What a year!.
Another Saturday somewhat disrupted by the Winter weather. There was a reasonable turn out at the shop
but a lot of people left at lunchtime as the rate of snowfall increased. For those of us that stuck it out, the snow
did cease by evening and the slither down US20 to the expressway was what we
are becoming used to.
It was definitely a day for work
inside the shop and the absence of some key people and parts meant that testing
of the paint sprayer could not proceed.
However work progressed in a number of other areas.
On 1630:
Brian
did a great job in cleaning out the rust scale from the tender tank. The treatment applied a few years ago has not
proved successful and a layer of rusty metal has largely scaled off the bottom
of the tank. During the test steaming we
had some issues with blockage of the water flow to the injectors. From Brian’s handiwork it is clear why this
happened. As the rust and muck lifts it
tends to be drawn forward to gather in the area from which the water is being drawn
by the injectors. After several hours of
work in the tank he had extracted a couple of gallons of rusty debris. This was a foul job. We can use the ducted fan to circulate air
but you still have to work in clouds of rusty dust;
The
reverser reservoir is now back in place so that the valves can be moved using
air pressure;
Jim
continued the job of masking the lettering and this is now largely complete. After all this effort we are wondering if we
should stay with blue lettering !;
Matt
primed the area of the engineer’s side walkway that was cleaned off last week;
On the Shay:
Phil
is progressing well with the bolster for the truck. With the lugs for the springs now completed,
it has been primed and now painted on one side at least. Now we just have to turn it over and do the
other side, once it is dry.
We
made good progress on the bolts that fit thru the frame and truck pivot
casting. We had been working on the misapprehension
that these simply secured the pivot into the frame. Jeff reminded us that some of them also
secure the large fabricated draw bar that runs down to the wooden front beam
and on which the coupler is mounted.
Having made that connection, we found that new bolts were acquired a few
years back and stored with the drawbar.
Each hole needs to be cleaned and reamed slightly to allow the bolts to
be fitted. However, with the parts in
hand I was able to fit the first of them by end of day. Looking at the front of the frame member, the
bolts in the 4 outer holes secure the drawbar while the 2 in the middle (which
are currently occupied by locating pegs) only secure the pivot casting to the
beam. The drawbar fabrication has a
recess that fits around the nuts of the two center bolts. The first of the new bolts is in place in the
lower left hole and the holes for the remaining five can now be reamed to allow
the bolts to be fitted.
In the shop in general, some
significant reorganization was achieved:
With
the swager gone, we were able to relocate the air pump for #428 so that it can
now be worked on while allowing free access thru the door. (It does not look like free access in the picture
but the forklift is actually standing in the exit with a pallet of parts ready
to drive out to the boxcar ……. Once there is not 6 inches of snow and ice in the
way !!);
Phil
did a great job sorting and cleaning the steel stock storage area.
So overall a successful day despite the weather.
Nigel
Comments
Tue, 06-13-2017 15:09
IRM is planning on painting the BN E Unit they have now (the one in the passenger scheme) into a CB&Q. Idk if that's what your referring to as [...]
Tue, 06-13-2017 09:07
Did I see a Santa Fe Blue & Yellow GE setting near Barn 4 a couple of weeks ago? If so, what is the story on that unit?
Mon, 06-12-2017 22:56
i think what he means is to give the Executive units some detailing while retaining the Executive Colors, because if you haven't noticed, some of the [...]
Mon, 06-12-2017 19:47
BN1 and BN2 represent the executive fleet well on their own, BN3 was used far less and was 9919 much longer. Another CBQ E unit is a bit excessive at [...]
Sat, 06-10-2017 00:31
I honestly am not a fan of repainting the BN-3. There are plenty of BN E9AM's out there that don't need full repainting. Now I understand it costs [...]
Wed, 05-31-2017 13:59
According to the schedule posted yes. This can all change at any time due to mechanical failure without notice.
Fri, 05-26-2017 11:01
Steam Dept. Crew: You guys are heroes to a lot of us out in the hinterland!
Sun, 05-21-2017 08:14
Yes, the plan is to have CB&Q 9976 available as an alternate silver locomotive for the Nebraska Zephyr should 9911A be unavailable for service. Since [...]
Tue, 05-16-2017 13:08
Question. Will there be steam operating on either June 17th or 18th? Will be visiting from the state of Washington and was just curious. Thanks in [...]
Tue, 05-16-2017 11:36
You mean Burlington Northern #9908 will go back to being Chicago Burlington & Quincy #9976 ?
Mon, 05-15-2017 14:41
Will there be a rain date just in case?
Tue, 05-09-2017 00:35
so, will 992300 have the welded windows cut out? because after seeing a 1977 photo online, it had the windows there.