Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Entries from Monday, June 28. 2010

Monday, June 28. 2010

Wood Shop and Other News - June 27, 2010 Posted by Robert Kutella in Wood Shop at 05:46

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Wood Shop and Other News - June 27, 2010

CE 4

This weekend, with help from longtime member and hardworking volunteer Dick Lukin, we applied lettering to one side of the cab of our electric workhorse locomotive. Of course the piece is parked inside Barn 8 which suffered storm damage (see related posts) and that made the work tough. No way to even run an extension cord for a drop light from three buildings away so we labored on in the dimness. I had to post this poor pic to prove the work done. Imagine taking a pic of a black subject in a dark building and maybe you will understand the blur.

Depot Door

With help from Tim Peters, there was some progress on the parts being made for a new depot door. It looks like the next steps will be to plunge the needed mortises.

Another Door

Speaking of Tim, the heavy rains Sunday morning drove him away from other life pursuits and here he was, working on an end door from the next project. You guessed it, a wood el car, Chicago Rapid Transit 1797.

Tending Their Knitting

You might guess knitting classes were underway, but Frank Sirinek and Dan Fenlaciki were tieing new bundles of virgin wool yarn to be used for waste packing in our cars and motor bearings.

Steelwork

George Clark has stripped the bad siding from the second side of LSE 810 and he is now laying out and drilling the needed holes in a custom made Z section of structural steel. You will note the badly deteriorated sill on the car behind him.

CAE 409

The second new signbox box wood sash has been installed on the CA&E 409 and Frank Hicks is engaged in applying the final coat of red paint.

CAE 451

Jon Fenlaciki continues on the task of removing side windows from the CA&E 451 and restoring them to their brass finish.

Door Painting

Norm Krentel and Jeff Brady pause for a photo op in the new shop addition. The now completed baggage doors have been moved in and they are getting set to spray paint the primer coat on these.

Monday, June 28. 2010

URTX 26640 Update - June 27, 2010 Posted by Robert Kutella in URTX 26640 Insulated Boxcar at 05:41

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URTX 26640 Update - June 27, 2010

A End

We must be in the monsoon season since it seems there are deluges every day, at least on the days I have available to get out to IRM. Nevertheless, Victor Humphreys continues to add paintwork and finishing touches to this restoration project. And in between downpours, I have started to apply lettering to the A end of the car.

Monday, June 28. 2010

Lightning Strike Update - June 27, 2010 Posted by Robert Kutella in AC/DC Line Department at 05:03

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Lightning Strike Update - June 27, 2010

Here is an update submitted by Roger Smessaert. It seems that the extent of the damage was far wider than we first noted, and there was additional storm related damage.

***********

Max T the IRM Electrical Czar called me tonight at 10pm from his motel in Dwight IL to give me a status report.

First, Max got the report that Tim Peters had checked voltage in barn 8 and found a nominal 600 VDC reading inside the barn (with the switch being blown open). Max felt that was alarming so he looked into it as soon as he could. The short story is.... yes the inside was alive at 600VDC. Max disconnected some tap wires and found the Track 82 NoBo section insulator had been punctured by lightning and was the source problem. To isolate the feed to the section insulator he removed the tip and tied the trolley wire back in the clear. If Track 82 is used you will have to hop the trolley wire past the insulator until it is fixed.

Max talked to Gerry Dettloff and they felt that a stinger could be used to liven any track needed to pull equipment in/out with caution of course.

Next the many transformer cutouts (fuses) were dealt with. Barn 6 & 7 are all closed and re-energized with service restored.

Barn 8 has several issues that require further repairs. Starting with the transformer bank, the lightning arrestor is shorted and needs to be replaced. The 3 phase transformer is burned out and requires being replaced. The transformer primary bushing was shattered (and scattered) by the lightning. The neutral conductor of the 3 phase service from the transformer to the lighting panel (via the service entrance cable) is annealed and requires replacement before service can be restored. The ground wire from the lighting panel to a driven ground will have to be replaced. It is also annealed and the diecast conduit connector to the panel board is burned.

See Jamie K's excellent selection of photos of the equipment damage at this link: http://www.irm.org/gallery/barn8damage-06232010 .

All in all a lot got done today. In addition to the above work on the barn outages. Max also restored the mainline signal system. A primary fuse on the mainline east of the sub was blown by the storm Saturday night. 65 amp fuse - possibly tree contact east of Karstens is the usual suspect.

And ALSO, the carline was reopened after the whacked steel pole on the S curve was straightened and anchored and the span wire re-attached.

Max reports he really enjoyed the day of troubleshooting the IRM multiple problems from the storm damage. He sure had a busy day and was very productive. He worked until 6pm then drove to his motel in Dwight, IL to prepare for a new week on his recent "real job" at Ransom, IL.

Roger Smessaert -reporter

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Mike Gorecki about Steam Department Update January 2015
Sun, 02-22-2015 11:15
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Thu, 02-19-2015 11:16
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Mon, 02-16-2015 23:26
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