New Edition of BPVC Section I Addresses Locomotive Requirements

New Edition of BPVC Section I Addresses Locomotive Requirements New Edition of BPVC Section I Addresses Locomotive Requirements New Edition of BPVC Section I Addresses Locomotive Requirements Next month, ASME will release the 2015 Edition of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Section I, Rules for Construction of Power Boilers. This new edition of Section I will mark the first time in more than 60 years that ASME has published a stand-alone code addressing requirements for locomotive boilers.Section I of the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, which is maintained by the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Committee on Power Boilers (BPV I), outlines the rules relating to pressure integrity governing the construction of power boilers and high-pressure, high-temperature water boilers. Following a request from locomotive boiler stakeholders, BPV I formed the Subgroup on Locomotive Boilers in February 2010. Chaired by Linn Moedinger, president of the heritage Strasburg Rail Road, the subgro up was assigned the duty of developing a new Section I parte addressing locomotive boiler construction rules.Some may wonder why a modern code would address locomotive boiler technology, which could be considered an arcane art. The simple answer, according to the Subgroup, is that steam locomotives continue to operate in densely populated environments where the need to ensure safe boilers is paramount. Millions of people throughout the world ride behind and stand near steam locomotive boilers every year. Moreover, real working knowledge of what these boilers experience while operating and how their various structures work together while bouncing down the track is not widely prevalent.Since the late 1950s there has been a growing knowledge base on locomotive boilers in preservation railroad circles, but it has been outside the mainstream boiler industry. Over time it had become quite possible - if not probable - that a perfectly reputable boiler shop could have the best of intentio ns and still legitimately build an unsatisfactory steam locomotive boiler in accordance with the Boiler Code. In an attempt to rectify this situation, the ASME Subgroup on Locomotive Boilers has taken the approach of codifying both best practices and Code material from the early steam days of the locomotive, melding modern technology into the process where that technology has been tested and proven. The process of fine-tuning this new Section I Part will continue as long as people continue to tinker with the iron horse worldwide. The timing of this publication coincides with a generational change in the steam railroading world. The new Part captures and codifies the knowledge gained by a generation of railroaders over the past 50 plus years since the last ASME Locomotive Code was published.The result of the Subgroups efforts, Part PL, Requirements for Locomotive Boilers, will be included in the 2015 Edition of BPVC Section I, Rules for Construction of Power Boilers, which will be pu blished on July 1. This new locomotive code section can truly be looked at as a beginning for the technology, as new materials and methods will now have a place to be vetted within the unique perspective of steam locomotive operation so as to ensure safe steam locomotive boilers for centuries to come.An article, titled Rolling Home, further detailing Part PL, will be published in a future issue of Mechanical Engineering. To pre-order a copy of the 2015 Edition of BPVC Section I, Rules for Construction of Power Boilers, visit www.asme.org/products/codes-standards/bpvci-2015-bpvc-section-irules-construction-power. - Linn Moedinger, Chair Subgroup on Locomotive Boilers (BPV I)- Umberto DUrso, Secretary BPV I