Illinois Railway Museum Blog

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.

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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