Steam Department

A successful day yesterday in the steam shop.

Phil and JD switched #1630 into the shop on Thursday (which led to #5 seeing the light of day for the first time in several years, of which more later) and yesterday was spent refitting the spring shackle.

Jason spent a lot of the day on his back under the front track, assisted by Ralph, Eric, Chris and others.  By a combination of dropping the truck wheels into the 3 inch removable track sections and jacking the front of the locomotive about 3 inches, the load could be taken off the spring and the new pin inserted thru the replacement shackle.

All was completed by end of day and #1630 was switched back to the service lead to be topped up with coal and water.

So she is now ready for service next weekend.  Plan is to operate all 3 days although Monday is currently tentative pending confirmation of availability of an engineer.

Nigel 

Lot of ups and now a down in the Steam Department

Oh well.  Up until yesterday I was planning to detail just a series of successes in the Steam department this Spring.  Unfortunately, as of yesterday, we still have a long series of successes but now a set-back that we are working on.

On #1630, the completion of the Winter work progressed very well.

The reassembly of the valve gear went as smoothly as we could have hoped.  A final hydro-test was carried out successfully and this allowed the completion of all the jobs needed to get her back into service to be completed in the week leading up to Memorial Day.

Reassembling a valve

The completed valve

Easing the valve back into the cylinder

Rebuilt valve back in place

She was steam tested on the Friday before that weekend. 

Test firing begins

Jason looks a happy project manager

This went well as did test running that day.  This demonstrated that the valve overhaul seemed to have been very successful.  We had been nervous that, despite careful marking of all the parts, we might have caused some change in the valve timing.  However, she sounded very even and pulled strongly.  A few runs were carried out light engine to run in the new valves and then a run with a train confirmed that everything was good.

So she was back into service for the three days of the Memorial weekend and performed very well.

The Sunday of Memorial weekend provided a spectacular event.  The last of the trains of coal cars that have been stored at the museum over Winter was delayed in departure due to problems on UP.  This could not be collected by UP until that Sunday so, until that evening, trains had to run only as far as Johnson Siding.  Since she had been working the service train, it was decided to use #1630 to move the coal cars from their storage location at Kishwaukee to the UP interchange at Union to meet the UP locomotives in the evening.

This provided quite a spectacle.  We believe it was probably the largest freight train hauled by a steam engine in the USA for maybe 25 years.  There were 137 cars for a total weight of around 2,900 tons and a length of around 1 ½ miles.  She handled the load very well, lifting the train cleanly, first to Carsten’s crossing, where we had to wait for the UP locomotives to arrive, then onward to the interchange.  The size of the train meant that it needed to hold short of Carsten’s until the UP diesels were ready to attach as soon as #1630 brought the cars into position as both the Carsten’s and Olson Road crossings were blocked when the head of the train was at the interchange.  The length also gave some of us watching at Johnson siding a scare.  In the first move, the train ran thru Seeman road and Johnson siding but ground to a halt with the last cars only just West of the siding.  After initial concern that there had been a problem, it was realized that the train was so long that #1630 had stopped as planned just short of Carsten’s and the train stretched the whole length of the section back to Johnson siding!.  (There is a at least one good video of this move on YouTube).

Approaching Seeman Rd with 2,900 tons in tow

Working hard thru the crossing

So a very successful demonstration that the valve job had been highly successful and she is now probably more powerful than she has been since he first arrival at IRM in the 1970’s.

She then ran well thru the weekend of June 11/12 with only minor issues to be corrected and all looked very good.  Unfortunately, on Saturday 18^th we had a problem.

On the first trip, a pin broke in the rigging of the spring loading the front truck.  This meant that the locomotive had to be withdrawn from service.  It was not possible to repair the problem in time to run Sunday.  Work during the week and next weekend will determine if she can be back in service for the July 4^th weekend.  The broken pin was removed (with a great deal of difficult) and we have a spare for the spring retaining shackle (which broke when the pin holding it broke).  The difficulty lies in the fact that the pin is partially behind the wheel of the truck and also that we have to unload the spring (which carries a load of several tons) in order to fit the new pin and shackle.  Finding a suitable position at which we can simultaneously jack the loco or partially drop the truck while taking the load off the spring will be an interesting game!.  How effectively we can do that will determine if the repair can be finished in time for July 4^th weekend.

Over the same 3-4 week period, Brian Davies and his team achieved vast progress on Shay #5.

The riveting of the smokebox was completed.  The new lower sections still need to be welded to existing upper smokebox but this requires welding along the sides, not from underneath.  This meant that great progress could be made;

Smokebox rivets all in placer

The leading truck was run back under the locomotive a reattached.  This time it is expected that it is back permanently;

Back on the leading truck

The lifting beam that has been in place for several years was removed;

The tender was reattached to the locomotive;

Tender reconnected

Drive train was reconnected between the three trucks.  (Sounds simple but, needless to say, the large square bars and sockets that form the connection had somehow moved slightly out of line.  I was not around for this exercise but understand I would have learned some new words if I had been!!).  Anyway, with a deal of effort, the drive train was reconnected and she is now a complete a moveable 3 truck locomotive again.

After the riveting and setting of the studs to secure the new grate system, it was necessary to hydro the boiler to ensure that no flues of stays had been loosened.  A few stays were re-caulked but all the flues proved good.

This allowed the super heater elements to be re-fitted.  This is a major step as it means the steam circuit is now complete again.  (I.E. there is now a pressure tight path from the boiler thru the throttle to the cylinder and out to exhaust, albeit the exhaust is currently thru an open pipe until the blast pipe assembly is refitted to the bottom of the smokebox.

This enabled a test that was very satisfying for the team who had put in so much work.  The boiler was filled with compressed air and #5 moved a short distance backwards and then forwards again under her own power for the first time in the 21^st century!!.

With #1630 out of the shop, #938 was brought back in and good progress has been made on cleaning and repainting.

So a very successful Spring before the recent minor set back.

HOPE TO SEE YOU NEXT WEEKEND AT THE BENEFIT AT SAN FILIPO.  There are still some tickets available.

https://www3.irm.org/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10&products_id=2128

Nigel

Huge progress over the last two weeks.  Valves on #1630 have been fully reassembled and other inspection work completed.

Thursday 5/26 she was coaled and watered ready to light up today.  Subject to a successful steam test (nothing that cannot be fixed / adjusted overnight) she will run as scheduled Saturday / Sunday ? Monday.

Nigel

Good progress this weekend.

On Saturday, we did a final check of #1630 at 125% of operating pressure (225psi) to satisfy ourselves that all significant leaks had been resolved.  In addition, the valve chambers were thoroughly washed to remove residues from the honing and lubricated in preparation for fitting the valves.

On Sunday we carried out the hydro test under FRA review.  This was successful and we can now proceed thru the next stages toward steaming.  The boiler must now be opened and internally inspected to ensure that nothing has been loosened or displaced by the pressure test.  Critical internal parts such as the dry pipe must be ultrasonically tested.  After this is done, the boiler can be resealed, hydro tested at operating pressure and the stays hammer tested.  Once this is complete, we can fire the boiler for steam test.

Our current plan would be to steam test Memorial Day week.  We have reasonable hope of having her in steam for Memorial Day weekend but, at this point, it is not clear if we will be ready for service or on live display / under test.

Also on Sunday, in conjunction with the FRA inspectors, we were able to inspect the interior of the boiler of Shay #5 using their high resolution video camera.  This proved very interesting and effective.  It very clearly showed some areas where we had not been effective in removing all of the sand blasting material used to clean the interior of the boiler!.  It also located and allowed removal of a strange lump of material from the bottom of one firebox water leg.  This was apparently a piece of slag from removal of a stay some years ago.  Overall this demonstrated that we had good visibility and saw no indication of significant wastage or damage in the boiler.

So, a successful weekend, enabling a lot of work in the next few weeks.  We have to hope that it progresses without significant setbacks toward steaming at the end of the month.

So wish us luck and

DON’T FORGET TO JOIN US AT THE STEAM DEPARTMENT BENFIT AT SAN FILIPO ON JUNE 26^th.

TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE

http://www.irm.org/events/steamdeptbenefit.html

Nigel

I find myself using almost exactly the same introduction as for the turntable update.  A great deal has been achieved but everything seems to be taking just that bit longer than had been hoped.

Obviously the focus in the shop has been upon #1630 and getting her ready for the new season.  Work has been progressing on two fronts at the same time.  The first is the preparation for the hydrostatic test of the boiler after all the annual inspection activities and the second is the reassembly of the valves after a thorough overhaul.

The preparation for the hydro test has been frustrating.  In the past couple of years, we have occasionally seen issues with minor leakage from one or two super heater flues where they are expanded into the firebox tube sheet.  This year we obtained some new rollers to try to get a better seal.  The results were excellent.  Since this was done we have no sign of leakage from the flues that have previously been a nuisance.  Just by way of revenge!, we have had difficulty getting a couple of wash out plugs, that are removed annually and have never previously caused problems, to seal completely dry.  Anyway, after a couple of iterations, everything now seems to be dry and we will aim to do the full test at 125% pressure under FRA inspection this weekend.

Just about everything related to the valves is now machined and ready to reassemble.  The honing of the re-bored valve chambers proved a longer and more tedious process than initially anticipated.  Many thanks to Rod Turner for his efforts on getting this done.

The first big challenge was to establish a satisfactory method for driving the hone.  The bores are large so the rotation speed needs to be slow.  An old nut driver that provided a suitably slow speed of rotation had to be refurbished to achieve this.  Then you need this to be held at a level that keeps it reasonably at the level of the center of the bore but allows it to be moved smoothly back and fore.  The assembly of suspension by heavy springs achieved this.

Rig for honing the valve cylinders

The honing stones that actually smooth the bores look like this.

Hone in place in the bore

Now the bores just need to be thoroughly cleaned and re-assembly of the valves will start this weekend.

Another job has been the build-up and re-machining of the crosshead from the fireman’s side.  The crosshead mounts between plates bolted to the guide above and below.  The puzzle was that this one was a very sloppy fit laterally while the ES one was a reasonable sliding fit.  It may well be that this part has been loose for many years as it does not appear to show wear to explain the loose fit.  Anyway, it is clearly preferable that it should be a sliding fit, so it was built up with weld and is here being machined to size.

Machining the crosshead

 The new babbit in the main crosshead shoe has been machined to fit and the shoe put back on the crosshead.  Unfortunately the locomotive has been moved slightly since it was removed, so now of the bolts cannot be fitted until the locomotive is moved back a few inches!.

Work has proceeded on lagging the Shay but this has inevitably taken a back seat to work on #1630.

In the shop, Collin has made major progress on the new big air compressor.  This has now tested well, after a couple of valves and seals were replaced.  Now we wait on completion of the wiring and belt guards to allow the system to be fully tested and made ready for State inspection.

Progress has also been made on setting up the power supply to the wheel lathe

We are still scheduling to run Memorial Day weekend.  However, this will depend upon a lot being achieved in a short time and so without much in the way of the “little tribulations” that have hindered us in the last month or two.  Every effort will be made to run Memorial Day weekend but my current advice would be to watch for updates and not to make firm plans yet based upon seeing #1630 running that weekend.