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
Wed, 06-06-2018 17:20
Good Job on the 2018. Sincerely, Ethan A.
Tue, 05-22-2018 21:26
Nice to see 1630 in action. Having said that, what is the holdup with the Shay since the front end is reassembled and the shaker grate system is [...]
Tue, 05-22-2018 15:51
I see the web cams don't have the timelaps any more will that feature return?
Tue, 05-22-2018 11:46
Good for you guys to offer the C&NW baggage car to other museums which is 100+ years old; before scrapping it!
Sun, 05-13-2018 20:30
Painting up a ic pass car and am looking to find out what color the stripe is. I model in 1.6 scale. I have the brown and orange. Thanks to [...]
Tue, 05-08-2018 18:34
I bet those cars made some interest noises when they started moving.
Thu, 05-03-2018 12:57
Folks, Over in the news section, I see the C&NW 8728 heavyweight baggage car has been retired from retail duty. I see that the car is not [...]
Sun, 04-29-2018 15:22
The PRR caboose is looking good. Thanks Mr. Humphreys, Rogan and Peterson. Are donations still needed for ATSF caboose #1400? And is this Santa [...]
Sat, 04-21-2018 01:25
with the Schroeder store now open for business, Will the 3 baggage cars become part of the regular coach fleet again?
Wed, 04-11-2018 11:28
You mention in the header that you would like to have the Electroliner operational by its birthday. Was it?
Sun, 04-08-2018 20:03
As a child, IRM was always my favorite place to visit. Well, other than grandma's house next to the Geneva Sub. It's been many years since I now [...]
Wed, 04-04-2018 16:01
Those temporary walls could be constructed in a way that allows their reuse after the phase is done to close off the new phases.