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Thursday, March 31. 2011Wood Shop Update - March 30, 2011This will only be short look around the shop yesterday, and with a number of different topics.  Taking A Bead On It Victor Humphreys and behind him, John Faulhaber. are cutting some small beading for retaining the glazing in the new windows we are making for IC 3996. It looks at first like a small quarter round but in this case it is assymetrical with one 1/4 inch leg and one 5/16 inch leg, just to make it interesting. And of course we are making this custom molding out of mahogany, to match the frames.  Number Eleven Lorne Tweed is fitting the last of eleven new frames for this 'order', and before the day is over it will be glued up and in the press. The next steps will include finish sanding all the frames smooth, cutting off the 'ears' on the stiles, and milling the bottom edges of each frame bottom rail.  Never Again Not never again in a bad way, but likely we will never again see the shop space addition so empty and clean. It is now complete enough to be ready for final inspection. Pete Galayda is at the far end, looking over the progress - and it really seems like a big space right now.  An Interesting Shade From the passenger car department, Roger Kramer has been working to locate and clean up Pullman Company shades for the DOVER STRAIT. Won't that look nice hanging in the windows? Sunday, March 27. 2011Snowflake Special 03/27/2011
Another successful IRM Snowflake Special today! Thinking back two short years ago, we couldn’t fill a four car train, this year we sold out a SIX car train a week before the trip! Thanks to everyone who bought a ticket and helped support the museum. It is GREATLY appreciated!!!!
Today’s trip started at the Forest Park station at the west end of the Congress line. We started westbound – yes westbound (into the yards). Then back east, transferring over to the Douglass line, going to and through 54th St (again into the yards). Back eastbound, then over to the Midway line. After going through those yards it was downtown to drop everyone off for lunch. After lunch we went out to 63rd and Ashland and of course into the tail track. Back downtown and out to Kimball. You guessed it, into those yards too. Back downtown, but not before our second annual Brown Line/Red Line race from Belmont to Fullerton. Again this year it was too close to call. Finally back west down the Congress line, making our last photo stop at the abandoned California station (the last of many nice photo opportunities), we headed back to our origin station at Forest Park to wrap up another fantastic trip. A huge thanks to David Harrison, without whom none of this would be possible. Dave did his usual great job narrating the trip including many interesting tidbits about the system and the city. Also thanks to Bob Heinlein and Richard Schauer who again coordinated the logistics of the trip. Our CTA crew was top notch as usual. Thanks to all the car captains who kept order in the cars, trading their cameras for orange vests. And most importantly, thanks to everyone who showed their support for the museum by accompanying us on the 2011 edition of the Snowflake Special. Sunday, March 27. 2011Track Report
First off - not a single photo was taken this weekend, we were all just too busy.
Saturday was a productive day, Adam was a surprise visitor as he had some things to take care of up north for a day, so he joined Frank and we always can use the added help. Frank and Adam worked together taking care of joint repairs, marking ties, fixing one of two pull apart, cleaning the ROW and starting the process of switch lube - all from the Santa Fe hyrail truck. I spent the entire day setting out ties from the big tree to the east end of Johnson, picking up where Jeron left off - the CN gon never arrived of course - we worked until well after dark to get it all done. Sunday was just Mitch and I doing some machine repairs - we pulled the bottom bearing from the mower side bar, and cleaned it up in the car shop. We found out why the bolts broke - the bearing is worn out and caused the housing to wobble breaking the bolts. As it is in a trapped hanger, Mitch and I put it all back together without the bolts (that have been broken for years) and fired it up after sitting by Yard 3 all winter - the mower is now back in machine row at Yard 11. I plan to run it on the ROW some next weekend. We spent some time in the Industrial Brownhoist crane with the steam shop folks who are making it ready for service for the Barn 23 track project. We got a plan together for changing out some grease fittings and will get that one ready in the next few weekends as well. Over the next week Jeron will get the 4 inch long sweep exhaust 90 deg bend for the 50 and we can get that installed - as the CN gon was a no show on Sunday too... soon enough we need to be ready to unload it. A productive weekend for sure - Be Safe out there Tom Sunday, March 27. 2011Wood Shop Update - March 26, 2011 The Stack Lorne Tweed adds one more glued up window frame to the growing stack on the workbench behind him. He and Rich Witt continued work on this project, gluing up two more frames, dry fitting another frame and machining parts to complete the job.  Oh Well Victor Humphreys works to complete metal repairs on another of the step well end plates for caboose ATSF 1400. He also helped to load an old planer being removed from the wood shop and sort and pack away an assortment of wood shop machine parts located and delivered by the Signal Department. Thanks, Mike.  Patterns Buzz Morisette continued making the new patterns for the steam shop, to be used to cast shoes and wedges for the UP 428. If you look closely you will see vertical surfaces tapered a few degrees from square. This is the DRAFT ANGLE needed to make the sand molds and cast the metal. Tim Peters was toiling on restoration tasks for the CRT 1797 and there was a lot of other activity. Come on out and look around - Watchers Welcome. Maybe we can coax you into helping if you like the smell of sawdust in the morning! Friday, March 25. 2011Wood Shop Update - March 23, 2011 Careful Measurements Rich Witt has provided a lot of engineering assistance on many projects in the wood shop. Here he is measuring a part to be reproduced as we discuss options for milling and machining the rough stock.  Assmbly Line John Faulhaber is applying the glue to another new window frame for the IC 3996 passenger car. With eight windows now assembled and glued, it is what passes for an assembly line in our wood shop.  Set Up Rich WItt is installing a special cutting bit in our table mounted router, to produce a milled contour for window beading, those small strips of wood that retain the glazing.  The Old Saw After profiling the wood blanks, the next step is to carefully cut out the strips for the beading. This can be a tricky job, made more so by our stingy ways. It would be a lot simpler if we made only two strips out of a 2x4 blank and discarded the rest as waste.  That Glazed Look Meanwhile at the other end of the shop, Tim Peters had been glazing a stack of new windows for CRT 1797. He sure gets a LOT of work done, I wonder how he does it. Either he puts in five or six days a week working on his project, or he hires out work to Santa's elves in their off season.  Steel in the Wood Shop How did Roger Kramer sneak in some steel passenger car parts into the wood shop? Cleaned and repaired, he starts applying some new primer paint. Friday, March 25. 2011Passenger Department Views - March 23, 2011Every once in a while I will try to share some images of the current work, as they are sent to me from our reporters on site at Union.  The Family Plan Emie, Aden, and Eric Olesen (apologies if I have butchered the names, gotten secondhand by me) were on site and pitching in on the ATSF 2544 combine. Here they are cleaning windows and walls. This car has been out of service for repairs for over half a dozen years. It is a Pullman product from 1927.  Seating Section In the seating section, a lot of the walls and interior have been re-painted and we see rebuilt and restored seat frames, work courtesy of Shelly Vanderschagen, and frames installed by Wayne Baksic. Friday, March 25. 2011CCW 300 Update - March 23, 2011Here is a long overdue update on our Mc Guire Cummings steeplecab locomotive from Iowa. Rest assured that Pete Galayda and his crew are working on this project every week, in the shop throughout the winter months.  The Cutting Edge Here is shot of Gerry Dettloff, (trust me, that is him behind the sparks, under the locomotive with the cutting torch), removing some badly deteriorated electrical conduit which could no longer be unscrewed at its threaded connections. This is part of the ongoing process of rewiring the locomotive as the detective work by John Nelligan proves how the system needs to work.  Cage Work Gerry Dettloff and John Nelligan are assembling a rebuilt and restored steel cage on the walkway beside the hood. This cage was part of the design by the builder, to house and hold seven grid boxes, part of the control system. With the boxes installed and wired, it will receive a protective steel screen. The cab, space under the hoods, and under the frame are crammed full of things, so the builder chose to mount the grids on the walkway on top of the frame. I suppose that would restrict a crew member trying to exit the cab and quickly get to a retriever, but there is no cab door in that corner anyway. With thanks to Pete Galayda for the pics and update. |
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Comments
Mon, 06-17-2013 09:50
Wish I could be there to help.
Fri, 06-14-2013 16:50
Matthew, Any special event is the decision of the museum Board. My personal opinion is that it is likely that there would be a special event to [...]
Thu, 06-13-2013 18:33
Hi, I have a question, if or when she is restored and back up and running this or next year. Will their be a special event set up for the return of [...]
Tue, 06-11-2013 22:36
The whistle 1630 wore for a while that you're thinking of was a Frisco 6 chime donated by a former member of the steam shop. It was on it a few times [...]
Tue, 06-11-2013 18:03
You are talking here about something well before my time !. I have not seen her with anything other than the whistle she now carries. If she [...]
Mon, 06-10-2013 16:17
i'm curious here. Will 1630 ever wear the ATSF 6 chime she had on for a while? Better defines her, I love the deep whistle she has now but the higher [...]
Sat, 06-08-2013 15:15
Many many many many many thanks for getting the Spaulding webcam working!!!!!
Fri, 06-07-2013 16:55
The donation was to the museum as a whole. How it is used and whether any comes to steam department projects will be the decision of the museum [...]
Fri, 06-07-2013 16:53
Basically the plan is "ONLY" reassembly. As far as we know she is is reasonable mechanical shape. The big mechanical problem that stopped her (slack [...]
Fri, 06-07-2013 16:28
Nigel I read you guys got a one million dollar check donation!!! Will this be used to finish 1630 ,428, 5 and get started on the others next in line?
Fri, 06-07-2013 16:16
So does 1630 basically only need reassembly? With the boiler in particular. Does her tender or running gear need any work before she's ready for the [...]
Fri, 06-07-2013 12:00
Hello.. The voltage we are using and presumed the RR also used is 120 vac. The system is a little unique because the lite bulbs are each 60 volts. [...]