The weather has been far too good lately...we are in for a long winter...
Saturday
the track dept was myself, Tom H and Frank D. We had a 30 second
reunion to start off the day because both Frank and Tom have been away
from IRM for some time and this was a historic momemt...well not
really, but ya know. The weather cooperated great. It's certainly fall,
but we couldn't ask for better weather.
Our original plan was to
build track in yard 11 or raise tracks in yard 11 in preparation for
the barn. Unfortunately we were not able to touch yard 11 because the
contractor was still occupying the building due to some unforeseen
issues with the metal siding... Still determined to get something done
we spoke with the electric car shop and they allowed us to use the pit
in Barn 4 to get some much needed work done on a number of our
machines. First for the day was the Model 50 burro crane which we had
gotten running last weekend. As in true IRM fashion, we had to jump
start the machine early in the day in yard 11. The engine was just too
cold to get going but once we got it running it ran great. Over the pit
we greased the entire underframe, topped of the transmission with ATF,
inspected/ greased the deck rotation gearing, troubleshot a bad
hydraulic leak (more to come on that), checked oil levels in the
engine, axle gear cases, coolant level and a number of other small
tasks. After we were pleased with that, we took the crane outside to
test everything and locate the hydraulic leak. It seems the boom
extension cylinder inside of the boom is the problem. When the boom is
extend and retracted what we believe is the hydraulic seal on the
cylinder itself leaks bad and drips oil out the backside of the boom. A
repair to this is pretty substantial due to the fact that the cylinder
is probably 30ft long and 6'+ in diameter and rests inside of the all
welded boom... A few plans are being cooked up now for a remedy, but
for now the boom extension is out of service but otherwise the crane
itself is not in harm and still in service. The crane is ready for
building yard track 11-4 when the time comes.
Continue reading "Track Department Update"
Comments
Mon, 09-08-2025 08:22
Good job on the Burlington Nortern 9976. OK.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:56
No new news that I have heard of thus far.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:53
I'll also be doing another update on it soon. Keep en eye out for that.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:47
A little work was done to it for Diesel Days this year. You'll see photos floating around for the temporary short term job that was done to make it [...]
Wed, 08-06-2025 13:01
Is steam car CN 15444 going to be coming to museum several times it was to be moved to muesum
Sat, 07-19-2025 18:56
Yeah, sadly it's still there as of 7/19/2025
Thu, 06-12-2025 19:14
Its been 14 years guys, where is the unit? Like really? Did you guys misplace it? Or are repairs taking that long? At this point be might we will have [...]
Wed, 04-09-2025 17:40
Jamie Thanks for the update. She's gonna shine like every thing else you guys do! Smeds
Thu, 03-06-2025 16:28
Yes, there is a wye. Those two have been MU'ed on diesel days a year or two ago.
Wed, 03-05-2025 14:04
7009 number boards look good. Is there a way to turn a locomotive around at IRM? In case you ever had a mind to connect 7009 and 6847?
Fri, 03-29-2024 21:26
We're slackers and spend more time working on the equipment in the shop than keeping all you readers updated. We'll work on it, but I'm sure updates [...]
Thu, 03-14-2024 08:02
What happened to the Department Blog? It's been over 2 years and I still regularly check for updates, but nothing comes...