Rescuing a Dro\¥ned Locomotive 



How a one hundred and twenty-ton engine 

 was raised from the bottom of the bay 



WHILE handling a pile driver equip- 

 ment used in rebuilding an old 

 trestle at San Pedro, Cal., a one 

 hundred and twenty-ton locomotive broke 

 through its track, toppled over the piling 

 supporting the trestle 

 and fell down a slop- 

 ing embankment to 

 the bottom of the bay. 

 It went through thirty 

 feet of water and 

 half-buried itself, top 

 down, in slime and 

 mud. 



A floating derrick 

 barge with equipment 

 powerful enough to 

 raise the engine was 

 not available. A local 

 railroad super- 

 intendent finally de- 

 vised the ingenious 

 method illustrated by 

 which the big engine 

 was successfully re- 

 covered. 



Two barges, each of 

 two hundred-ton 

 capacity, were floated 

 out over the approxi- 

 mate location of the 

 "drowned" locomo- 

 tive. They were 

 placed parallel to each other and united at 

 each end by two girders made of three logs 

 of twenty-foot piling lashed together with 

 a four and a half inch manila rope tied about 

 the piling and bits. As each turn of this 

 lashing was made a hoisting engine was 

 used to pull the rope tight. . A complete 

 coil of rope was used at each end of the 

 girder, and several short lashings were 

 made between the ends 

 as well. 



Before the hoisting 

 work started, some ob- 

 jectionable pile stumps 

 had to be sawed off close 

 to the bottom of the bay 

 by a diver with a short 

 piece of cross-cut saw. 

 The first operation, 

 necessary was to turn 



The first operation was to turn the 

 engine and its tender right side up by 

 means of cables attached by a diver 



TIMBER BRIDGE FOR SUSPENSION 



TIMBER BRIDGE FOR HOISTir;G BARGE 



Railroad ties inserted for cribbing 

 under the supporting bridging. The 

 hoisting was continued until the crib- 

 bing was ten or twelve feet above deck 



the engine and its tender right side up. 

 This had to be done in two operations as 

 the tender and engine could not be separa- 

 ted, owing to their depth in the slime. 

 To support the engine, three clusters of 

 large timbers were 

 rigged across the 

 barges. Two of these 

 were placed at each 

 end and one in the 

 middle. From these 

 supports one and one 

 half inch steel cables 

 were dropped to the 

 engine, passed under 

 it and made fast to it 

 by the diver. 



When the cables 

 were all made fast 

 below and drawn tight 

 about the supporting 

 timbers above, fifty- 

 ton hydraulic jacks 

 were placed at each 

 end of the supporting 

 bridging. As the sup- 

 ports were jacked up, 

 railroad ties were in- 

 serted under them for 

 cribbing in themanner 

 shown in the pictures. 

 After the engine 

 was turned rightside 

 up the cables had to be readjusted and more 

 units attached. The hoisting then con- 

 tinued until the cribbing had been built 

 about ten or twelve feet above the deck of 

 the barges. Extra cable lashing was put on 

 to hold the engine in suspension until the 

 cribbing was removed and the supporting 

 timbers lowered back to the deck of the 

 barges. By repetitions of this performance 

 the engine was elevated 

 sufficiently from the 

 bottom of the bay, so 

 that it and the barges 

 could be towed intact 

 on to some mud flats 

 half a mile distant and 

 close to a spur railroad 

 track. The whole 

 equipment was pulled 

 aground by a locomotive. 



354 



