Entries by James Kolanowski

Here are a few project updates now that the shop is open and work is starting up again.

On Milwaukee Road 33C, we're almost caught up on priming and painting the loose parts, panels, screens, etc.

Lee wire wheeling an aux gen screen.

Covers and screens getting a final coat of gray.

Some of those covers being bolted back into place on 33C.

The Metra 7658 bilevel coach is also in the shop. It is receiving some attention with the HVAC system and door control.

Jeron put the blower motor mounts back together and bolted up one of the motors.

Fittings were ordered to hook up the air back up to the door motors. One of the missing control arms was reinstalled as well.

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific 4506 was completed. Some of those inspection items included going through all the electric gear and rotating equipment. We also replaced some piping on the air system that was rusted through where it goes through the floor.

The full view of the load regulator which has two brushes on a commutator and two on a slip ring.

A common issue is the pigtails not being pushed in to clear the tight clearances when the whole assembly turns and it comes in contact and shorts with other metal parts within the case, as you see here from some point in its life.

Here we see the main generator where the brushes are checked to make sure they are free, insulators and risers wiped clean, among other things. The alternator slip ring brushes on the end of the generator are also critical to check as they typically have aluminum holders and seize up easily when in storage.

This companion alternator wiring was cleaned up and the floor cleaned in this area before the cover places were bolted back into place.

One of the schedule 80 air pipes to show how badly they rust where they go through any floors.

The highest priority project at the moment is still United States Army 8537, our museum's 45 ton switcher. Body prep has continued along with prep work on the trucks after some additional oil cleanup. Ground lights are being installed and we'll have to figure out the best option for permanently mounting the radio antenna before any priming can be started.

While performing the body prep, Jim found a few previous logos, the blue with white star from when it was USAF and the red and yellow USA logo prior to that.

Ben finishing the needlechipping to remove the stripes on the side.

Jake beginning the wire wheeling on the rear pilot.

Sean and Lee finishing prep work on the front pilot.

Bob begins needlechipping the paint off from the FM side of the rear truck.

8537 needs maybe 2 to 3 more days of work and itll be ready for primer and paint.

While moving some parts and supplies into storage to continue our shop cleanup, we dug out the portable wheel lathe that was in storage. The Electric Car Department is planning to use it on some interurban wheels.

The portable wheel lathe bought from Independent Machine Company some 20 years ago.

Some followers were asking about the Armco B71 visibility cab locomotive that is in the shop. It is there for a cosmetic restoration, but is not a priority to work on. When there are extra personnel around, it will be used as a fill in project.

Armco B71

If you would like to support any of these restoration projects, you can donate to the Diesel Department Equipment Restoration Fund and, if you would like, follow up with an email to support a specific piece of equipment. Thank you for your support!

Here are some of the behind the scenes photos during the priming and painting of the UP rotary snowplow after it had been sand blasted. The main rotary unit was painted in barn 14 as it was the only building tall enough for it to fit in to. The tender was painted in the Diesel Shop as it would be winter by the time we were ready to start working on it.

A sample of the aluminum color.

Quite some time ago I had bought a quart sample of the the PPG paint in the color that we thought was right. It wasn't until September 15th when we sprayed a cover to see how it would look. Everyone appeared pretty happy, so we bought the rest in bulk. On September 23rd, we started priming the rotary unit. It was done in 5 sections. We started with priming and painting the roof, then the sides one at a time, priming and painting the round rotary section minus the red, and lastly spraying the red.

The roof was the most difficult section to paint. First, this thing is tall. There was only inches of clearance between the hatch and walk treads over the cab and the bottom of the trusses in the building. Then there was so much equipment on the roof... valves and vents and hatches and ladders and brackets, it never ended. It started with one coat of PPG Corrosion Resistant Epoxy primer and was best to be followed up within 24 hours with the first topcoat of PPG AUE-370 paint. The paint could have its second coat not more than 7 days later. The rood was finished on the 26th of September. The masking was done on October 3rd.

The primer applied on the roof, looking forward.

Two coats of paint on the roof, looking midway towards the rear.

Two coats of paint, looking forward from the rear.

Masking applied to start the sides.

Primer applied to the sides.

IT 1605 acting as an air compressor.

Since barn 14 is a storage building, there is no equipment or source of compressed air. Two portable air compressors were just enough to keep up with the production HVLP spray gun I like to use. One of the compressors died, so I was quick to grab the nearest locomotive, which was 1605, so keep the project going. The larger sullair is far to wet on its air output. 1605 right off the main reservoir MU was perfect and very dry. The sides were started on October 8th and finished on the 9th.

Some primer was done on the front section on the 9th, with the leftover mixed for the sides. The remainder was primed on October 18th and the outside that was aluminum color was painted the same evening. By this time the temperatures were getting a little cool, so all the steel was preheated with the propane heaters the steam guys dropped off. The minimum temp was 50 degrees to spray, we brought it up more than that so it was dry some before getting below 50.

The blades before primer.

Heating up the blades and shroud.

Plenty warm to start spraying.

Primer completed on the blades.

Paint completed on the outside of the shroud.

On October 27th, Buzz started applying the stencils for the lettering and numbers, and on the 28th, Gregg and Blake masked all the areas around the stencils. I sprayed a couple coats of black and we stuck around long enough to remove all the stencils while the paint was still a little tacky. The right side of the rotary still needs all the lettering applied. Buzz ran out of time applying them, and then ran out of weather. This will be completed later this spring when the weather is consistently warm again.

Masking around the stencils.

Black sprayed over lettering.

The end result after removing masking.

The last step was to paint the blades and chute red. That was done the next night on October 29th. Everything was heated up again and two coats done that evening. It had to get done as the forecast was calling for cold temperature later in the week and this was going to be the last chance for any work like this. Aside from lettering on the right side, and painting the trucks black, the main rotary unit is done.

The rotary blades all in red.

The chute where the snow gets ejected.

The tender was sand blasted and then moved into the heated Diesel Shop on November 5th. It wouldn't be worked on until January 2020 as we were all focused on getting the train ready for the Happy Holiday Railway Christmas event. The roof of the tender was primed and painted January 4th and 5th. Then the painter went on vacation for three weeks. On January 31st, the right side was primed and painted over the next two days. The left side, front and rear were primed and painted starting on February 8th and were completed on 9th.

The roof priming completed.

Painting of the aluminum color on the whole tender completed.

The week after, Kym, Gregg, and a number of others wire wheeled the trucks and completed all the prep on those so they could be primed and painted. On the 15th, Roger and I applied all the stencils for the lettering and we all masked off all the areas around so the black could be sprayed over the lettering. This was completed on the 16th and 17th, with all the masking being removed the same day.

Trucks cleaned and primed.

Stencil and masking applied.

Masking applied for the chevrons on the back.

Black being sprayed on the striped and lettering.

The end result with masking removed.

The tender was moved out of the Diesel Shop on the 22nd and moved back to barn 14 with the main rotary unit. All that remains is the roof walk platforms, a bunch of things that connect the tender to the main unit, safety chains and such. All of which will be done as time permits through the remainder of the winter and spring.

Rear view outside after completion.

The engineer side after painting.

The left side while being moved to barn 14.

There are many more photos during the painting process. You are welcome to view a slideshow of them all by following this link in our photo gallery. The slide show will advance automatically at 3 seconds per photo and you can change some of the available options. Enjoy!

Here is the latest update on USA 8537 as we begin the body prep work required now that the grease and oil cleanup has been completed.

Photo: Jim and Ben wire wheeling the cab roof.

Photo: Sean laying down on the job sanding while Ben wire wheels.

Photo: Bob and Jim sanding the No 2 hood and cab wall.

Photo: Linda and Lee wire wheeling shutters and handrails.

Photo: Blake sanding the top of the No 1 hood.

Photo: Making great progress the first couple days.

We will be making some improvements to the locomotive as well. It is the most used switcher and never had ground lights, so we'll be adding that, along with step well lighting to make the unit safer to use at night. The number 2 engine will get an upgrade by removing the tiny auxiliary generator and adding an alternator. The radio antenna will be replaced with a permanent skate instead of the temporary mag mount that it has now. Once the museum opens again, we will continue on the body work and the other improvements.

It has been quite a while since we have posted an update about our Alco FA2, L&N 314. The electrical cabinet has been pretty well filled up and the majority of the wiring has been completed. A significant amount of high voltage traction motor cabling remains to be reinstalled.

The front lower half of the electrical cabinet.

The front upper half of the electrical cabinet.

The wiring in the control stand is nearly complete as well, just some sanding and alarm/indicator circuits remain. Control air has been applied and transition/field shunting circuits and all other relays sequenced good. Control transformer tested ok and revealed a few problems in the Static control panels that were fixed.

Engine control schematic diagram.

Main gen megs good, a full set of brush holders reconditioned and ready to apply.

Rear lower half where most of the high voltage cables terminate to the switchgear.

Rear upper half of the electrical cabinet.

All the fuel injection pumps have been disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled. They all operate freely now and are being reinstalled on the engine.

You can see just how dirty they were.

Most recently, work on the GE 17MG8 governor is underway.

In this update, we'll show some photos of the cleanup that was needed on USA 8537 prior to getting started on the body preparation.

Jim and Sean cleaning the side rods.

GE 45 tonners have a single traction motor on each truck coupled to one of the axles through an oil filled reduction gear box. The second axle is coupled via a chain drive or side rods similar to a steam locomotive. 8537 uses side rods. One of the items on the daily inspection during operation is greasing the rods. During operation, that grease tends to fly and smear everywhere. Many hours were spent by Bob A, Jim P, Sean M, Dave V, and Linda E removing that grease and cleaning the rods, counterweights, and sides of the truck frames.

A view of a side rod after cleaning.

The engines themselves, along with the floors of the engine compartments, received some attention as well. These engines are Cummins HBI inline 6 cylinder normally aspirated diesels rated at 150 horsepower each. This engine design is over 90 years old. We have five of them at the museum, two on the 8537, and three that run the power car in the Nebraska Zephyr. The #1 on the 8537 has the newer style PT fuel pump. The #2 engine still runs the original single disc fuel pump. It was interesting trying to get the mechanical throttle linkage adjusted to make the engines power curve synchronization be fairly close throughout the throttle range with those two very different pumps.

The pump side of the number 1 engine after cleaning. This shows the PT style pump.

The manifold side of the number 1 engine after cleaning.

The pump side of the number 2 engine, showing the single disc style pump.

The manifold side of the number 2 engine during cleaning.

Stay tuned for the next update where we begin working on the body preparation.