Christmas Railroad tools

[Stoney]

Some of my Christmas gifts, more railroad tools for my railroad display.


A 15 inch Bemis & Call metal handle monkey wrench, called the Railroad Special.  This one is marked for L&N Railroad.


The top shovel is an Ames Husky that has been customized into a cross tie shovel marked C&EI RY (Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railway.)  The bottom shovel is a heavy weight marked SOURY (Southern Railway.)


This wrench is not marked, but an old gentleman who retired from the Southern Railway shops told me it was a shop made wrench, used by two men to remove the trucks from locomotives.  The locomotive would move onto the pit.  Two men would go under the locomotive.  One man would hold the 18 lb wrench on the 5 1/2 inch nut over his head.  The other man would strike the wrench with a 20 lb sledge.  When the nut was loose, the holder would continue to hold the wrench up and walk around while the 2nd man turned the wrench.  Sounds like rotator cuff surgery to me.
This one has a lot of pitting and will get the rust destroying black treatment. 

[rusty]

Some fellow did a nice neat forge weld on that shop wrench .....

Wonder how many times the fellow holding the wrench dropped the 20 pound nut on his foot...
(We had nuts that large where i had my first job, those suckers were *heavy*. On slow days guys would throw one over the wall into the Fab shop to see if anyone was awake...)

[johnsironsanctuary]

Great Tools Stoney! I especially like the shop built wrench. I had to make one kinda like it when I was taking my 1925 Mack Bulldog apart. The adjuster for the chain drive is a big screw with a ball on the end that screws into the chain tensioner. It is a 2" fine thread and the female part is about 5 inches long. The hex is the one next to the sprocket. The truck had sat out doors for 40 to 50 years and the screw was solidly rusted. I soaked it every time I thought about it for a few months knowing that this was a knuckle buster of a fight. The first wrench I bent was a nice 24" monkey wrench. Oh, yea, this was a job that could only be done with an open end. Next came a try or three with heat and a 24" crescent. I sprung the jaw on the Crescent. My little Smiths cutting torch simply did not have enough BTU's to heat the whole thread. After a few weeks of stewing about it, I flame cut an open end out of 1" plate. I made the jaw plenty hefty and for good measure, I cut tabs out from the end of each jaw so that I could drill through them and use a bolt to hold the jaws from bending open. the handle was sized to fit in a piece of well casing. My next door neighbor brought his cutting torch over. He and his son soaked the threads for about 15 or 20 minutes with both torches. A 10 ft heavy bar in the well casing with my fat ass hanging like a monkey on the bar finally broke it loose. It's a really good feeling to overcome 6 months of frustration.

[strik9]

I really like the shop made wrench, that has character.  And restoring a '25 Mack can't be a simple job either.  Parts have got to be difficult to find.

The tradition may never end, we needed a thin profile 2-1/2" wrench in the shop for a one time job.  I made this last week.

  In another 50 years some forum will be asked what the heck it was for, by whom and when. 

[Wrenchmensch]

JohnsIronSanctuary,

I remember chain driven Mack trucks in NY City during WWII years.  It seemed to me that they all had solid rubber tires. Does (did) this Mack truck have solid rubber tires?  If not, can you find replacements?

Also, what are your plans for the Willys?

Wrenchmensch

[Stoney]

I know that kind of frustration.  We had a dose of it moving a G John Deere wheel out that had been in place for 30 + or - years and it was on backward.  My brother and me rigged a 3/4 inch plate with 3/4 inch grade 8 all threads and pushed against the plate with a 3 ton jack.  After we broke that we proceeded to break an 8 ton jack.  We finally moved the clamp with another 8 ton, 2 torches, a 3/4 drive with a 6 foot cheater and a friend.  Oh an about a 1/2 gallon of breaker oil.

My Dad's first truck driving job was a chain drive, solid rubber tired, Mack.

Strik9, that's cool.  I'll bet they will be puzzled.

[Fins/413]

Cool tools Stoney.

[Wrenchmensch]

Stoney:

That Bemis & Call railroad wrench looks almost as as beat up as a Meadville railroad wrench.
For some reason - soft steel, low QC efforts, drinking on the job - Meadville railroad wrenches always look as if they were made from bad castings and sloppily finished. The 8 1/4" Meadville adjustable is a clear case in point. It is poorly finished, and full of minor casting faults. It was made for the Philadelphia, Baltimore, & Washington railroad (1902 -1976), and is stamped P. B. & W. R.R. on the top jaw.