiator 20 gal of antifreeze. It runs on regular gasoline and uses 2 Stromberg up draft carburetors. Each cylinder has 2 spark plugs with dual ignition, Battery (coil & distributor) or magneto It has a torque converter connected to a 4 speed transmission with a reversing differential. Both axles are chain driven with 36 inch wheels. As I understand it the locomotive was bought new by the Erie Iron Works in Erie Pa. The engine was used into the 50's or 60's. when it seized due to overheating or lack of oil. The locomotive was vandalized in the 60's . Most of the copper lines and battery cables were stolen. The windows were broken and the dash smashed. Various control levers were bent or broken. At sometime the heads were removed from the engine and the cylinders badly rusted. The bottom of the radiator was broken by water coming in the radiator and freezing. In 1967 the locomotive was donated to the Lake Shore Railway Historical Society. At some time the museum acquired a spare engine.

I drafted a plan to put the good parts from the spare engine on the crankcase in the locomotive.My first job was to remove the remaining rusted and stuck cylinders and pistons. When the front block (2 cyl.) came off the bearing inserts stuck to the crankshaft. The surface of the bearings were galled and not use able. I worried about the main bearings. would they be stuck and unusable too.