Diesel Department

On Tuesday night, Kyle M worked to remove some additional rot spots on the engineers side of the nose. This takes some time since there are a few layers of steel skin and angle iron supports to cut through, and not hit anything behind it all. Meanwhile I started to weld some new steel supports around the firemans side nose, along with adding some support to the side of the mount for the cab signal box. A new sheet has been cut to wrap around that side, and will be fitted and installed in the coming days. There are many more photos available than are shown in this blog, and are shown here with the most recent being shown first. This photo album will more than likely be updated more often than the blog, but we'll do our best to keep both up to date.

On Sunday, November 20, we moved the BN 9908, an E9Am, deep into the shop to begin some steel work around the cab and continue interior prep, prime and paint of the floor. Jim West has spent the summer working on sealing up some of the water leaks around the carbody and engine room, and needle chipping, sanding and cleaning the engine room floors, under the cab, and in the nose. It is all primed and is about ready for paint, but needs the heated shop to complete it.

E units are pretty close to F units in where they rust and rot around the nose and sides of the cab. Our plan is to spend one month doing as much steel work as we can before other projects will need the same space in the shop and 9908 will have to be moved out. Back in 2006 we were able to do all the same steel work on the CNW 411 in about five weeks. That story is available here in a photo album. After the work is done on the 9908, it will be painted back to its existing green and black scheme for the short term. Sometime in the future, it will be restored back to CB&Q 9976 with stainless steel side panels and will be used as backup power for the Nebraska Zephyr.

Some of the typical places of rust and rot are around the lower base of the nose steel against the anti-climber, and where the sheets were welded together along the beams of the cab side, and all around the nose door. Also around the sand fillers and step wells on both sides. We are starting around the anti-climber and nose door and will work our way backwards as these areas are completed. There are many more photos available than are shown in this blog, and are shown here with the most recent being shown first. This photo album will more than likely be updated more often than the blog, but we'll do our best to keep both up to date.

On the evening of November 18th, Jeron G, Riley L and myself installed a used primary fuel filter housing in GB&W 2407. We decided to standardize on a common element on several locomotives to reduce costs for stocking several styles of fuel filter elements and eliminating the really expensive ones. We removed the two housings and the fuel lines going to them, cut and welded some brackets to hold the new housing in a good angle to be able to change elements without hitting other parts in the engine room. All that remains is replacing the fuel lines to the filter housing. Afterwards, Jeron and Riley moved on to an oil leak on the oil strainer housing, making and replacing a couple of gaskets.

Be sure to visit this album for photos of other recent shop work. Also, donations to the RSD15 are still needed to replace cab glass and repair the turbocharger.

The annual Diesel Days Parade of Power won't be quite as large as previous years, but will still be a show that you should not miss. We'll kick off the day at 10:00am with normal operations, the heavyweight coach train pulled by BN1, 2, 3; the Nebraska Zephyr pulled by CBQ 9911A; and a four car caboose train pulled by BN 5383. Later in the day we'll have a few freight train run-bys with different power each time.

The Parade of Power will begin close to 1:00pm and will include the equipment listed below, but not necessarily in this order.  A few special items in the parade will include the BN 5383 under load from CNW 6847 heading East, and the CNW 6847 under load from BN 5383 heading West. The same drill for the CBQ 504 under load from SP 1518 heading East, and SP 1518 under load from CBQ 504 heading West. They will not stop in front of the depot as the other trains normally do.

- Burlington Northern 1 (EMD F9A), 2 (EMD F9B), 3 (EMD E9A)
- Burlington Northern 5383 (GE U30C)
- Chicago & North Western 6847 (EMD SD40-2)
- Milwaukee Road 760 (FM H10-44)
- Southern Pacific 1518 (EMD SD7)
- Chicago Burlington & Quincy 504 (EMD SD24)
- Chicago & North Western 411 (EMD F7A) Bilevels
- Chicago Burlington & Quincy 9911A (EMC E5A) Nebraska Zephyr
- Chicago Burlington & Quincy 9255 (EMD SW7)
- Commonwealth Edison 15 (EMD SW1)
- Nekoosa Paper 14 (ALCO S1)
- United States Army 8537 (GE 45Ton)
- Wisconsin Central 7525 (EMD SD45MQ-3), Santa Fe 92 (EMD FP45)
- Green Bay & Western 2407 (ALCO RSD15)
- Illinois Terminal 1605 (EMD GP7)
- Chicago & North Western 4160 (EMD GP7R)

The line up will be similar on Sunday, except the ATSF 92 will lead the WC 7525 and this consist may pull the coach train in place of BN1, 2 and 3.

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

A night photo session is not scheduled this year.

About three weeks ago we brought the Nebraska Zephyr into the Diesel Shop to begin a very long process of cleaning, buffing and polishing her stainless steel siding.  Many, many years of road grime, a lot of cast iron brake shoe dust, and dust from sitting idle in Barn 9 have really collected and just won't come off with a simple washing with a pressure washer. The first few days were spent finding the right materials, wheels, rouge and the best methods for cutting and polishing the current sandpaper feel of the stainless.

We did find a pretty good method that will hopefully fit our timeframe, which is basically 5 weeks for 5 cars and a locomotive, a total of about 415 feet of train. On the fluted areas, we start with a scotch bright pad, gray or red as others were too harsh, and go a couple passes to break into the dirt pretty good, but not get into the stainless. Then on to the stainless wool, to take off pretty much all of the remaining dirt and debris. The first two steps here are all by hand. Then on to the power tools, a few Milwaukee variable speed buffers with a couple 8 inch, 60 ply cotton muslin sewn wheels and some rouge specifically for stainless from a company called Zephyr Products, that was quite ironic. This stuff does a great job of cutting and polishing. The final step is using a similar type of wheel, but smaller diameter, with no rouge and just going over the same area quicker to clean up any residue and it gives a nice smooth, almost mirror like finish to the fluted sides.

The flat panels are a bit different. There is no way we'll have time to get the finish we would like with the machines, so we start with stainless wool, clean the surface with side to side movements only, and then finish off with P21S polishing soap. Again, all of it is by hand.

The curves from the letter board up the roof were a little more difficult at first as the corrugation is pretty narrow. On top of that, there is a lot more dirt caked in them from there being a lot more horizontal surface area. The quickest way through the dirt was folded up scotch bright pads and more stainless wool. The same method is being used on the area curving down to the belly pans.

So far the Venus, Vesta, and most of Minerva are completed, Juno has been started. Sometime in the next day or two the train will be wyed since it doesn't fit in the shop, let alone the building, and the last two cars will hopefully be completed by the middle to end of next week. Riley, Chris, Pete, Colton, Charlie, Eric, Kevin, the other Kevin, and Jeron have all been pretty busy moving this along quickly. Thank you all for the hard work.

We'll post another update in a week or so, along with progress  updates of other projects in the shop.

The progress on 2407 continues as a lot of people volunteer their time. We are likely just a few weeks away from being able to start its 2,400HP engine for the first time in over 15 years. About a week ago, Jeron Glander and I finished cleaning out the bottom of the oil filter box of sludge and debris, and installed new oil filters. This past Saturday, Scott Nauer and I cleared track 22 so the Cleveland PCC could be moved out to make room for the next painting project. Once the PCC was moved, we moved the 2407 out of the way so the NSL 714, the next to get a paint job, could go all the way east. We spotted the 2407 after the 714, that way we can move the Alligator in and out as needed without interfering with the work on 714.

On Sunday we had Roger Broms, Jim West, Warren Lloyd and myself. The main tasks were to free up the last of the injection pumps that were stuck and drain more contaminated fuel and refill the tank partially. We started on the fuel injection pumps, Warren checked all the ones on the engineers side and made sure they were all still free as they were the last time. There were 4 on the firemans side that were still stuck, or were very sticky to move. The method was to simply work the rack in and out on each, using a block of wood to tap it in, and a bar to slide it back out. Eventually they would move by hand and then after more lubricating and exercise they would return to no fuel with its own return spring as it should. After a few hours of this, we broke for lunch.

After lunch we drained another 50 gallons of fuel out of the tank and pumped it into a 55 gallon drum. We spend a little time finding a way to break into the tank to see how much fuel was actually in it. After finding a cover over a 1.5" hole, we found there was about 4 or 5 inches of fuel left in it which we later found out to be about 250 gallons. We began to transfer about 300 gallons of fuel from the 5383 into the 2407. The 5383 and a few other locos had been filled the day before as we decided to stock pile a truck load of fuel for the year while prices were somewhat reasonable. Jim West removed the fuel gauges to see if they were complete and working, both of them had been painted over some time ago. One side had the float rod broken, and the other was complete and working, but it had been sandblasted and painted over, so the glass will need to be changed. Its temporarily back in place without its glass. We spent some time on the fuel pump and relief valve. The way its plumbed is causing some issues with priming the system, we are gonna make a few changes to where the bypass dumps to so this problem can be resolved. We are also looking into changing the fuel filter element to one that is common with other locos that we run.

The last few items that we need to work on next time are to add some oil to the engine, during prelubing it is running a little low. We'll need to change the fuel filter type and replumb the fuel relief bypass valve directly to the tank via the existing return lines. We can then move it outside to try to start and idle in order to do some running checks. There is still a long way to go to make it operational, but just getting it started will be one huge accomplishment for everyone.

Be sure to visit the Photo Gallery of the current work going on. Also, donations to the RSD15 are still needed and appreciated.

Here is a very late update on the progress on GB&W 2407 from February 12th, I had drafted it before I went on vacation for a couple of weeks and forgot to publish it. We had a pretty large group out Saturday afternoon, including Frank DeVries, Marcus Ruef, Warren Lloyd, Kyle Merkel, Kevin Hennessy, Greg Ceurvorst, Dave Fullarton, Jeron Glander, Jim West, Dan Currens, Rich Schauer, and myself. The main tasks were to get the rest of the water system tight. The previous weekend and during the week we had made a number of repairs, but did not have a chance to water it again. The electrical system, governor, and air compressor were also worked on.

Dan Currens started by digging into the electrical system, verifying everything was connected and functioning properly in the cabinet, and with the governor and such. Kyle and Jim worked on refilling the governor and pump with oil. We will have to flush the system again at a later date. There was some minor raccoon damage, but the majority of the electrical system was in pretty good shape.

Meanwhile Dave and Kevin were working on checking all the injection pumps, seeing which ones were free and which were sticking. They found a bunch that were very tight and began working on lubricating and freeing them up. Warren, Kyle and Rich joined in as well.

Frank and Marcus made a gasket to replace the leaking one on a cover on the air compressor, and then changed the oil in the compressor. We started watering again to verify the latest repairs and was very surprised at how well it was holding water. We did mark a few more water elbows that we had not marked the last time, along with some additional pipe couplings. Frank noticed a crack on a low pressure cylinder liner that was leaking water. There were a number of other leaks in this area the last time, so we didn't notice it. We are looking into some ways to fix this without changing the liner as it looks like the only damage is this area on the outside of the water jacket.

Greg joined Marcus and Frank, and they made some more gaskets to replace the leaking ones along with some hoses on a few of the water elbows on the engineers side after draining the water. They made enough for all the ones that were leaking on both sides.  Warren replaced two of them on one side of the loco while Marcus and Frank replaced a few on the engineers side.  While draining, we noticed that the compressor and water cooled intercooler on the compressor did not have a drain as the pipe that should have gone to the main drain valve was removed and plugged. This was done sometime when it was on the railroad, and is probably why there were water problems on the compressor. We'll have to thoroughly check out the intercooler as well.

It was a very productive day and I'd like to thank everyone that helped out to move this project much further along. Be sure to visit the Photo Gallery of the current work going on. Also, donations to the RSD15 are still needed and appreciated.