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Sunday, July 22. 2018Update... 428
Much of the steam departments attention has been focused on the 1630 and the first fire up of the Shay. But there still is a lot of enthusiasm and work being done on the Union Pacific engine. Rich Thomas has been leading the volunteers and has been working on getting the cab ready to be reinstalled on the engine body. Two projects have received his attention. But first a little background history about the engine. When we started this project, many many moons ago the old rusty cab was removed from the engine and made ready for a rebuild. That involved replacing the old rusty pieces of steel with new ones. Among items that needed attention was the cab flooring. New pieces were cut from the old pattern but never installed. In order to install the rebuilt cab the steel flooring first had to fitted and new pieces riveted in place. That will be done this month! The second project involves the interior of the cab. Rich has been working on the installation of the interior wood paneling for the ceiling and the walls. He has completed that part. These pictures will show the reader his progress. Once the steel flooring is installed he will lift the cab with its newly installed wood paneling and secure the cab to the frame. THEN we can start to install the interior cab piping and make it an operational steam locomotive once again. Many years ago the museum acquired 3000 board feet of specialized tongue and groove paneling. Rich crawled into the boxcar and retrieved about 90 lengths of this paneling to be used on the reconstructing of the cab ceiling. Before it could be installed it first had to cut to the correct lengths using our wood shop tools located in the barn 4 annex. After the boards were thoroughly dry Rich began the installation of the boards to the ceiling of the 428's cab. I will show you the next newly completed step in a future blog. The purpose of this entire subproject is for the eventual reinstallation of the cab onto the frame of the 428 so that we can begin to install the cab fittings and piping in the cab. Next comes the insulation covering the backhead of the boiler and then a sheet metal covering that insulation. Obviously, there is still quite a of work to accomplish regarding the 428 but this new progress is very exciting to witness. Keep watching for updates and please continue to send in your donations for the Union Pacific 428 Campaign. With all the new excitement being generated concerning the 428 the new estimated time of completion is around three [3] years from now! Just think of that statistic for a while! Thanks Roger
Wednesday, July 4. 2018Number 5 is AliveThe steam department accomplished a major milestone July 3 when the J. Neils Lumber Co was fired up for the first time since 1999! The FRA inspector was out watching the first fire up checking on any repair issues that that show up. There were a couple of minor problems but they will be addressed and repaired before the next fire-up. Here are some pictures of the event. Pouring water and loading coal into the tender at our steam servicing facilities. Not many museums can boast two operating steam locomotives. We can ! July 3rd was the fire up date and there was a big contingency of steam volunteers to watch it get hot. These guys sure put in a lot of volunteer hours to make this engine FRA ready. Much praise to all of them! Here Brian Davies is turning the blower valve and smoke begins to appear from the stack. That was a pretty site! If you watch carefully at the sequence of pictures you can see the movement of the cylinders and wheels. I don't know when both engines will be operating together for the first time! BUT.... Make sure your schedule is open for Antique Transportation day, Labor Day and or Railfan weekend in September! During these many blogs I have always asked for donations to various projects here at Irm. Well, This is the reason. Your separate donations DO make a difference. Here is the proof. Although, it took a long time, the results are worth the wait! Now to the next operating steam locomotive. Union Pacific 428 needs more money to complete that project! My next blog will be about the progress on the 428. Please help with this project ! Thanks Roger Sunday, July 1. 2018Part 3 Milwaukee Road Coach 649
Now to Part 3. This year the big project for Howard Gierer is the painting of one of our two new Milwaukee Road coaches acquired last year. We hope to use both of them this year on our Happy Holiday Train in late November and early December of this year!
After the first coat of primer was applied Howard is now repairing some imperfections on the exterior skin of the coach. After the finish coat of Milwaukee Yellow was applied we covered the painted area with plastic to protect it from future dirt and damage. Another new volunteer was added to our team. Steve Dobberfuhl has started his first day by removing more paint. We welcome you to our growing team, Steve. Hey, after a long day of volunteering Howard, Bill and Steve are happy that the priming is finished on this side. |
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Comments
Thu, 01-21-2021 19:44
Hello Jack Yes, the buffers have been installed but the canvas curtains cost about about 1500 each to purchase. Thanks Roger
Wed, 01-20-2021 07:46
is there a eason a lot of passenger cars have no diaphrams on them? i see several have the buffers installed
Fri, 01-15-2021 10:20
Hello Jason. Your comments are very much appreciated. Yes, there is much hard work that goes into all our restorations and maintenance here at the [...]
Fri, 01-15-2021 10:13
Hello Jack Yes, It will be one of our most impressive cars that we have at IRM when its completed. Thanks for the pat on the back! Roger.
Thu, 01-14-2021 21:05
Those cars look great so far guys! Man I wish I had the time to volunteer and become a member at IRM that looks like so much fun especially with how [...]
Tue, 01-12-2021 16:30
the pawnee is looking great a pat on the back to all involved
Mon, 01-04-2021 12:31
Hello Jack Happy New Year from IRM. To my knowledge there was no damage from the minor ice storm that we had in late December, 2020. Some [...]
Sun, 01-03-2021 20:12
the museum area had lots of ice storms in area did the museum get a lot of damage
Thu, 12-24-2020 13:27
roger, Thank you to all of the Passenger car department volunteers. The #109 is going to be a great car when all done! Ted miles, [...]
Sun, 12-06-2020 08:46
Hello Ted We havenot finished lettering the 975 but we are well on the way. Look for a few blogs from me now that the wearther is colder and the [...]
Sat, 12-05-2020 18:36
i watched crew replace switch by diesel shop on dec 5. its good to see museum have equipment to do job and save money
Fri, 12-04-2020 14:56
It has been a long time with no news; have you finished lettering the Southern Pacific locomotive? Please post a picture. Ted Miles, IRM Member