Big Boy 4014 in Houston Texas

[musket the dog]

Pay no attention to the caption that mentions oiling - what the maintenance crew are using is a steam-line driven greaser, called an Alumite greaser. They connect up the steam line to a handy steam-cock - all over the frames - and use it to drive a solid stick of grease and powdered aluminium into the bearings...

Interesting note re: the powdered aluminium in the mix. Do you know the purpose of it? If I was going to guess I would say something along the lines of it being there to work into/onto the surface of the metal, almost like a self replacing whitemetal bearing that can force its way into the microscopic flaws in the steel?

I've watched the videos of this magnificant beast being brought back to life from when they were conducting the first steam tests. The sound of the whistle slowing finding its voice as the loco starts coming back to life after all those cold years was something really special. Whats really staggering to me is the speed at which they completely refurbished an static display piece into a running engine. I was fortunate enough to visit the Henry Ford museum and have a good look around C&O 1601, another giant mallet. Seeing something that size, roll along at speed must be staggering.

 

[tac foley]

Quote - 'Alemite - a lubricating grease consisting of a petroleum oil thickened with aluminum soap. Also known as aluminum-base grease; aluminum grease.' I'm guessing here, since the product is patented and proprietary, that the stearite aluminum acts as kind of a spreader, as you suggest, rather than using carbon/graphite. THAT is costy, whereas aluminum sterates are a by-product of part of the process of alumina extraction from base bauxite ore using caustic soda as a catalyst.

Read and learn, Glasshopper -

Definition of aluminum soap =
: any of various aluminum salts of higher carboxylic acids (as fatty acids) including aluminum stearate and aluminum resinate that are amorphous solids insoluble in water but soluble in hydrocarbon solvents and that are used chiefly in lubricating greases, in protective coatings, and in waterproofing compositions.

Having carried this greasing action out on a much smaller steam loco, I can tell you that the stick of Alemite, about the size of a ten-to-the-pound wax candle, is very solid to the touch, but leaves a silvery residue that is almost impossible to wash out. If I told you any more than that I'd have to be making it up.

 

[justme igor]

And they get payed to do that and drive.....