Brake Cylinder Work

On Sunday, the big project was disassembling and inspecting the 308's brake cylinder, which had started leaking towards the end of the year. A bad packing cup was the suspect, and it did turn out that this was a problem; the torn packing cup was replaced with one from stock. A couple of other minor issues were discovered, including a return spring that will have to be replaced and a worn guide ring, which we will address over the winter and/or upon inspection in May. I wasn't able to help out due to illness but an all-star cast consisting of Richard Schauer and visitors Jeff Hakner from Branford and Nick Tomkavage from Seashore completed the work on the brake cylinder. Several others from IRM helped with switching chores as well. Thanks to everyone for their time and effort!

Randy adds: My thanks also to those who helped, particularly our visiting experts! When I arrived on Monday morning, the 308 was still over the pit, so I was able to take these pictures of the brake cylinder to show how the brake rigging works. You can't see that much of the cylinder itself when it's assembled.

(L) The piston end of the cylinder, with the live lever in red, the tie rod in yellow, and the top rods (which go to the trucks) in blue. When air is applied to the cylinder, the piston is pushed out, and the live lever is torqued against the tie rod to pull the top rod in, away from the truck, setting the brakes. (R) A view from the other end. The dead lever (in black) is attached to the "dead" end of the cylinder; when the piston is pushed out, the tie rod pulls on the dead lever to pull on the top rod (in blue) at this end, and each truck receives the same amount of braking force. Simple, isn't it?