Leaf Springs in the Autumn

Several items require attention while the tender is separated from the locomotive. The first item to be addressed is making repairs to the spring beds that support the leaf spring bundles on the front truck of the tender. It was noticed during our last Amtrak inspection that these spring beds have seen some abuse over the years and were looking a little "out of spec".

In order to repair the spring beds however, the leaf springs needed to be removed. To do this the tender was jacked up off of the trucks. Once that was done, the bolster that rests on the springs was jacked up to relieve the pressure on the leaf spring bundles. The spring bundles were then carefully removed. Each bundle weighs in excess of 100 pounds.

Hanger shown with no leaf springs or bed.

Once the spring bundles were removed, the spring bed was slid out from under the truck and taken over to the Amtrak locomotive shop where it was washed using a power washer and then put into the 60 ton press to take the dents and kinks out.

Jim Campbell, Dan Echeto and Bob Kittel

Welding was also performed to strengthen areas of the spring bed that may have weakened when using the 60 ton press.

Dan Echeto welding on the spring bed.

Last was putting the whole thing back together. This was actually more difficult then dismantling the leaf springs since it required having two crew members lift each spring into position, assisted only by pry bars. With eight spring bundles weighing in at over 100 pounds each, this gets to be close to 1,000 pounds of lifting, and the whole thing gets to be repeated next week for the second spring bed under the front tender truck.