Entries by Nigel Bennett

Shay update, January 2016:

Happy New Year!  My last report here regarding the Shay was back in September.  I had fully intended to do a report following my three week trip up to IRM in October, but life has a way of intervening.  It also doesn't help matters that I tend to like machining, painting, and mechanical work better than putting my thoughts on paper.  But, here we go.

As Nigel has been reporting, great progress has been made since my last report towards returning the Shay to service.  I will try to put some names down here to thank and acknowledge those who have helped on the Shay for all of their hard work.  I will undoubtedly miss names, and to those people, I can't thank you enough for all of your continued help on this project.  When you great blog readers visit IRM, please remember that everything you see running and restored is thanks to the hard work of our volunteers and the generosity of our donors.  Thank you all!

On to the Shay.  During my three week vacation work was progressing on the Shay on a daily basis.  Many volunteers came in on weekdays when normally no one is in the shop, and this help really pushed our project forward.  As Nigel has already given descriptions of much of what has been accomplished on the Shay during my three week "vacation" and leading up to today, I will attempt to add what I can to what he has already covered.

As of now all of the work to properly seal and form the ends of every boiler tube is complete.  At IRM, we use the time honored, traditional methods of installing boiler flues used almost universally in the steam era.  I can go into this process in further detail in a future blog if people would like, but suffice it to say for now that the methods we use take a lot of time, but result in a tube job that should give us a very well-sealed boiler for all 15 years of service until the next federally mandated boiler inspection.

One stay bolt was found to be broken the first time we filled the boiler with water, and a couple of days later it was replaced.

Trevor, with help from Ben, has finished preparing the inside of the water tender for painting with a protective coating.  In the upcoming weeks Cody will be leading the project of painting the inside of the tender tank.

As Nigel has reported in previous shop reports, the boiler on the Shay has passed its federally mandated hydrostatic pressure test.  This major milestone will now allow us to proceed with the jobs of adding parts back on the boiler.

The boiler on steam locomotives gets an insulation material applied to it.  This is called lagging.  Surrounding the lagging is a sheet metal skin called the jacket.  We use a type of block insulation that, while quite messy and itchy to apply, works quite well and can withstand the pressure of engine crews standing on the jacket repeatedly while doing maintenance on the locomotive.  Jerry has started the process of securing wires circumferentially and evenly spaced along the boiler which will be used to secure the lagging to the boiler. 

Wiring to hold the insulation

The process of applying the blocks of insulation will begin shortly.  This job consists of wiring individual blocks of lagging onto the boiler, one at a time, securing them to the previously mentioned circumferential wires to hold them in place.  Once the insulation is applied, the task of refitting the jacket can begin.  To prepare for this, several volunteers, including Jane, Ben and others, have been working to remove old primer and rust from the back sides of every piece of jacketing, and then priming and painting the back side to help prevent rust and keep the jacket in good condition.  We have thus far held off on doing any cleaning up of the outside surface of the jacket, other than removing old grease and oil, until we decide whether to paint the locomotive over this winter or not.  Painting takes a good amount of volunteer time that may otherwise be needed for other mechanical projects to get the locomotive into operating condition.  If the mechanical side of the project continues at a good pace, some paint work may start in the next few months.

Once the lagging and jacketing is installed, work can then turn to reinstalling all of the piping necessary to make the locomotive operable.  This includes water delivery pipes, steam pipes to the various appliances, and air piping for the bell, sanders, and brake system, as well as related brake control stands in the cab.

During the Shay's whole operating life, from the time it was built to the time it was retired from regular service, it burned oil as its fuel source.  When the Shay was converted to burn coal by the Chicago and North Western Railway in preparation for its arrival at IRM in the late 1960's, an industrial grate system was installed.  These grates performed generally well over the years.  However, as they were not designed for locomotive use, they were at times cantankerous and hard to rock in order to clean clinker and ashes from them each morning.  Also eventually, due to age and use over time, the grates would warp or break, necessitating periodic replacement.  Around the time the locomotive was removed from service at IRM the decision was made to make the proper grates for this locomotive.  To this end, Steam Curator Tom Schneider, following original Lima Locomotive Works drawings, made new wood patterns to have all new, proper, grates and side bearers cast. Phil and I spent time in the Shay's firebox in October measuring and laying out where the new studs will be welded in the firebox to support the new grate system.  In the next few weeks the hope is that our welder Dennis, aided by Phil, will weld in these studs.  Once this is done installation of the grate system and its associated linkage can be carried out.

Another large area of the locomotive, the smokebox, has seen a great amount of work done on it in the past couple of months.  All of the holes needed to rivet on the new bottom portion of the smokebox have been drilled, and the bottom piece was bolted on, awaiting riveting and welding to the old portion.  Several of the rivets that need to be installed are in an area inconveniently close to the frame of the locomotive.  Because of these close confines, normal riveting practices are quite difficult.  To make it possible to rivet in these areas, Tom and Dennis designed a special fixture that will allow us to use the frame of the locomotive to our advantage to aid us in driving the rivets! 

Fixtures for riveting

Hopefully Nigel can describe this in better detail in a future blog update.  Once the riveting is done, Dennis will weld the new bottom to the old part of the smokebox.  Soon after this is done, installation of the superheater units and other front end pieces can begin.  To prepare for this, our machinist, Eric, has been busy machining a few newly cast pieces that were made to replace old steam fittings for use in the smokebox that were very heavily deteriorated from years of corrosion and use.

There are always many, many small projects among the larger ones involved with locomotive restoration.  One of these currently is replacement of several wood brackets used to secure lubrication piping above the motor unit.  Over the years these pieces have rotted out to the point where they do little to hold the lubrication piping in place. 

These were once brackets!

Phil and John have been working on replicating these pieces, and they should be reinstalled in the next few weeks.

Being away from the museum as much as I am can not only make it a challenge to manage a project in a way that moves a project along at a good pace and keeps everyone happy, but it is also frustrating when I wish I could physically do more to help while I am not there.  Because of this I took on a project for the Shay that could be done from home.  It was quite common for logging locomotives to have steam driven water pumps on them to use for firefighting for washing the locomotive, and I am sure for various other uses.  Our Shay has had one of these duplex steam pumps on it most of its life.  Unfortunately, when the locomotive was retired and before it came to IRM the pump appears to have been removed from the locomotive.  In the early to mid 1970s, volunteers replaced it with a different pump.  While not the same brand of pump the locomotive carried in service, the pump is an appropriate stand in.  In fact, while doing research on this pump, I found that the pump is older than the locomotive!  This pump has not been operable in the time I have been a volunteer at IRM (starting in 1995) and even Tom Schneider, who has been with IRM since the mid 1970s, doesn't remember the last time this pump was operable.  For many years I have wanted to rebuild this pump and return it to operation.  I started working on it in April of this year, and I am happy to report that its rebuild was completed on December 23rd; my Christmas present to IRM, the Shay, and the steam shop. 

Newly rebuilt water pump

Newly rebuilt water pump

If there is interest I can write a blog about the restoration of this pump at a future time.  But for now, I am excited that the pump is again operable, works well, and will be serviceable on the Shay hopefully for years to come.

Overall, work on the Shay is moving along at a fine pace.  Much has been accomplished since my last report in September, and the list of things to do is growing ever shorter.  We are still working towards the goal of seeing the locomotive operate in 2016.

As Nigel and I have both mentioned, we are actively seeking donations towards the rebuilding of the Shay.  Nigel has informed me that since his last plea for funds several donations have come in for the Shay.  THANK YOU!!  We really, truly appreciate every donation we receive.  I think perhaps us members don't always express well how much we really appreciate all of you who donate money to preserve and rebuild our equipment, but we couldn't do the work we do without your help.  So again, thank you very, very much.

I would also like to say a huge THANK YOU to every member of the Steam Department who has helped on the Shay's restoration to date.  Each of you will be to thank for the locomotive's return to service.  This said, we always welcome new volunteers.  If any of you reading this have thought over time, "Someday I would really like to go out there and try volunteering in the Steam Shop," well, why wait?  The work is dirty and results can happen slowly, but there is a lifetime of learning available to those who are interested, and generally a good amount of fun as well.  You don't need to know a thing about steam locomotives, but just have a willingness to listen, learn, and work.  Come out and talk to us in the shop.  There is always someone there every Saturday.

Whether you are a donor, a volunteer, or a visitor to IRM, thank you for your support, and here's hoping that 2016 sees us have two of our own steam locomotives in operation for the first time since 1999!

Another year draws to a close and there is a lot of activity in the steam shop.  I had expected the day after Christmas to be fairly quiet but there was a good turnout and work proceeded on many fronts.

On #1630 we are progressing along what is now the standard plan for the Winter with the normal annual inspection work, which is substantially boiler focused, running in parallel with “catch up” work to improve the overall mechanical condition of the locomotive.

Aside from some smaller items, the major focus this Winter is on the valves.  It has been apparent for some time that there is wear in the valves leading to lower efficiency and leakage that can be demonstrated when the valves are set in specific positions with steam applied.  As with most backlog work, the initial hope that we could get away with a quicker and simpler repair has proved sadly misplaced!.  Guess we should not be too surprised.  When doing the initial stripping we found some tags set behind the valve chest nuts that indicate when last stripped for overhaul – SLSF Springfield shops 1947!.  You really have to question the quality of the work when we have to do it again after only 68 years!!.

The findings so far are a mixture of good and bad news.

The valve chests have liners in which the valve spindles run.  These are press fitted to the casting at each end and the ports leading to each end of the cylinder are in these liners.  In this view of the ES valve cylinder with the valve removed you can see the front liner including the ports with the live steam chamber behind it (and the rear liner and ports behind that)

Inside the valve cylinder

The movement of the valve, which has sprung rings bearing on the liners, opens these ports to the steam supply (center) or the exhaust (outer ends) as the spindle is moved back and fore by the valve gear.  Wear on the rings and/or liners results in leakage and deteriorating performance.  Here you can see the valve itself.  In use the central section feeds live steam while exhaust steam is released ahead of and behind the outer faces of the valve body.

ES valve spindle

Here the rear of the ES valve cylinder shows the space where the valve spindle has been detached from the crosshead and removed from the gland but the crosshead is still attached to the combination lever.

Crosshead with valve removed

Then the crosshead was detached from the combination lever and removed.

Crosshead split from combination lever

The initial hope was that the problems might be corrected simply by fitting new rings, of which we do have a substantial supply acquired with the locomotive.  Bad news.  Having opened up the valve chest and measured the bores, which should obviously be perfectly round, they are worn out of round to levels significantly outside acceptable tolerances.  So replacing the rings would not be expected to fix the leakage.

The next standard level of repair is to re-bore the liners.  Here the news was good.  On these locomotives the liners start at a 12 inch internal diameter when new and can be bored in 1/16^th increments to a maximum of 12 3/8 inches, at which point new liners are required.  It looks as if #1630 must have received new liners when the job was last done as one measures 12 inches and the other 12 1/16.  So this says that, unless we hit unexpected problems in the boring, we have plenty of metal for a cut of 1/8 or 3/16, which is the current estimate of what is required to bring the bores back to round.

Yesterday the stripping continued.  The yolk that supports the valve crosshead on the back of the ES valve cylinder was removed.  Sounds easy but this thing is a solid lump of steel !.

Crosshead yolk removed

With this removed the rear end of the cylinder and the liner are clearly visible.  A substantial number of the studs came out of the casting rather than the nuts coming off the stud.  Not altogether surprising.  In 70 years exposed to steam and heat in this position the nuts were heavily rusted to the studs.  This is now substantially ready to start mounting the boring bar that will be used to re-bore the liners. 

Looking into the back of ES valve cylinder

Work has started on preparing the boring bar that is required to re-bore the valve cylinders.  This is a huge piece of equipment in its own right.  Luckily we have a full set of this equipment although it has not been used since the cylinders on #428 were bored in the 1980's.

In parallel with the valve work, a lot of other tasks have been progressed.

Lots of unpleasant and dirty work has been done in clearing the tell-tale holes in the stays as part of the annual inspection.

Phil has been working on ensuring that all the wedge bolts are free and working correctly.  At the moment this is more in preparation for the program for next Winter when we hope to do a full check on the alignment of the drive axles.

The spring loaded buffer between locomotive and tender has been removed and inspected.  As suspected the heavy springs that take up the slack are slightly compressed with the result that there is a little slack apparent on the footplate as you start to reverse.  This is being corrected by adding some spacers that will ensure the buffer always retains contact between loco and tender.

The stoker discharge / fire hole door casting has been detached in preparation for remaking the fire cement seal between this and the fire box.  Some smoke and fume could be seen leaking thru this joint during last season.

The FS injector starter valve has been removed for machining of the valve seat.  This has been subject to repeated minor but annoying leaks and has been lapped a number of times.  Hopefully re-machining the seat will give us a more permanent repair.

On the Shay, work proceeds steadily.

Probably the most critical aspect is temporary work.  Dennis has been fabricating steel  backing plates that will provide a rigid surface against which the bucking tool can be braced to allow the rivets for the smokebox to be formed.  These are critical as a number of rivets must be driven in locations where there is not sufficient space to brace manually.  (These are rivets that would normally have been driven with the boiler at least lifted if not completely out of the frames).  This is a critical step as, once the rivets are in place, a whole bunch of other work can get under way.  Aside from the obvious work on the front end, once she can be taken off the jacks, it becomes possible to reconnect the tender and third truck.

Supports for rivetting

A lot of work has gone into needle chipping the firebox so that this can be properly painted.

Work is well under way on setting the wires around the boiler to which the insulation will be mounted.

Wires to attach insulation

Jane has been hard at work on removing rust from the back of the boiler cladding and then painting this.  At this point she will look a lot better INSIDE the boiler cladding that outside!.  Brian is planning on doing a really good paint job once she is complete so only the hidden areas are being painted for protection at this stage.

On #428

The cab riveting is now complete and work has moved on the filling the last holes and then painting in preparation for making the wooden cab lining.

On shop services, the large compressor is now fully plumbed in.  As soon as we can get the power connected to it we can test and adjust it ready for the state inspection.  With luck this will be ready when we want to rivet the smokebox of the Shay.

So a lot of activity but a whole lot more to be done if we are to be ready for running at the start of the season.  So, Happy New Year to all and watch this space!.

Nigel

What a difference a few days makes in Illinois!!.  In the last few weeks we have been working steadily thru the jobs needed to winterize #1630 and the support equipment while enjoying a long warm Fall.  Then this weekend Winter arrived with a vengeance.  Small problem, this was the weekend we had a rather critical activity scheduled!!.  So, neither rain nor snow etc.  (Also you don’t have to be mad to work in the steam shop but it sure helps at times.

The  critical activity was the FRA observed hydro test of Shay #5 which was scheduled for Sunday.  Clearly large quantities of water do not mix well with temperatures falling into single digits.  However we managed.

On Friday Phil managed to fill the boiler and a reserve container in the shop before draining the bottle car that provides our supply of treated water.  (Just ahead of the night when temperatures plummeted).

On Saturday I managed to get to the shop between the two bands of snow.  Conditions on site were “interesting” and the work team was small. 

Wild day at IRM

Difficult to imagine that this was just 7 days after the shot of removing the dome cover from #1630!!.  Congratulations to Chris and Jon who made it in.  On the Shay the objective was to get the water circulating from the boiler thru the pool heater and then get this fired up so that boiler could be brought up to around 100F and allowed to equilibrate for the test.  This was subject to some significant concern as the heater is outside and, should it not operate reliably, there would be a risk of it freezing and damaging the exchanger.  Much to my relief, despite digging it out of the snow and having to shield it from further driving snow during the day, it started and ran reliably so the warm up worked well. 

Snug inside the shop

Actually, having been used to #1630, it is startling how much quicker #5 warms up and it seems to even the heat out much more effectively because of the relatively short barrel.  In the shot above you can see the inlet from the heater feeding into the dome and the return running from the blow down back along the shop to the North.

Cold but pretty

Sunday was a very pretty day, even if it was 8F when I got back to the shop, and the team could get to the site without problems.  The heater restarted without issue and the boiler was ready for testing by mid-morning when the FRA inspector was scheduled.  The pressure was raised slowly to 240 psi (125% of the 190 psi at which she will operate).    Jason, Phil and Collin worked with the inspector to check parts of the boiler for any sign of leakage but she proved extremely tight.  One small area of a seam and the head of one stay will need minor peening but we have an acceptable pressure vessel!!.

This opens up a whole lot more work for the Winter (which is why we were so desperate to get this done before it became impossible to work with water!).  The boiler can now be lagged and the various accessories and their pipework fitted.  The smokebox riveting should be done soon and then the smokebox can be completed and the truck refitted.

Technically there is no reason that she should not be operational next season.  The biggest barrier is MONEY!.  The response to the Summer appear was disappointing ($600 plus $600 in matching).   Funds for #5 are now low and her operation in 2016 is going to depend heavily on donations in the next few weeks.

So, aside from this weekend, what has been happening in the last few weeks?.

#1630

Work progressed as planned.

The boiler was washed out when the weekend weather was reasonable and she then waited for the completion of #938 to free up her space in the shop;

Last weekend the switch was carried out with #938 going outside and #1630 coming into the North end of the shop.  The switching involved some coordination with Frank and the track team as they were using the last good weekend to replace ties in the switches leading in to the steam shop.  Thanks to Frank and his team for this.  Some of the ties were getting very tired and none of us fancy the idea of lifting #1630 out if she were to fall into the switch because of this!. 

Almost a ceremonial end of season ritual is the removal of the dome cover to allow her to fit into the shop.  Thanks to Max who did this lift with the boom truck;

Removing the dome cover

Once into the shop, the switching continued to split the loco and tender and remove the drawbar for its annual inspection;

This weekend we have continued stripping in preparation for the annual inspection and planned Winter work.

The small team yesterday removed the safety valves, firebox lagging and gauges to enable routine annual inspection work;

Today Jason and the team were working on measuring the valves and crosshead shoe.  The major maintenance activity for this Winter is the inspection, and probably fitting new rings, of the valves on both sides and the fitting of new babbit to the upper shoe of the crosshead on the fireman’s side as this has excessive play.

#5 – Shay

I am sure that Brian will provide a more detailed update however a lot of progress is apparent leading up to the test today.

The broken stay, identified in the first water test, was removed and a replacement machined and fitted.  Then the heads were formed.  First the outer end of the stay is bucked to prevent movement (while Phil is working in the firebox to form the head there)

Bucking the stay

Then he moves outside and forms the outer head in the same way.

Forming the stay head

Work then progressed thru the iterative process of applying some hydrostatic pressure to the boiler, spotting any leaks, correcting those leaks and moving to a higher pressure;

Much progress on the backhead

Once it was demonstrated that the tubes and super heater flues were watertight, their ends were formed and beaded;

The boiler as then tested to 240psi to prove it was ready for inspection.

#938

Phil and his team completed the Summer work by painting all the wheel and lower areas that have been stripped and primed.  She looks a great deal more presentable and will hopefully be able to go under cover once the new barns come into service.

Looking much better

#428

With the cab now riveted, Jon has been working on painting the interior and planning the woodwork that can now be fitted.

Compressor shed

Jeff and Jerry have made huge progress on the pipe work for the new compressors.  Max has set up most of the wiring.  The smaller of the two compressors is linked in and workable.  All the main pipe work for the large compressor, including the cooling loop has been installed.  The one remaining item is the flanges to connect the large compressor to the pipework.  Once these are made the whole set up should be in a state to test.

Before it can be commissioned a state inspection is required so we cannot put either into operation until the whole set up is complete.

So a busy and successful couple of weeks.  Now we head into a busy Winter with the objective of completing two locomotives for next season.

Nigel

It has been three years since the beginning of fund raising for the Model Railroad Display Building.  At this time we are at about 50% of the funds needed to start work on the project.  We are now looking at two or three designs for the building.

So what is next?.  This is where you can help with donations to the model railroad restricted fund.

We can make this happen sooner rather than later with your help.  Whether you are a modeler or not this will be an asset to increase the enjoyment of the visitor experience at IRM.  I firmly believe IRM needs to be more entertaining to the typical visitor we get today and, just as we completed a children’s playground in 2012, this will be the next big thing.

Please help with your donations to this cause.

I can be contacted at the museum or by e-mail at havj13@aol.com.

A big thanks to all who have donated to help with this project.

Henry Vincent