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
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...
Mon, 12-27-2021 16:28
Happy New Year to all the Departments at the Illinois railway Museum! Thanks for all the good work you do in railroad preservation. Ted Miles, [...]
Wed, 10-13-2021 13:33
Was the CB&Q 1309 every transported to IRM?I’ve been reading old issues of Rail&Wire and the car was mentioned several times.
Mon, 06-07-2021 22:40
I was wondering if in the model layout display what scale would you guys be using and would you be displaying model train history as well? Just [...]
Wed, 06-02-2021 17:27
Nice to see 428's cab back on. Looking forward to when it is operable!
Tue, 06-01-2021 16:47
I hope the work will continue on the UP #428. Now that they are the museum's connection to the national railroad network; she would be very [...]
Sat, 04-17-2021 23:07
What is the status of 126, the Milwaukee Buffet car that is in S. Dakota? Any guess on when or if it will get to IRM?
Wed, 04-14-2021 21:09
Perhaps it is time to scrap the remains of the c, B & Q 7128 to make room for the Villa Real. Ted miles, IRM member
Wed, 04-14-2021 15:26
Hi IRM my name is Jason and I was wonder If you guys would be willing to save a CN Dash8-40cm they are currently being retired by CN and being [...]
Fri, 04-09-2021 19:56
Bear in mind that the Nebraska Zephyr is an articulated train set, so cars cannot be inserted at will. Although cars and/or a second engine could be [...]
Wed, 03-31-2021 11:37
I believe Silver Pony is currently on the back burner, and has been put into storage in one of the barns. The car needs a lot of work done to it's [...]