Steel castings

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 Locomotive 576, Nashvillesteam.org

Tank encyclopedia

I was recently catching up on the Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Trust steam engine reconstruction and noted that they are constructing the main frame as weldments instead of the original castings. I guess that makes sense, casting huge pieces of steel isn't as common as it used to be, the required strength of the frame can be determined by using FEA, the casting can be redesigned as a weldment. Pieces are laser cut and then welded together, no issues, it's a tried and true technology. But I remember reading about large (huge) castings being made more than a hundred years ago, whole 50 or 60 foot long steam locomotive or tender frames being cast in one piece, armour plate tank hulls cast in one piece... Those guys were massively skilled.