Illinois Railway Museum Blog

This week we owe thanks to Gerry Dettloff who supplied a number of images to fill out this entry.  I will start with a review of several of the projects and then move on to the BIG job of the day.  Read on.

Glazing

Victor Humphreys was on call and started out by glazing some of the new windows for Chicago Great Western X 38 snow plow.

Motor Work

Paul Cronin pitched in by working on motor cleanup and repair for the next woodworking machine to join our stable, a large GREENLEE table saw.

Motor Work

Paul continued on the picky motor work.  He found old gunk, oily sawdust, and peeling paint caked on almost every surface.  The bearings for the motor have seen the needed attention already, and when all parts are primed and painted, we will attempt to reassemble it.

Door Work

Henry Vincent is making good progress on restoring a door for Chicago Aurora & Elgin 36.  The rotted wood has been repaired with new custom fitted pieces and here Henry is trimming out the recessed panels with custom quarter round we made in the shop.

New Roof Boards

Gerry Dettloff and John Faulhaber have been working on repairs to the roof of Lake Shore Electric 810.  The new shop made boards and new tack molding are done for the north side.

More Roof Work

Jeff Brady and Norm Krentel are working on the roof of Michigan Electric 28.  Brrr!  It was chilly working out in the barn area.

Berlin Sander

Here is the BIG job of the day.  Our workhorse for many projects is the massive Berlin Sander which has an estimated weight of 12,000 lbs.  Two of the three drums needed new sandpaper and the machine has to be substantially disassembled to replace the sanding media.  First, the top drive deck is removed using a purpose built A frame and a custom frame jig.

Deck Off

The deck is off and many have never seen the machine from this perspective.  There are a LOT of parts, and many special tools we had to 'invent' to do the work.

How It Works

With that top deck off you may begin to understand how this machine works.  The three sanding drums may be engaged independently and there are synchronized drive rollers on the now removed top deck, and between each of the sanding drums on the lower deck.  The crew for this project included Dave Rogan, Jim Leonard, Dave Diaz, Victor Humphreys, Jim Foraker, Bob Kutella, and Rod Turner.

Access

To gain access to the drums ever more parts were disassembled giving more understanding to the design.

Wrapping

Then it was on to spiral wrapping with big sheets of sandpaper - each about 2 feet wide and almost 10 feet long.  They have to be smooth and tight.

More Hands

More hands make quick work of any job.  In this case maybe more could not fit in the picture (or on the machine).

Going Back Together

With the new paper wrapped it was time to start the assembly process.  I do not remember that casting being that heavy when we took it off.  Is this where it goes?

End of Day

People rotated in and out of the crew.  At the end of the day we had the top deck back above the machine, although not yet set and aligned.  These three guys were ready to do more - Dave Diaz, Jim Leonard, and Victor Humphreys.  But the parts which had littered the shop floors were back in place and hopefully tightened and aligned where they should be.  TO BE CONTINUED