Saturday Report ---
The day's primary project was the joint effort with the Signal Dept to
get the very large Corwith Tower lever machine into our Spaulding
Tower. This proved to be no easy task. The entire lever machine is
roughly 20 ft in length and weighs nearly 9000lbs... The signal dept
can report further on its future but our part was the heavy lifting
with the Model 50 Burro crane to get it into the lower level- through
the doorway. Tom Hunter ran the crane and after a few test lifts near
Barn 9, we lifted the machine near the station and ran it into the
Tower very slowly and carefully. We were successful in getting it in
the building around 2PM and hit lunch. Lets hope that machine never has
to leave the tower again!
After lunch, the crew of Tom Hunter,
Tyler Hunter, Frank Devries, Jeron Glander and myself, Adam Robillard
split into a few groups. Jeron and Tyler ran to Napa and picked up new
fuel filters for the Burro crane and along with Tom Hunter replaced the
filters in the crane and fueled up the machines in yard 11. Jeron did
some wonderful electrical work on the Amtrak regulator and also broomed
a yard track in Yard 10 to test the functions. All which appear to be
working well. Nice job Jeron! Meanwhile Frank and myself were at
Track 24 pulling the bad vibrator motor out of the Switch Tamper and
prepping the install of the new one Tom had stored in his garage. We
managed to get the new motor in and wired up but it hasn't been tested
yet. That's for another day.
The next project was to relocate
the brush trimmer that has been stored in one of the electric
carbarns. It cannot be left in the open near the public beginning next
weekend so we needed to switch it back into Track 24. Tom and the gang
took the EJ&E 585 motorcar to retrieve it only to have the entire
machine derail on the Yard 6 lead.... Call in the Model 50! While
Frank, Tom & Tyler took time to rerail the cutter, Jeron and I
headed onto the carline to weld traction bonds. The portion of track
we surfaced over the last few weeks revealed three joints with broken
or non existing bonds. Some quick work with our stick welder resolved
that problem and the two of us went back to Tk24 to clear all the
machines out of the Barn. When the cutter was rerailed, now well after
dark, we shimmied it into the back of Tk24 and switched everything back
in the Barn. We called it a night around 9PM. Wow, what a day.
More of Frank's photos can be found on his page here: http://www.irm.org/gallery/icemancne
Sunday Report--- Today
was a quiet day so I spent it finishing the mainline inspections and
greasing switches. I took the EJ&E 585 motorcar out to Seeman Rd
and walked one rail all the way to the end of the railroad and walked
the other rail back. Not much to report other than a broken bolt and a
few joint/ tie defects we'll have to either spend a day repairing or
add ties in this section for Volkmann. I oiled and tested all of the
mainline switches from Four Mile Siding to Schmidt Siding and tested
the power switches. Carline Jct wouldn't respond on power mode so it's
back in hand operation until the Signal Dept can troubleshoot that. I
changed a handful of signal lamps on the line while I was out there.
There are still dark signals along the carline, and one at East Switch
though everything appears to be working properly. That's all folks.
Adam Robillard
IRM Track Dept
lzeje657@msn.com
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...