Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Hopefully this is only a partial report on progress this weekend at the steam shop.

On 1630 we were not able to progress the sand blasting on Saturday as our critical volunteers (i.e. those who can fit thru the inspection hole and work inside !!) had other commitments.  However,  Collin and Jason are able to work Sunday so this vital job is being progressed as I write.

Update - Collin and Jason did indeed make major progress on Sunday.  The front of the barrel and tube sheet are now complete and the equipment moved to the rear ready to complete that end on Saturday.  Good job guys.

Mike and Stu made considerable progress drilling the holes for the rivets that will hold the firebox corner patch.

Drilling pilot holes for the rivets

In addition we started to plan the process of safe ending and testing the super heater flues.

Those of us too large to fit thru the manhole did however make substantial progress on the Shay.  The truck was again shunted out of the South end and steam cleaned, first with the steam shop equipment and then using the far more powerful machine kindly loaned by the car shop.  With several of us taking it in turns over about 5 hours the truck is now probably clean enough to inspect.  It was an interesting job.  Hard grease, softened by steam and blasted by high pressure tends to fly in all directions - including back at the operator.  Cleaning yourself after several hours of this is not a trivial exercise !!.

Paul hard at work

This makes an interesting comparison to last week.  Now we can now needle chip the frames for final inspection and painting.

Now we can see the detail

Nigel

A very strange day at the steam department.  The temperatures were more like May than March but one of the "isolated thunderstorms" seemed to take aim at Union.  I have rarely seen rain and hail like it and a significant part of the morning was spent clearing drainage as water building up between the shop and barn 9 started to flood into the shop.

However, when the storm had passed it became a beautiful day and we were able to carry out the shunt to move the Shay truck out of the shop for steam cleaning.  This was rather a "rush job" as no one had expected conditions to be good enough for this so soon.

All the equipment started well after the winter so it proved possible to get everything shunted by 1:30.

This is March ??

So several hours of steam cleaning were done, removing probably 30 lbs of caked grease and muck.

Steam cleaning in progress

This area of the truck frame was previously completely filled with hardened grease and muck.

Cleaning progress

This had to be done using the old steam department machine as the more powerful car shop one was not yet serviced.  Hopefully we can borrow that next time the weather is favorable.  Now that all the equipment is set up it should be much quicker to shunt the truck outside next time.

Nothing is ever as easy as you hope.  The roof of the wheel drop is a bear to remove and replace, requiring use of the Bay City crane.  As darkness falls, Phil and Cameron demonstrate the gentle art of removing the lifting hook that became wedged in the hoisting eye of the roof !!

Just release the hook and we are done !!

Also on the Shay, Dennis completed welding the crack on the front surface of the cross beam so that repair should now be complete. 

Unfortunately the weather was much less kind to work on 1630.

The target was to complete the interior sand blasting.  Eric and others managed to completely clear the blast medium from the boiler and work was started on cleaning the belly section.  However the humidity after the storm proved disastrous.  Moisture in the compressed air caused the equipment to clog repeatedly and only about a third of the work was done before the equipment became completely useless.  The rest of the day was spent removing the buildup of damp medium from the equipment and adding additional moisture collection points to the air feed.  With these in place it should be possible to complete next weekend even if we do have similar conditions.

Bob and Paul prepared the cab for sand blasting the back head.  To allow this, we needed to seal all open pipes and valves.  This sandblasting should be a quick job once we can pull the locomotive into the open.  There is no way of containing the medium when we do this so it must be done outside the shop.  At the same time we will plan to lift out the throttle body for inspection.

Glenn and others finished painting the remaining super heater flues so they are now all ready for safe ending.

Work continued on machining various parts of 428 including the axle box plates, connecting rod ends and bushes.

Mike hones the end of a connecting rod

Nigel 

Yesterday was a productive session at the Steam Shop.

On 1630:

Collin did most of the remaining sand blasting while Phil did a great job getting sand back out of the boiler, supported by a number of us who spent the day either pouring 50 lb bags of sand into the equipment or collecting it out of the chute as is was removed !!.  We should now be at the point of "tidying up".  The back tube sheet, parts of the belly and dry pipe need to be done but, aside from that, it is a case of inspecting and "touching up" any areas that are not clean enough to allow a good inspection.  This should be done next weekend.

Collin took a few shots inside the boiler where Nigel does not fit.  This one shows the critical seam between the rear tubesheet and the firebox crown.  Now largely clean, we need to clean back as far as the crown stays next week to allow the complete inspection of this area.

Crown sheet seam

This is the front tubesheet, still closed off by the ply sheets.  The cleaning is now done.  The area where the sheet joins the barrel has been subject of particular attention as this is an area where there is a particular risk of cracks.

Front tube sheet

Glenn and his grandson completed the cutting of the super heater flues.  A coat of paint on those not already done and this job will be complete.

Cutting in progress

All done and reading for painting

Work was also progressed on making good the mud ring ready for the firebox patch.  Dennis has built up a number of the rivet holes with weld and Mike was grinding the welded areas to allow these to be drilled to provide accurate holes for riveting.

Over the next few weeks we expect to carry out the thickness testing and, as soon as the weather looks suitable, pull her outside to sand blast the cab back head.  This will also allow much of the accumulated dust to be removed.

On the Shay there was a lot of activity:

Dennis has been welding during the week and on Saturday.  What was initially just the rebuilding of the smoke box has become a much bigger job that demonstrates the joys of inspecting old steam engines!!. 

We have always known that #5 had a major accident many years ago in which it fell on its right side.  As a result of this the motor was replaced and other repairs were required.  Possibly as part of this, the transverse beam which carries the locomotive on the front truck was cracked and strengthened with steel plates on both front and back faces.  Inspection revealed that this repair was not very well done (although I guess you can say that, having lasted 75 years, it was probably fit for purpose).  The plates were not heavily welded to the beam in the center so the plates themselves have now cracked.  Clearly this is not good as the weight of the boiler rides on this cracked area.

This view clearly shows the patches attached to the beam many years ago and the area where Dennis has cut back thru both the plate and the beam to get to the root of the crack.

Front with crack cut out

Rear with crack cut out

Dennis at work

Rear view now with crack reapaired

The repair involves extensive cutting back thru the plates to the beam where they are cracked and then building up again with a solid body of weld metal.  The cutting out has been done on both sides and, by end of day, the rear face had been completely rebuilt.  Once the beam is fully rebuilt Dennis can move on the smoke box.

Phil made good progress on the truck cleaning.  He has now removed much of the dry muck.  With the improving weather we will plan to shunt the truck (and 428) out of the South end as soon as possible to use the steam cleaner to blast off the greasy material.

Progress on cleaning the truck

On 428 forming of the steel plates that will be used to rebuild the axle boxes is well under way.  Attaching these will be a major job for Dennis once the Shay smoke box is done.

Steel plates will be welded into the axle boxes

Tom discusses the shaping operation with Cameron and Phil.

Shaping repair plates for the axle boxes

Nigel