Were steam loco running boards wood in the 1940s-1950s?

[mmagliaro]

So I am moving on to making running boards for the SP&S 0-6-0.  I can see from brass model photos that they clearly modeled them as wood with grain and board joints. 

I cannot tell from any prototype photos whether they are wood or steel.  I always assumed they were iron, but seeing the brass model detail, now I'm not sure.

Would an NP, SP&S (or any) 0-6-0 be fitted with wooden running boards, being built in 1907?  And would they have been replaced with steel ones by, say, 1950?

(If they are supposed to be wood, yes, I will try to make them of wood.  I assume if they were wood,  they would have to be rimmed in some sort of sheet metal to keep them from getting banged up.)

[nkalanaga]

As far as I know, most steam running boards were wood, and still are today.  The few I've seen up close didn't have any "rim", but they also weren't exposed to much abuse. 

[mmagliaro]

Thanks.  That makes sense, much like the deck on a battleship being wood for better footing and replaceability.
But my initial burst of enthusiasm has been tempered by reality.  A wood running board that thin will be destroyed in minutes, probably by my own hand, just from handling the engine.  It will have to be metal.  I can scribe some lines into it to at least make it look a little like boards, and painted black, that ought to do.

[Chris333]

If you click on this you can scroll your mouse to zoom in:
https://goo.gl/photos/4hvYbKa7mer1J7cD9

Wood with a metal surround. This is a 3' gauge 2-8-0 though.

I make em out of brass and give them a brown tint when painting.

[MK]

A wood running board that thin will be destroyed in minutes, probably by my own hand, just from handling the engine.  It will have to be metal.  I can scribe some lines into it to at least make it look a little like boards, and painted black, that ought to do.

How thin does it have to be?

[Lemosteam]

If you click on this you can scroll your mouse to zoom in:
https://goo.gl/photos/4hvYbKa7mer1J7cD9

Wood with a metal surround. This is a 3' gauge 2-8-0 though.

I make em out of brass and give them a brown tint when painting.

I doubt that they were raw wood, and were more likely painted.  The paint being so thick might be why they look indistinguishable from steel.

[narrowminded]

I wonder if a piece of hardwood veneer would be tough enough to stand some handling.     Or maybe musical instrument reeds could be thinned enough and still maintain some grain effect.  Just a couple of thoughts.

[wazzou]

Most definitely wood and they were probably crudely treated with Pentachlorophenol or some other chemical for decay resistance in the shops. 
I don't think they were painted though.

[C855B]

... Or maybe musical instrument reeds could be thinned enough and still maintain some grain effect. ...

Nope. I destroy an oboe reed in about three hours of playing time. It's my other expensive hobby.

[mmagliaro]

Thank you, everybody.

Yes, it would make sense that they were wood and would have been dipped in something as a preservative.  Painting them would probably have been a nuisance, as the foot traffic on them would beat up the paint and wear it off in no time.

According to my engine drawings, the walkways were 2" thick (another bit of evidence that they must have been wood, because they would never have to be that thick if they were steel).  That scales to .0125".

I am using .012" phosphor bronze strip.  I didn't plan on it being just right thickness.  I picked it because I had a strip that was a handy width and it looked about right.  I didn't realize until this moment, when I went to answer the question about how thick they were supposed to be, that .012" was just about perfect!

Anything wood that is only .012" thick will not be very strong, I'm afraid.  That's thinner than 1/64" !

narrowminded: I like that idea about the wood veneer.   And they do sell it in 1/64" thicknesses, which would be close (.0156")

Anyway, after all this pondering and researching (much of it by you folks and I think you), I still think metal is the way to go.  It won't have a wood grain, but then, at this scale, I doubt the wood grain should really be visible anyway, especially after it is painted.

[wazzou]

...nothing a few swipes with a wire brush wheel in a Dremel can't fix or just a few passes with a regular wire brush.

[mmagliaro]

...nothing a few swipes with a wire brush wheel in a Dremel can't fix or just a few passes with a regular wire brush.

That's a good idea? 

And everyone, it turns out that specialy shops do make ultra-thin wood sheets in thicknesses down to .010".  They are used for decorative veneers in things like dollhouses.  There are also flat, small sheets at about .018" used for wooden business cards and other applications where you want to print directly on the wood in your printer.
But .018" is too thick.   I know from past experience using K&S brass strip at .016", that even that is too thick and it shows up as klunky on the model.   .012" is as thick as I'm willing to go. 

I like the idea of distressing the surface of the metal with wire brushes or a Dremel wire wheel.  Although I hope it doesn't just look "all scratched up" like something's wrong with it.

[narrowminded]

I would guess that you could sand the extra thickness down if needed. You might also bevel the edge from the underside so that the revealed side would still appear thin while having enough meat to maintain some stability. With all the effort you have put in this far it might be worth I try with no great loss if it doesn't work out.

[wazzou]

...Although I hope it doesn't just look "all scratched up" like something's wrong with it.

You mean like laying horizontally exposed to the weather beside a boiling cauldron?  You'll do a corker of a job, I'm sure of it.

[mmagliaro]

I would guess that you could sand the extra thickness down if needed. You might also bevel the edge from the underside so that the revealed side would still appear thin while having enough meat to maintain some stability. With all the effort you have put in this far it might be worth I try with no great loss if it doesn't work out.

I hear ya.  I've done that trick of making running boards thicker than they are supposed to be, and filing the edges so they appear to be thinner.

I did find some .010" to .012" thick small veneer sheets and ordered them.  The stuff on a roll is not an option because I would have to battle it with a steam iron and pressing it under weights to get it to be flat.   Better to start with a flat milled little sheet.

But I still have a feeling that if I solder a series of phorphor bronze wires to a metal walkway and push them through matching holes in the boiler, then epoxying everything in place, it will be an awful lot stronger than trying that with .012" thick wood. 

I'll try doing the scribe lines on the metal to simlate 3 rows of boards, distress it with some wirewheel fun, and then blacken it (no paint).  If that looks good, I'm sold.  If not, I'll try the wood idea when it comes in the mail.