[Steam-engine] Locomotive exhumation??

[Paul Pavlinovich]

Perhaps, perhaps not - depends on the conditions. Locomotive K88 was dredged up in New Zealand (it had been used to 
underpin an erosion prevention bank) from a river and it has been restored and is now operational (it does have a new 
boiler). Some others have also been dug up.

Read on here...
http://www.wbfp.netfirms.com/k88_restoration.htm

There is a little bit of info about other locos here in similar straits
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wb_class_(locomotive)

Cast iron is amazing stuff - I pulled a Ruston PB3 internal combustion engine out of a creak where it had been submerged 
under mud and water for at least 50 years. While it does not yet run, I have disassembled and evaluated it for 
restoration. The only things I will have to replace are the magneto drive gear and the magneto itself (it was gone). I 
suppose the keys are cold and low salinity of the water. If the water is even lightly saline (EC of 300+) then it will 
cause corrosion. The salt water and dissimilar metals combined (cast iron, brass, copper, white metal etc.) make a 
battery and get eaten away in the process.

Back to the train... In the tunnel, even though it is caved in, I doubt it is completely sealed so there will probably 
be some air flow (ever been in a mine? the winds are often very strong in a supposedly single-ended tunnel!). The boiler 
is (as you say) likely destroyed but the rest of the loco may be in good enough condition to have survived.

Regards
Paul

Orrin Iseminger wrote:
> Well, that's interesting; but, seeing as how the boiler wasn't drained, it
> probably sat there and corroded until something rusted through, completely,
> and it finally drained.  
> 
> It must be in very sorry shape by now.
> 
> Somewhere around here I've got some pictures of a Case traction engine that
> had been buried for many decades.  It was in surprisingly good shape, but
> I'd guess it was because the burial prevented oxygen from getting to it. 
> 
> Regards, 
> 
> Orrin
> 
> Orrin Iseminger
-- 

pjp at steamengine.com.au
Emerald, Victoria, Australia
www.steamengine.com.au