Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Front Windows

Lorne Tweed continues to contribute progress on this car.  It was oppressively hot with a heat index over 100, and hotter still perhaps in the still air inside the barn.  This week he attacked the interior frames and trim on the front windows of CTS 4223.

A Rail Fan

Inside the CTS 4223, on the front dash there was a rail fan.  What else would you call it?  Anyhow, Lorne also carefully removed that as the paint and years of crud are removed and the clean metal primed.

Getting a Handle on It

I could not argue with folks looking for work inside the shop to escape the outside heat.  John Faulhaber was cleaning a rough casting for new seat handles for the Sand Springs 68.  That is the first step in the process.

Getting a Handle on It

Simon Harrison has returned from an exciting trip overseas, and here he is continuing the work on the handles, this representing the final buffing and polishing.  The completed work is sprayed with clear lacquer to help protect them and diminish tarnishing and corrosion.

Engineering Department

Rich Witt is examining the shaft for the cut off saw in our old tenoning machine.  This is the one originally purchased by the Illinois Terminal Railroad and used in their Decatur shops.  Rod Turner has cleaned it up on the lathe in preparation for new babbit bearings to be poured and fitted in a month from now.  Prep work for more window restoration continued (CA&E 36) and then Rich turned to design and fabrication of a die and jig to bend new sheet metal for repairs on our B&O wagon top boxcar.

Speaking of which, the heat did not discourage Victor Humphreys from working outdoors on that all day.  Rod Turner assisted and more rust out areas on the side were cut out and prepped for new patches.

Again, many thanks to Jim Opolony for submitting this report.  Maybe we should upgrade his status from "cub reporter". 

August 13:

On the Frisco 1630 - - -

Work started with the steam team setting up to cut the ends of the tubes that are attached to the firebox tube sheet.  A torch had to be used to do this since the pneumatic tube cutter cannot be set up inside the firebox.  Collin did this with ease.  The flue for one of the superheaters was the first to be cut out.  To our surprise, with the use a 2x4 we were able to get the flue through its hole in the tube sheet. 

Flue Coming Out

By the end of the day, we had six of the two inch tubes out of the locomotive.

Used Flue

In addition, work continued on firebox repairs.  A third rivet was removed.  To do this, David, our machinist, made an extension from a bolt so that the rivet gun's reach would be lengthened.  We also put bolts in some of the now empty rivet holes to prevent the sheet form vibrating as we continued to hammer away with the gun.

Machining also continued on the bearing boxes for UP 428 and in the production of new parts.

August 20:

We once again continued to cut the tubes of the 1630.  Another flue was cut, and after a bit of difficulty, was removed. 

Cutting Tubes

By the end of the day, almost all of the tubes that needed to come out from the engineer's side of the boiler were removed.  We still have two flues to remove on that side.  Then the process will be repeated to remove flues and tubes on the fireman's side of the engine.  In case anyone is wondering why this approach is being used, this needs to be done so a boiler inspection can be done, which involves climbing down inside the boiler.

Lenny Halter came out and cut the rivets, with a torch, that need to come out of the firebox. [ED: or farebox as I typed it the first time] He next ground off the waste so that the rivets can come out of the sheet much easier.  It should be pointed out that Lenny is a certified boiler welder.

Rear Window

Lorne Tweed is providing some needed help to complete window installation on CTS 4223, our PCC car form Cleveland.  He is working inside the car to clean old paint from the frame areas, and prime the raw metal, prior to fitting glass.

Welding

Mike Alterio is welding new steel repair patches to the sides of the B&0 wagontop boxcar.  Victor Humphreys cut and prepared the new metal, but installing them proved to be a challenge.

New Siding

Tim Peters is installing new tongue and groove siding near one end of CRT 1797, the wood L car he is restoring.  I suppose you could say this was exsiding (exciting) to see.  It is always amazing to see the fast progress and careful work on this car.

Running Boards

Pete Galayda has completed installing the new hood running boards on the west end of Charles City Western 300, one of our steeple car electric locomotives.

Dover Strait

Meanwhile, by Barn 3 the Dover Strait is sunning itself outdoors.  All of the equipment on Track 31 has been pulled from the Barn to allow for replacement of track.  Gene Mackowiak is needlechipping decades of dried gunk and rust from the truck frames, while Bob Hunter follows closely behind applying new black paint.

Let the Sparks Fly

Victor Humphreys is cutting and fitting metal plates to work as patches on rusted out areas of our B&O wagontop boxcar.  Earlier in the day, Victor, John Faulhaber, and Lorne Tweed worked on cleaning and priming another side panel on the car, and completing cleanup and priming on the A end.

Prep Work

After a shower chased us indoors, Lorne finished work on preparations to secure tarps on the roof of the car.  That dratted polypropylene rope needs to have the ends 'burned' or it will quickly fray and unravel.

Sitting Down

Frank Sirinek and Mike Stauber continue to strip and refinish seats for the Vera Cruz open car.  One at a time, they have remained under the radar and have now nearly completed the seats for the entire car!

Standee Windows

Eric Lorenz soldiers on, essentially without any additional help, on the CTS 4223 PCC car.  He is making good progress installing the standee windows on the south side, despite being under the weather in recent weeks.  This is not a "closed project" so if any of you fans have the desire to help out in this restoration, contact me or Eric.  The immediate plan and goal is to complete the body painting, paint and install the various trim pieces, anticlimbers and side bumpers, and install all the windows.  You can help.

CRT 1797

Tim Peters was again at work on the CRT 1797, sanding and trimming out the window openings.  Note the panels between the windows, made last week, and already primed and installed!

I am going to post this in the wood shop category since all the pics show work in the Barn 4 shops.  Yes, there is some wood work being done along the way.

Tarp Blocks

John Faulhaber has cut a number of wood blocks to be used on tarps for our B&O boxcar project.  We are struggling mightily with a contractor to make a milestone leap forward on the project and are trying to be prepared for when (AND IF) he shows up.

The Tie That Binds

Toward the end of the day the blocks had been cut and drilled and Rich Witt was practicing tying knots and anchoring yellow rope to each block.

North Shore 757

John McKelvey is well along on the next seat back being re-upholstered for the North Shore 757.

CAE 36

Rich Witt continued on refinishing some windows for the CA&E 36, and was helped out in the afternoon by Fred Zimmerman.  Fred had worked in the morning with Frank Sirinek on the Vera Cruz 19 open car.

West Towns 141

Speaking of Frank Sirinek, he looks on while Vince Alterio and father, Mike, are threading a rod needed to be fabricated from scratch for the door linkage on the Chicago & West Towns 141.