Restoration Update: New Boiler Jacket
- Friends of No. 9
- Feb 27, 2024
- 2 min read
Restoration work on Tamalpais Engine No. 9 is moving along nicely. In the last few weeks newly fabricated sheetmetal jacketing was painted and installed. No. 9 had been without jacketing, the sheetmetal skin that covers the boiler, since asbestos removal in July 2020 (3 1/2 years), so the new jacketing is a significant milestone. (Details in photo captions below.)
Now that jacketing is done it’s time to put the boiler back on No. 9’s frame. That will happen in early March.
We appreciate the community support that continues to move us forward!
Thank you,
Fred Runner
President
Friends of No. 9, Inc.
A Nonprofit Corporation
A six-sided temporary containment was needed for asbestos removal from No. 9.
A year and a half later we began work on repairing the boiler, lifting it out of No. 9’s I-beam framework.
A year ago the Millericks were restoring the boiler, welding in new steel where it was needed, hammering out lumps in the old steel where decades of rust buildup had deformed the 3/8-inch steel.
Last summer, the boiler was blasted, primed and painted.
Jeff Millerick re-cuts the threads in the bolts atop the restored boiler, cleaning away the paint so the old nuts could be tightened down on the steam dome. Smoke stack and sand dome will be added next.
Strips of foam roofing material take the place of the asbestos. The new sheetmetal jacketing will lay on top of the foam strips. The different contours of the boiler were a challenge for cutting and fitting the sheetmetal jacketing.
Ratchet straps hold the sections of jacketing in place as they are test-fitted. When done the sheetmetal will go to Alameda for painting.
No. 9 board member Rick Beach and Jeff Millerick lineup a piece of the recently painted sheetmetal jacket on the boiler.
Jeff Millerick lines up the right and left side sheetmetal with an awl and then fastens them with screws.
Painted jacketing is finished on the 103-year old boiler. A few more parts will be installed before we lift the boiler and place it in the frame, 2024
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