Entries by James Kolanowski

The annual Diesel Days event this year is this weekend, July 23rd and 24th. Volunteers will be working throughout this week to ready several more locomotives for the Parade of Power. Normal operations each day will begin at 10:30am and will continue until 5:00pm. We will break around 1:00pm each day for the Parade of Power.

Equipment is as follows (subject to mechanical condition, updated 7-18-2016):

United States Army 8537 (45 Ton)
Commonwealth Edison 15 (SW1)
Burlington Northern 5383 (U30C) display only
Burlington Northern 1 (F9A), 2 (F9B)
Burlington Northern 3 (E9Am)
Milwaukee Road 37A (E9A)
Milwaukee Road 760 (H10-44)
Milwaukee Road 118C (F7A) display only
Milwaukee Road 1603 (HH600) display only
Green Bay Western 2407 (RSD15)
Chicago Burlington & Quincy 504 (SD24)
Chicago Burlington & Quincy 9255 (SW7)
Chicago Burlington & Quincy 9911A (E5A) Nebraska Zephyr
Illinois Terminal 1605 (GP7)
Southern Pacific 1518 (SD7)
Union Pacific 1848 (B40-8)
Union Pacific 6930 (DDA 40X) display only
Chicago & North Western 4160 (GP7R)
Chicago & North Western 1689 (RSD5)
Chicago & North Western 6847 (SD40-2) display only
Chicago & North Western 411 (F7A) display only
Chicago & North Western 8648 (C44-9W) display only
Chicago & North Western 8701 (C44-9W) display only


We'll keep the usual disclaimer of: All equipment and schedules subject to change without notice.

A night photo session is scheduled this year for Saturday evening. A limited number of passes will be available here for $40.00 each. We will meet at the East Union Depot at about 6:30pm. There will be photo lineups with Milwaukee Road; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; and Chicago and North Western equipment.

On Saturday March 19th, our plan for the day was to remove the radiator hatch from IT 1605 and replace a bad core. Our day started a little after 9:00am with Jeron G getting the CE 15 running as I started clearing a work area on the North aisle of the shop by the door and clearing some material stored by the pallet with the new core. We were joined by Mark S, Lee E, Don P, and later in the day Matt O joined in. We moved the string of locos out of the shop working with the track department who was also using the Forklift and prepping machines for their days work.

Sometimes, like this, it is nice having a big Cat forklift that can lift a lot and has forks that can go some 20 feet high. Although it can be too large for some uses, this wasn't one of them. We had the hatch off in a few minutes and Mark and Jeron began taking some steel plates the edges of the radiator cores. We had the right bank of cores out within a half hour after that. After we moved them to the work area in the shop, it took a little under two hours to unbolt the cores, chase the threads and clean all the bolts, make a slight modification to the headers on the new core, and bolt it all together with new gaskets. We took a break for lunch before placing the cores back into the loco.

After lunch, we moved the new bank back to the west end of the shop outside and lifted them back into the locomotive. Just a few slight adjustments were needed to line up everything. The air deflectors were screwed back into place, modifying a couple of them where the new core was sitting. The hatch was placed back on and bolted down. Lee and Don even had time to start inspecting the main and aux gens, and fuel pump motor. We cleaned up tools and supplies, put the locos away, and were done by 6:00pm.

Our next job over the next week or two will be to bolt all the water pipes back on, finish the inspection, and fill here with water and test everything out.

On Sunday, March 20th, the first car was moved into Barn 14 after receiving occupancy on Friday. The car was Grand Trunk Western 5316, a coach that was relocated from Barn 9. With the completion of Barns 13 and 14, the museum now has 3.07 miles of indoor track space! Two other cars were moved into Barn 14 as well, those were the Great Northern 70104 and the Bordens Milk Car 520. Over the coming weeks and months, many more hours of switching will occur to begin filling the new barns and rearranging many of the existing barns.

Our main goal on Saturday the 5th was to get the rear radiator hatch prepped for removal on Illinois Terminal 1605. One of the six cores has had a small leak for a number of years now, which is why we don't use the locomotive very often. Last year we bought a new double length core, but have not found the time to actually change it. In and out of working with the Army from the 757th Expeditionary Railway Center, who was on site for familiarization and training, we were able to ready everything for removal of the hatch. Our crew was myself, Don P, Jeron G, and Mark S.

Photo: Illinois Terminal 1605, an EMD GP7.

We had to disconnect the pipes off the front of the radiators, which required removing the coupling hoses on the pipes that lead to the front radiator hatch. The fan cables had to be disconnected. The rear pipe and elbows from the headers and the venting pipes all had to be removed. All the bolts on the top of the hatch were also removed.

Our plan is to remove the hatch on Saturday the 19th, remove the bad core and one other, install the new double core, and place the hatch back onto the loco the same day. We'll also work on the normal inspection items that are due as well.

Photo: The rear hatch unbolted.

Wednesday evening in the shop was Kyle M, Jeron G and myself. We continued on the inspection items on CE 15. Before Kyle and I arrived, Jeron continued working on all the hood latches, removing any one that had bend or stiff linkage, straightening them as needed, and cleaning and lubricating all of them with a dry graphite lubricant. It is amazing how well and easily these doors close and latch now. All three of did the engine inspection, with Kyle on the right side, me on the left side, and Jeron and the bar turning the engine. During this process, we check the pistons, rings, and liners, a whole bunch of things in the air box and crank case. With no issues found, we moved onto other things. Kyle sanded and primed the surfaces where the front radiator screen bolts to the carbody, and finished by bolting the screen back on. Jeron started pulling the flange lubricators off to see if those can be repaired and put back into service. He was finding some very worn parts and it should be interesting to see what we are able to do with them, more to come there in the future. I spent some time removing the water sight glass, cleaning it, and reinstalling it. Much easier to see the coolant level now. I also changed both main reservoir drain valves.

On Saturday, it was Mike B, Jeron G and myself. Sorry, no pictures from this day as I just didn't remember to take any. Mike checked and oiled the friction bearings, went through the fuel pump motor and cab heat motor, cleaned some light safety globes and bulbs, and cleaned the rear headlight lens and reflector. I oiled the radiator fan bearings and then we both put the panels back in place for the duct from the fans to the radiators. Jeron started working on the sand hoses and checking more with the flange lubricators. After I had returned from a meeting and after we all had a late lunch, I went through all of the traction motors and checked the motor support bearings. All of the latch handles on the top of the motors were stuck, at some future date those will have to come off and have the pins replaced to make them work properly again. The cab floor and subfloor were all vacuumed. There's just a handful of items that remain before this inspection, along with some other improvements, are completed. Until next time.