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WORKING ON THE RAILROAD
In doing some recent research, we came across the image below from 1935. While most railroads did something similar, the photo is for the New York Central Railroad. What service is the worker providing? As a hint, the location is the entry to a passenger station located in the distance.
Answer
The image above is of the work pit of a railroad “hot box” inspector! Passenger trains, as well as freight trains coming into the station complex, had to slow sufficiently for the switching ahead. They had been running at a much higher speed prior to coming to the location pictured, which meant wheel bearings had been operating at higher speeds, creating more friction. A bearing without sufficient lubrication would be smoking if not on fire, and it was the inspector’s job to spot the smoke/fire from a “hot box” and report it so that the train could be stopped and the problem dealt with.
Depicted in the image below is a typical railroad friction bearing such as was used for locomotive, freight, and passenger cars during the 1800s and into the mid-1900s before roller and ball bearings saw widespread use. The olive part is the rotating axle attached to the railroad wheel. The yellow is the mechanical bearing made of brass. Under the axle and contained within an iron casting box-like structure with a door at the end is the waste packing, which amounts to cotton and wool materials in contact with the underside of the olive axle and saturated with oil. The turning axle picks up a thin layer of oil on the axle’s cylindrical surface and carries the oil as the axle turns to the contact area between the yellow bearing material and the olive axle. That thin layer of oil molecules keeps the axle and bearing from direct contact by forming a thin oil sheet between the two. Without metal-to-metal contact between the bearing and axle, there is little heat generated, offering a low-friction interface between the turning axle and stationary bearing.
Should oil in the packing become depleted, the oil film on the axle is reduced, and metal -to-metal contact between the bearing and axle generates heat from increased friction. With sufficient heat, the oil begins to smoke, and in an extreme situation, the oil can catch fire. As the bearing assembly is within an enclosure resembling a rectangular box, the term hot box came into use when a bearing was found smoking.
$2.7 MILLION TIME PIECE
For decades a marble-faced clock has hung over the pedestrian entrance to the Marshall Steam Museum. While it ran in times past as noted by the numerous signatures inside the case acknowledging the mechanism was oiled, in recent years it has frequently been the object of the statement “it is right twice a day.” As part of the museum work being done this winter, the clock was removed for restoration. We are happy to report the 100-year old Seth Thomas mechanism is currently tick-tocking away while the wooden case undergoes restoration. Look for the clock to display the correct time when the museum reopens in 2020 and don’t miss reading about the clock’s link to the Marshall family!
The clock is a Seth Thomas Marble Gallery No. 1 30-day clock. They were offered in various configurations from the late 1890s into the early 1900s for use in banks, municipal offices, corporate lobbies, and other similar institutions. The Marshall Steam Museum example comes from the National Bank of Kennett Square, PA. Most likely installed during the bank’s 1908 renovations, the clock was obtained by T. Clarence Marshall, who served as president for nine yeas and an officer for several decades.
Known commonly as Kennett Bank for many years after forming on April 25, 1881, John Marshall (Israel Marshall’s uncle) was its first president. In later years T. Elwood Marshall (Israel’s brother) was a president as well. Another of the Marshall family was involved in banking in Delaware. Which of the Marshalls was a president of a Delaware bank and what was the bank’s name? As a bonus question, who in the Marshall family (hint: it may be multiple Marshalls) has their signature on hundreds of thousands of dollars of U.S. paper money?
Answer
Banking records as far back as 1860 show Caleb Marshall as president of the Real Estate Bank of Delaware, which was located in Newport, DE. Caleb is the older brother of John Marshall (Kennett Bank President), and together they established an iron rolling mill on the Red Clay Creek in what is now known as Marshallton, DE. In late 1864, Franklin Q. Flinn was elected president of the bank as Caleb and his family were moving to Philadelphia to establish the Penn Treaty Iron Works for the manufacture of terne plate (early form of galvanized iron for which Caleb was issued patents). The $1 bill shown below, issued by the Real Estate Bank of Delaware, has Caleb Marshall’s signature as president. That is William Penn pictured and not Caleb Marshall.
Caleb’s brother John was president of National Bank of Kennett Square from its founding in 1881 until his death in 1885, when E.B. Darlington became president. Darlington remained president until T. Elwood Marshall (Israel’s brother) assumed the presidency in 1915 and remained until 1922. His nephew T. Clarence Marshall became president in 1923 and remained in that office for 9 years. On July 1, 1930, the bank merged with Kennett Trust Company (formed in 1889) to become National Bank & Trust Company of Kennett Square, which was acquired in 1882 by Meridian Bank. Additional banking industry consolidations saw Meridian acquired by Corestates Bank and then First Union National Bank. In 2001, Wachovia Bank acquired First Union, and today its all part of Wells Fargo Bank.Before the Civil War, many states issued their own currency. As a means to pay for the war, reduce counterfeiting, and eliminate differences in currency value, the U.S. federal government created a national currency under Abraham Lincoln. By creating a system of nationally chartered banks, the government would print denominations of $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1,000 bills to be issued by a “National Bank.” Every bank that changed their charter to that of a National Bank (and hence why there are so many First National Bank of…, Second National Bank of…, Third National Bank…, etc.) agreed to obey the rules for national currency. A bank was required to deposit a bond with the government for the value of government printed currency they received to place into public circulation. The government would print the name of the national bank on the currency and provide currency sheets to the requesting bank. Once each bill was hand-signed by the bank’s cashier and president, they could be hand-cut from the sheets (which is why you see the irregular borders in the images below) and issued to the bank’s customers. The system was in place from 1863 until the Great Depression in 1929, when a majority of the National Banks became insolvent. As a result, the U.S. government created our present Federal Reserve notes.
Banking records as far back as 1860 show Caleb Marshall as president of the Real Estate Bank of Delaware, which was located in Newport, DE. Caleb is the older brother of John Marshall (Kennett Bank President), and together they established an iron rolling mill on the Red Clay Creek in what is now known as Marshallton, DE. In late 1864, Franklin Q. Flinn was elected president of the bank as Caleb and his family were moving to Philadelphia to establish the Penn Treaty Iron Works for the manufacture of terne plate (early form of galvanized iron for which Caleb was issued patents). The $1 bill shown below, issued by the Real Estate Bank of Delaware, has Caleb Marshall’s signature as president. That is William Penn pictured and not Caleb Marshall.
Caleb’s brother John was president of National Bank of Kennett Square from its founding in 1881 until his death in 1885, when E.B. Darlington became president. Darlington remained president until T. Elwood Marshall (Israel’s brother) assumed the presidency in 1915 and remained until 1922. His nephew T. Clarence Marshall became president in 1923 and remained in that office for 9 years. On July 1, 1930, the bank merged with Kennett Trust Company (formed in 1889) to become National Bank & Trust Company of Kennett Square, which was acquired in 1882 by Meridian Bank. Additional banking industry consolidations saw Meridian acquired by Corestates Bank and then First Union National Bank. In 2001, Wachovia Bank acquired First Union, and today its all part of Wells Fargo Bank.Before the Civil War, many states issued their own currency. As a means to pay for the war, reduce counterfeiting, and eliminate differences in currency value, the U.S. federal government created a national currency under Abraham Lincoln. By creating a system of nationally chartered banks, the government would print denominations of $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1,000 bills to be issued by a “National Bank.” Every bank that changed their charter to that of a National Bank (and hence why there are so many First National Bank of…, Second National Bank of…, Third National Bank…, etc.) agreed to obey the rules for national currency. A bank was required to deposit a bond with the government for the value of government printed currency they received to place into public circulation. The government would print the name of the national bank on the currency and provide currency sheets to the requesting bank. Once each bill was hand-signed by the bank’s cashier and president, they could be hand-cut from the sheets (which is why you see the irregular borders in the images below) and issued to the bank’s customers. The system was in place from 1863 until the Great Depression in 1929, when a majority of the National Banks became insolvent. As a result, the U.S. government created our present Federal Reserve notes.
Above is an image of a $10 National Bank of Kennett Square bill issued April 26, 1921, with T. E. Marshall’s handwritten signature as president. Images of $10 and $20 National Currency bills (below) with T. Clarence Marshall’s lithograph-printed signatures show the bank’s name change to National Bank and Trust Company of Kennett Square. Over the 55-year life of the national currency program, National Bank of Kennett Square issued nearly $2.7 million in 15 different types and denominations of national currency. It is estimated that due to the higher-value denominations issued in later years, when TE and TC Marshall were presidents, that more than half the dollar value of $2.7 million total issued in National Currency by Kennett Bank displays a Marshall signature!!
AUTOMOTIVE BODY DESIGNS
We recently ran across an image that called our attention to 21st-century automotive body designs. If one examines 23 current brands of automobiles offered to the American driver, and we imagine equivalent models all painted in light gray, there’s not really a lot of diversity in basic appearance, as the image to the right attests. Images of individual vehicles for the composite image were digitally “painted” light gray as the color is not offered by all manufacturers.
If one examines the Marshall Steam Museum Stanley collection, you will note that starting with the 1916 Model 725 and continuing through to the 1924 Model 750, Stanley cars lost styling diversity that the earlier cars before 1915 possessed. As readers know, the materials and methods Stanley used were pretty common in the industry, and while there were distinctive car designs after the 1920s, automotive design was trending to manufacturers choosing a basic “look” and not making major changes to it year to year. In the 21st century, the consolidation of multiple makes under a single manufacturer means even more consistency in overall car appearance.
Stanley’s earliest cars, those sold under the Locomobile and Mobile names, had their metal frames constructed by the American Waltham Manufacturing Company, a bicycle maker. Stanley used the same wooden and eventually aluminum body manufacturer throughout a large portion of their production from the earliest all-wooden-bodied cars up until near the end of production’s aluminum-bodied cars. What was the name of that manufacturer? For extra credit, what year did Stanley begin the transition to offering aluminum bodied vehicles?
Answer
According to Kit Foster’s The Stanley Steamer: America’s Legendary Steam Car, in April 1898 the Stanley twins contracted Currier Cameron Company to construct the wooden bodies that were then sent to the Shields Carriage Company for lacquer application and finishing. Both businesses were located in Amesbury, Massachusetts, and shared common organizational roots. Locomobile assembled their cars in Watertown, which required the finished bodies to be shipped in boxcars by rail between the two cities.
According to Kit Foster’s The Stanley Steamer: America’s Legendary Steam Car, in April 1898 the Stanley twins contracted Currier Cameron Company to construct the wooden bodies that were then sent to the Shields Carriage Company for lacquer application and finishing. Both businesses were located in Amesbury, Massachusetts, and shared common organizational roots. Locomobile assembled their cars in Watertown, which required the finished bodies to be shipped in boxcars by rail between the two cities.
In 1911 the Currier Cameron Company made the first aluminum body for the Stanley Model 85. Currier Cameron would continue to make Stanley bodies through Model 735 production, ending in 1922. With the introduction of the Model 740 in May 1922 and the revised body styles to come, Stanley moved to other body manufacturers, including Baker-Rauch & Lang!
ERRATIC BOILER WATER GAUGE
As Tom Marshall would often advise members of the Steam Team of the late 1990s, Stanley steamers are known for displaying a myriad of conflicting symptoms, all of which need to be carefully examined in order to deduce the true cause of a steamer’s ailment. Such was the case last month when attending the Hagley Car Show. A boiler water level gauge (kidney gauge, not the 3-tube indicator style) on a condensing car displayed a near full boiler when running that dropped to less than a half-full boiler indication when the throttle was closed and the burner was not firing. To add conflicting diagnostic information to the eventual solution of the unconventional gauge indication, the pumps were definitely providing water to the boiler as the water reservoir level dropped appropriately for the distance traveled.
The pumps’ operation could be felt cycling ON and OFF under control of the boiler water automatic by the vibrations of the car’s floorboards. Steam pressure for the trip was easily being maintained in the 475 to 550 PSIG range, as it should be, and the car climbed the steeper hills of Route 82 briskly on the way to Hagley. The burner’s cycling ON and OFF was as expected. The condensing car was not leaving a water trail to indicate a leak or other issue. The vehicle’s kidney boiler water gauge, while a potential cause of the issue, seemed to perform as expected (and was ultimately ruled out as the source of the program). The error turned out to be entirely human and not mechanical. Any idea as to what was causing the erratic boiler water gauge issue?
Answer
In Tom Marshall’s teachings to the Steam Team he often talked of more rare issues that can affect a Stanley’s performance. The issue of boiler foaming and priming is rare and involves only the water on board a Stanley and not the vehicle itself. This author has experienced boiler foaming involving a Wilmington & Western Railroad locomotive that had excess boiler treatment added to the water. In that case, the problem was quickly visible in the glass boiler sight gauge as instead of the glass tube 2/3rds full of water, when the engineer opened the throttle, the glass quickly turned milky white, an indication of boiler foaming. Ignored, such a problem might quickly become dangerous for continued operation of the locomotive or steam car. In the case of a condensing Stanley, the boiler gauges are of an actual gauge construction, and unless the the steam car has been retrofitted with a glass sight gauge, a foaming issue must be recognized through other clues.Tom Marshall advocated a tablespoon of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda be added to the water tank every three or four tankfuls of water. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, Tom’s favorite, is pure sodium carbonate (Na2CO3). Washing soda is also known as soda ash and soda crystals and is primarily used to manufacture glass, paper, rayon, soaps, detergents, and as a water softening agent. Since the start of the 20th century, boiler operators have experimented with the addition of sodium carbonate to boiler water to provide alkalinity to the water. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a treatment of washing soda was employed by land and marine boiler operators as the best means to prevent scaling and corrosion. Use of washing soda as boiler water treatment resulted in dramatically reducing boiler maintenance and associated costs. For Stanleys it does seem to “wash” the water system of impurities and keep the pumps, check valves, and other components free of mineral buildup.
In Tom Marshall’s teachings to the Steam Team he often talked of more rare issues that can affect a Stanley’s performance. The issue of boiler foaming and priming is rare and involves only the water on board a Stanley and not the vehicle itself. This author has experienced boiler foaming involving a Wilmington & Western Railroad locomotive that had excess boiler treatment added to the water. In that case, the problem was quickly visible in the glass boiler sight gauge as instead of the glass tube 2/3rds full of water, when the engineer opened the throttle, the glass quickly turned milky white, an indication of boiler foaming. Ignored, such a problem might quickly become dangerous for continued operation of the locomotive or steam car. In the case of a condensing Stanley, the boiler gauges are of an actual gauge construction, and unless the the steam car has been retrofitted with a glass sight gauge, a foaming issue must be recognized through other clues.Tom Marshall advocated a tablespoon of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda be added to the water tank every three or four tankfuls of water. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, Tom’s favorite, is pure sodium carbonate (Na2CO3). Washing soda is also known as soda ash and soda crystals and is primarily used to manufacture glass, paper, rayon, soaps, detergents, and as a water softening agent. Since the start of the 20th century, boiler operators have experimented with the addition of sodium carbonate to boiler water to provide alkalinity to the water. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a treatment of washing soda was employed by land and marine boiler operators as the best means to prevent scaling and corrosion. Use of washing soda as boiler water treatment resulted in dramatically reducing boiler maintenance and associated costs. For Stanleys it does seem to “wash” the water system of impurities and keep the pumps, check valves, and other components free of mineral buildup.
Too much washing soda, however, can create a condition known as “foaming,” which leads to “priming” occurring. Inside the boiler, the heat of the fire generates steam bubbles within the water. The steam bubbles, which originate on the boiler tubes and internal boiler surfaces, float and burst when they reach the water surface, releasing their encapsulated steam. As a boiler generates steam, any impurities that are in the boiler supply water and that do not boil away with the steam will concentrate in the remaining boiler water. Likewise, having too much washing soda in the water supply causes the concentration of washing soda in the boiler to increase over time. The supply water containing washing soda boils away and leaves the boiler as steam. Replacement water making up for the steam used contains washing soda, which effectively increases the boiler’s washing soda concentration. When Stanleys return from a day’s use, boilers are blown down (cleared of all water, leaving only pure steam behind), which clears the boiler of the higher concentration of washing soda and other impurities and thus foaming and priming should not occur.
If the boiler water is not cleared of an increasing concentration of washing soda, the dissolved solids and sodium carbonate becomes more and more concentrated, which results in the steam bubbles becoming more stable. The bubbles of steam fail to burst as they reach the water surface of the boiler, and miniature steam bubbles are created throughout the boiler water, which represent the foaming condition. The bubbles actually start to form on the impurities within the water in addition to the boiler surfaces. The water in the boiler, when foaming occurs, becomes very similar to the foam on beer or what happens when a warm liter bottle of soda is violently shaken and the cap removed quickly. There comes a point (depending on boiler pressure, size, and steam load) where a substantial part of the steam space in the boiler becomes filled with miniature bubbles. The resulting foam of bubbles is carried along with the steam exiting the boiler, which flows to the steam engine. This is the condition known as “priming.” Due to the small spaces at the end of a piston’s travel in a cylinder, it doesn’t take a lot of “primed steam” to damage the engine. The boiler water turning to foam also can quickly lead to a low water condition in the boiler, which might result in boiler failure.
The boiler water level, upon reaching the Hagley Car Show, was “full” on the gauge as the boiler was intentionally filled above nominal operating level in preparation for sitting all day at Hagley. However, within 10 minutes of parking the car and extinguishing the pilot, the boiler water level gauge indicated a boiler half-full of water. The search for a large water leak uncovered nothing that might cause the quick loss of a half boiler’s worth of water. The gauge reaction pretty much pointed to the problem — high water when boiling, low to middle water level when not boiling. In diagnosing the problem, it was soon realized that this year, unlike previous years, the car has been making quite a number of short trips, all of which only used a quarter to a half of the supply tank’s capacity. However, Tom’s recommendation of the addition of washing soda has been followed religiously, and not realizing it, the concentration of washing soda in the supply water tank has been increasing over the summer months. Our foaming problem wasn’t caused by lack of boiler blow-downs but because we’ve not been running through multiple tanks of supply water on any given use of the steamer, thus allowing the concentration of washing soda to increase in the water tank supplying the boiler.
Beginning next year, we’ll start logging water tank fillings to ensure the concentration of washing soda in the supply water remains minimal.
LOW-DIGIT LICENSE PLATES
China has taken an interesting approach to traffic congestion. In Beijing, a car buyer must first win a lottery for a license plate in order to be able to purchase a vehicle. The practice was started in 2011 as Beijing is a city of over 13 million residents, with more than half eligible to drive. They offered up 150,000 plates in 2017 but only 100,000 in 2018. Additionally, the majority of the license plates issued annually may only be applied to new electric-only vehicles. Anyone with outstanding court issues is banned from applying, as are people with other infractions on their records. In Beijing in 2018, the odds of receiving a license place in the bimonthly lottery are as low as 1 in 2,000. Beijing further restricts driving in the city, only allowing Beijing-registered vehicles during the peak driving times within the city. Beijing has set a cap of 6.3 million vehicles registered to city residents, which is expected to be met next year.
Delaware’s low digit licenses are sought after and easily command mid-6-figure prices or higher for a 2-digit number. Four-digit plates are often transferred between owners for 4-digit license plate values along with the added value of the vehicle they reside on. The State of Delaware has begun queuing up 5-digit plates and issuing them on 5-digit plate days. While some 5-digit plates may command a few dollars of added vehicle value when transferred between owners, plates that the state takes in are reissued free.
What state in the U.S. employs a lottery system for issuing their low-character-count plates?
Answer
In August and September each year, Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (MRMV) holds their annual Low Plate Lottery. Massachusetts residents with an existing insured and registered vehicle are invited to apply for a low character-count license plate. In mid-September the MRMV announces the lottery winners. Residents may enter only once, even if they have multiple vehicles registered in Massachusetts. The lottery system selects an additional 25 winners for any awarded plates that are not collected within three months of notification. Massachusetts is the only state at present using a lottery system for awarding special license plates.
In August and September each year, Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (MRMV) holds their annual Low Plate Lottery. Massachusetts residents with an existing insured and registered vehicle are invited to apply for a low character-count license plate. In mid-September the MRMV announces the lottery winners. Residents may enter only once, even if they have multiple vehicles registered in Massachusetts. The lottery system selects an additional 25 winners for any awarded plates that are not collected within three months of notification. Massachusetts is the only state at present using a lottery system for awarding special license plates.
Massachusetts license plates are up to seven alphanumeric characters in length. In 2019 there are 230 plates available with two, three or four characters, which are the only plates available for the lottery. The available plates will be awarded in the order the available plates are listed on the MRMV website. Winners may not request a specific plate, but if two winners choose to show up at the same time when retrieving their winning plates, they may swap them during the registration process. A winner must have no outstanding payments due the state for things such as taxes, traffic citations, E-ZPass tolls, court costs, or other legal infractions. In 2018, 201 plates were issued.
