A small locomotive - 'The Crab' - The first locomotive out of the Neidrauer Shops

Neidrauer Live Steam Locomotives Photo Albums » A small locomotive - 'The Crab' - The first locomotive out of the Neidrauer Shops

2018: Installed new exhaust pipes because the old steel ones developed leaks. 2011: The modified grease fittings work great! The Crab has some lettering on it (NYC), the riding car is working fine and the new NYC Gondola works well as a two person passenger car. Time to burn some more coal! Winter 2011 - The Crab is readied for the summer season. We are experimenting with modified grease fittings as cylinder cocks. August 2010 - a mild overhaul was completed. Pulled the cab, bunker, boiler and chests, remade the ash pan, eliminated the troublesome axle pump, added a new handpump and steam injector. May 2010 - The water pump ram is jamming in the pump bore, causing the wheels to lock up. It will be replaced with an injector. Also the graphite string piston rings will be replaced because they are leaking. August 2009 - Improvements to the water pump and riding car made. *** November 2008 It's Done It Runs!! *** First steam up ever during the Thanksgiving holiday and it ran great! I am so happy!

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FirstSteamUpEver29Nov08 002 Saturday, 29-Nov-08, a steamup at Tim M.'s private track at his house. The crab is unloaded and a borrowed flatcar is the engineers seat. To the right John T. fills the tender of his freshly shopped Atlantic, Tim's consolidation awaits its master in the background.

CrabCylinderCockPlungers28Nov08 003 28-Nov-08 The final very tiny parts for the Van Brocklin design cylinder cocks. Cutting the grooves in the .200 long pins, and cutting them to length was a pain.

CrabComingTogether19Nov08 003 Forward end of the loco. The flat black boiler is in contrast to the shiny cab.

CrabComingTogether19Nov08 002 Along with the plumbing, the Cab and Bunkers are finished.

CrabComingTogether19Nov08 001 19-Nov-08 It's coming together! I just need to install a sight glass and the plumbing will be complete.

CrabSafetyValveModifications24Jan09 002 The modified air safety valves with shroud installed.

CrabSafetyValveModifications24Jan09 001 Making a shroud for the safety valves. This will direct the steam upwards instead of out.

CrabWaterPumpModifications9Sept09 003 Layout concept for the waterpump eccentric strap. Material used was Alloy 954 bronze, 2

CrabWaterPumpModifications9Sept09 001 9-Sept-09 Machining one-half of the Bronze eccentric strap.

CrabFlatCarBrakeInstallation16Sept09 005 The brake mechanism is quite simple, all the parts are from the scrapbox.

CrabFlatCarBrakeInstallation16Sept09 004 Assembly view of the car brake.

CrabFlatCarBrakeInstallation16Sept09 002 Design concept layout for a 'Friction Brake' plate-style car brake.

CrabFlatCarBrakeInstallation16Sept09 001 Modifications to the Crab: cutting a hole in the cab floor for the water tank 1/4 NPT drain valve with a hole saw.

CrabWaterPumpModifications9Sept09 015 The new assembled water pump eccentric strap. The dark smudge on the top of the strap is steam oil covering the oil hole. With just a little time on the track this shiny new part will be covered in coal cinders like the rest of the moving parts!

CrabWaterPumpModifications9Sept09 014 Backside view of the finished strap. We cut the rest of the corners on the strap to give some more clearance.

CrabWaterPumpModifications9Sept09 012 Clamping set up #2 - successful! After finding the center of the strap, we move over, drill the ram mounting hole and machine the strap end down to the proper thickness.

CrabWaterPumpModifications9Sept09 011 Clamping setup #1 to machine the ram mount--a failure. This setup shifted the two halves of the strap, removing our ability to indicate the hole to find the center, which is needed for the next machining operation. If you look closely, you can see parting line in the eccentric hole showing how the two parts have shifted.

CrabWaterPumpModifications9Sept09 010 The bored eccentric strap showing the finished groove. This is necessary to keep the strap captive on the eccentric.

CrabWaterPumpModifications9Sept09 009 Using a dial-test indicator to insure the side of the cutter is parallel to the ways, insuring the groove is cut to the proper depth.

CrabWaterPumpModifications9Sept09 004 The two halves of the strap, bolted together, are chucked in the 4-jaw and centered for the boring operation.

BrokenSafetyValve14May2010 009 Here is the disassembled valve. The stem broke where it meets the valve disk.

BrokenSafetyValve14May2010 006 A poor man's spanner wrench -- two screwdrivers held with a c-clamp. Hey, it did the job.

BrokenSafetyValve14May2010 004 Here's the valve with the shroud pushed off. I just happened to have a steel washer with the same size 11/16

BrokenSafetyValve14May2010 001 8-May-10 While at J. Schmidt's house Saturday for an invitational steamup, the valve seat guide rod broke off. Much to the entertainment of Bill and Tim, the stem flew up and hit me on the top of my head while I was bending over. I thought someone threw something at me!

IMG00111-20100625-2011 2010-06-25 Boiler and deck removed to re-work the ash pan

IMG00148-20100815-1407 2010-08-15 - new ashpan design design work

IMG00165-20100925-1120 2010-09-25 - Bill at the throttle at the Big Creek & Southern track

IMG00164-20100924-1344 2010-09-24 I think we had a stuck check valve, requiring the coal bunker deck removal to unstick.

IMG00163-20100919-2237 2010-09-19 - New English injector installed and plumbed

IMG00162-20100919-2152 2010-09-19 - New English injector installed and plumbed.

gedc0421 6-June-2011 Mid-South Live Steamers, crossing the high bridge with a clear stack!

CrabReadyForSteam28Nov08 001 Friday night, 28-Nov-08. Final test on air before taking it out tomorrow and putting it under steam. (.avi movie)

LubricatorGlass During the inagural run of the crab, the hydrostatic lubricator leaked all over the place and did not seem to work. Back in the shop a teardown revealed a big chip out of the bottom of the 3/8

CrabAshPan 2006 - Here are my design thoughts for the ashpan. I can make a cone out of sheet metal easy enough, but how do I put a rectangular opening on it??

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