Diesel Department

After a very wet October, the weather finally cooperated enough to allow the 543 to be unloaded from the flat car it was shipped on.  An attempt was made on Friday, November 6th, however, the entrance to the job site was still a bit wet to get the large cranes in.  Today, we had help from IRM volunteers Gerry Dettloff, Jamie Kolanowski, Pete Pedersen, Charlie Strong, Stan Wdowikowski, Ray Weart, and Jim West; along with the 6 workers from Whitey's Crane Rental and Kinser Crane Service.

The day started around 7:00am with Jim, Ray and Pete getting the CE 15 started and ready, and Stan, Charlie and Gerry getting some tools and torches loaded into the shop truck.  We all made it out to the job site a little after 7:30am.  The 165ton crane from Whitey's was there already getting the crane setup, which consisted of several items, including getting the outrigger pads off the support semi and into place, then getting the counter balance weights off the semi and onto the crane, and changing blocks and reconfiguring to use a 10 line lift.  Setting up and tearing down the cranes was probably the longest part of the day.

Meanwhile, Stan and Jamie started removing the wire rope tie downs from the Winton V12 and once the 165ton crane was ready, we moved the Winton out of the way to the ground.  After that, Gerry, Charlie, Jim, and Stan started removing the wire rope tie downs from the 543.  The 165ton crane did a 20 point turn and turned itself around and positioned himself for the lift.  It is very impressive to see the turning radius of a large crane like that (weighing in at 137,000lbs), all wheel steering makes a huge difference, even when you have 10 large wheels.

The 200ton crane arrived about 8:45am, after setting off their boom dolly, they drove into the site and positioned themselves for the lift.  Their support semi started backing into the site and ended up getting stuck near the entrance where the bowl was.  The other semi could not pull it free, so brought the CE 15 over and pulled them backwards all the way in.  They began getting the outrigger pads, counter balance weights and a number of other things setup on the crane.  While the 200ton crane was being setup, a few of us started to torch the support pedestals that were placed under the jack pads of the 543.  This we needed to be able to get the lifting cables around the lift points which double as jacking pads and cable loops for hoisting the locomotive.

The most difficult part of the entire day was getting the lift cables rigged around the lifting pads. The new 1-1/2" cables just didn't want to bend and stay in place.  Charlie, Stan, Ray and Jamie ended up using some 1" nylon pickup tie down straps to squeeze the cables around the radius of the pads, and then used another to hold the cables in the guides of the pads. It took a couple of trys on the first one to get the technique right. We repeated the process 3 more times on each of the other corners.

Once everything was sitting right, we took about 30,000lbs of tension to make sure all the cables would sit right in the guides of the lift points and make sure everything else was settling right.  We all met once more to make sure everyone was clear on the process, lift an inch or two, check some things, lift to clear everything on the flat car, pull the flat car out from under the loco, lower the loco within an inch or two of the rails, line up the flanges one end at a time and lower, checking the brasses and boxes as we set it down.  Then we actually did it all, just how it was talked about, the lift and lowering took less than 10 minutes, with a little extra time taken on the number 2 axle on the firemans side to line up a support plate that had shifted a 1/4" in that journal box. The lift cables were then freed from the 543 and lifted out of the way. There was a small crowd of people from some of the nearby businesses watching too.

Once everything on the journal boxes and trucks were inspected, the 543 and heavy flat car were moved over to the main line out of the way. IRM's DODX flat car was brought back to put the lift cables and spreader bars back onto it and also to temporarily store the Winton V12 on it. Both cranes started the reverse process for setup, with the 200ton getting out of there first since they had the longer drive to Addison.

Meanwhile the CE 15 with Jim, Ray and Stan switched the flat cars and 543 over to station track 2 and brought the 15 back to the west end in case it was needed as a tow truck again, luckily it wasn't. The 165ton crane finished tearing down and tied down everything on the support semi at about 2:45pm.  The CE 15 was put away and we all headed to a late lunch right after.

It was a very busy day and a big job that went as perfect as one could have wanted. A big Thank You goes out to all the volunteers and to the Whitey's Crane and Kinser Crane for a job well done. A gallery album was setup with many photos from the days work, it can be viewed at this link. Please consider a donation to cover track space charges and offset the costs of the cranes to unload the 543.

Volunteers of the Illinois Railway Museum's Internal Combustion Department have been working for a number of years to acquire an EMD SD40-2 Diesel-Electric locomotive.  Just recently the Union Pacific Railroad has generously donated the UP 3028, originally Chicago and North Western 6847. 3028 is still in C&NW green and yellow paint and was patched to UP 3028 in February 2003.  3028 was retired in December 2008.

There were almost 4,000 SD40-2 locomotives built. The 3028 was built in March 1974, EMD builders number 74609-32, and was part of a 50 unit order.  The C&NW owned a total of 135 SD40-2 locomotives.  The SD40-2 is 68ft-10in long and weighs 368,000lbs, and rides on EMD HT-C trucks.

IRM is soliciting donations to pay for track space for the 3028.  At 68'-10", the cost will be $5,162.  Track space is a one time charge that every piece of equipment incurs, it is designed to pay for the track that the unit is stored upon.  Donations can be made via the IRM online store at this link.

The progress on the 504 continues. Roger S, Roger B, and Kyle M have been busy on the roof which is near completion for the prep work needed for primer. Only a portion of the last two radiator fan shrouds remain to be cleaned. Additional prep work has been done on the long hood, all the door hinges have been needlechipped and DA sanding has begun on one side. The front cut levers have been fitted, a few more bends will be needed.

This weekend and the few weeknights before, Mike P, Roger B, Kyle M, and Jamie K needlechipped all the remaining black paint along with all the nose stripes.  Kevin H and Jamie K wire wheeled the roof where the winterization hatch will eventually be reinstalled.  Kyle M finished cleaning all the handgrabs on the front and rear of the loco.  More photos can be found in the CB&Q 504 restoration gallery.

Its been a little while since we have been able to post any updates on the 504, the restoration work does continue.  The dynamic brake louvers have had their first coat of paint applied a couple of weeks ago.  A lot of work has been done on the roof. The area where the air tanks go has has been needle chipped, wire wheeled, and/or DA sanded, and then its been wiped with lacquer thinner and primed with Dupont Variprime.  More needle chipping is being done around the front nose and cab sides.  The area under the winterization hatch will be wire wheeled and primed, then all the primed areas will be painted so the tanks, winterization hatch and all the other roof accessories can be reinstalled. The most recent photos can be viewed in the 504 restoration gallery.

This weekend some parts started going back onto the 504.  On Saturday, the last coat of gray was sprayed on the engineers side shutters and screens. Joe did some work on the roof to begin prepping the area where the tanks and winterization hatch will get reinstalled.  On Sunday, all the radiator shutters and screens that were recently painted were installed by Roger, Warren, Charlie, Kyle and Jamie.  The next set of parts, including the dynamic brake intakes, were laid out to be cleaned, wiped, and painted.  Additional photos can be viewed in the 504 restoration gallery.

Along with some work on the L7 Thursday night, the 504 also had some of its parts painted.  The short hood hatch had its final coat of gray sprayed on.  The Engineers side radiator shutters and intake screens had the first coat of gray sprayed.  Some touch up work was done to some smaller parts that will be bolted to the long hood.  Additional photos can be viewed in the 504 gallery.

This weekend additional paint work has been done on the 504.  The remaining two shutters and screens have been painted on the insides, outsides remain for next weekend.  The overlap surfaces for the front hood hatch, and radiator shutters and screens have been painted. The underside of the front hood hatch has been painted.  Roger and Kyle have done more fabrication on the rear hinged class lights, the inner rings that hold the lens in place has had a couple broken screws removed and another has been redrilled entirely. Stephanie continued cleaning the radiator fan guards.  Next weekend we plan to complete the painting of the shutters and screens, and begin painting the dynamic brake louvers.  We also plan to install the fireman's side shutters and screens which were completed a couple weeks ago.  Additional photos from this weekend can be viewed in the CB&Q 504 picture gallery.

We are always looking for additional help on the 504 and in the Diesel Shop.  If you are interested in volunteering, please comment on this update and I'll be in contact with you.

Over the past month, a number of items have been completed on the CB&Q 504 restoration.  The radiator and dynamic brake hatches were bolted back down.  We were originally going to remove them and prime and paint all the joints.  We decided not to do that so we wouldn't have to remove any cooling system pipes and disconnect DB cables and such.  All the missing bolts were installed between the long hood and electrical cabinet as well.  The roof of the cab wes needlechipped and DA sanded along with the top portion of the short hood.  The firemans side radiator shutter and screens are ready to be reinstalled.  The engineers side shutters and screens, and the underside of the short hood hatch are ready to be painted.  A number of small parts, covers and brackets were sandblasted and primed.  Additional photos can be viewed on the 2009 CB&Q 504 picture gallery.

The morning started with Dan Currens and myself taking a short road trip up to Avalon for the final inspection on the Zephyr.  After 1 year and 11 months, its finally about ready to come back to Union.  We spent a little time going through the electrical and mechanical systems, making sure everything operated as it should be.  Once we finished we headed out to the museum, arriving there around 5:30pm.

Dan headed over to the IT 1605 to take another look into the aux gen and voltage regulator.  When we last used it a few months ago, the VR would not regulate the aux gen, it would put out all it could, which was only a couple volts high at idle, but way too much at any other throttle positions.  We had already tried known good regulators, with no luck.  Dan looked at the aux gen itself and the armature and fields all checked out ok.  For such a simple system, it is being incredibly difficult.

Meanwhile I worked on the 504, cleaned up a couple runs on the main res pipes from last weeks coat of paint.  I wiped everything down, including the main res tanks this time.  Mixed up more paint and sprayed the tanks, then went over to the pipes and did another coat on the bottom sides of them. After cleaning the gun I spent a little bit of time cleaning up a couple areas of the shop.

We both left about 8:00pm.  Tomorrow I hope to get the last coat of paint on the tanks, pipes and first set of shutters.

We didn't get too much done this weekend on the 504 due to the Christmas event.  Kyle and I were able to get the main res pipes and shutters wiped down and I mixed up a cup of paint and sprayed one coat of gray on everything and cleaned up the gun afterwards.  Then I noticed that we forgot the main res tanks, a job for next time now.  Kyle also sandblasted the short cross pipes that go between the tanks, those are ready for primer and paint now too.  I added a couple of photos to the 504 picture gallery.

The work for the weekend actually started on Friday night. Nathaniel and I started by cleaning up the engineers side radiator compartment, which had only half of it painted. Nathaniel finished the prep and wiped it down with lacquer thinner to get it ready for painting while I started shaking and mixing some gray centari paint. We also setup the longest main reservoir pipe, cleaned and wiped it down. I sprayed a couple coats on the main res pipe, and three coats on the inside area of the radiator intake area. We also prep'ed the four footboard supports for the front pilot. Two were sandblasted and the other two needlechipped and sanded.

Saturdays goal was to get the two main reservoirs that had been painted the week before off the stands and put the last two on the stands and prep them for paint. They weigh close to 500lbs each, so it took every bit of effort from Warren, Roger, Stephanie, Kyle, Scott and myself to get them moved and up on a pipe to start working on them. Roger worked on priming the ends of the tanks since that had not been done as they were primed standing upright and the ends were not accessible. We stored the winterization hatch and setup the last three main res pipes to prep and paint, along with two radiator shutters. We all grabbed some scotch brite pads and went to work cleaning and scuffing all the surfaces on all of the components. The shutters were the most time consuming, but with that many of us, it did go pretty quick. Everything is set for wiping with lacquer thinner and painting during the coming week.

There are a couple of pictures added to the photo gallery, those can be viewed at this link: http://www.irm.org/gallery/cbq504restoration-2008