John,
In later years, at least, Lines East locomotives had the rods painted
whiles Lines West assigned locomotives generally had the the rods
polished or plain steel. Yes, modern rules would say that the rods
should not be painted, but wheels also aren't painted now days while
they were in the steam era. IIRC, at certain periodic inspections
(annuals?), the rods that were painted had to be stripped and
inspected for cracks. May RRs white washed them during inspection to
make any cracks more visible.
Keep in mind that polishing rods was expensive and labor intensive.
In addition, if they weren't polished or otherwise preserved, they
quickly rusted which was also undesirable. Having looked at and seen
many Q steam locomotives in person and in photographs, it is my
impression that in earlier days, Lines West locomotives also had
painted rods. It very likely may have been nothing more than the
preference of local Mechanical Dept. management; probably at the
Master Mechanic's level. The majority of the locomotives that I have
seen with polished rods seem to be associated with assignment to the
Lincoln Shops. Some RRs, not Q except for special occasions, not only
painted the rods, but also highlighted the rod flutes in white. I
found a photo of K-2 ten wheeler #637 that way in 1956 and I have
seen an old photo of an S-1 or R class that way for a special event.
When the #5632 came east in Nov, 1958 from Lincoln, her rods were
plain polished steel. Within a year, Lines East personal had painted
them over. I always thought polished rods looked very sharp on a
locomotive, but they were a lot of work to maintain. BTW, the
polishing was often accomplished by adding sand to grease and
applying the mixture to the rods with cotton waste and a lot of elbow
grease, not to be confused with the sand and grease compound.
Bill Barber
On Mar 12, 2008, at 10:37 AM, CBQ@yahoogroups.com wrote:
> painted or not??
> Posted by: "John Trulson" norskeviking@msn.com
> Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:57 pm (PDT)
>
> After looking at 3 or 4 dozen color pictures of Q steam
> locomotives, it appears that some of the side rods/valve gear are
> painted black. On others, they are natural steel color and on one
> 4-8-2 the main rods are black and the rest of the valve gear
> natural steel. Does anyone know if they were painted black or is
> that dirt and grime? I always thought that the rules prohibited
> painting them the same as couplers. I don't like the looks of
> nickle silver valve gear on models, it does not look like steel.
> Any help on this will be greatly appreciated. John
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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