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Thursday, March 17. 2011Wood Shop Update - March 16, 2011 Fitting Not a fitting end but fitting progress. Lorne Tweed continues to custom fit stiles and rails for new IC 3996 windows. There is a lot of fussy work involved for eleven new frames.  Two More Lorne makes the final checks and adjustments on two more frames assembled and glued, now clamped in the press. Four new frames glued, seven to go, for those of you at home keeping score.  Tricky Cuts Roger Kramer is making a close check on some tricky cuts at the bottom of the new windows for the Villa Falls, to accommodate the weatherstipping and rub strips. Behind him, Rich Witt sets up the router for another cut on these frames.  Final QC One new frame was ready to go home for finish work but the second one requires another step or two to make it nearly perfect. Roger and Rich discuss the work. Roger is holding one of the badly rotted and deteriorated original bottom rails to demonstrate where and how the brass finger lifts will be installed.  Armrests We have been asked to produce a number of new wood armrests for a passenger car. Roger is examining a provided sample as we puzzle out the best way to make these, and the materials needed. Looks simple - right? Maybe not so simple as you might think.  Let There Be Light Saving the best till last? Max Tyms is making good progress with the electrical work needed to complete the new shop space. Here you see one of the rows of new flourescent lights energized! Thursday, March 17. 2011Passenger Car Views - March16, 2011Here are some images we obtained yesterday afternoon, for a peek at some of the work in the Passenger Car Department - ongoing throughout the winter months.  Trucking Two passenger car trucks have seen work to ready them for the upcoming arrival of the OLYMPUS in coming months.  PHOTO These will be placed under the OLYMPUS and the OLYMPUS trucks placed under the SILVER PONY, with the assistance of large cranes and (cheering crowds?). As I understand it, this is a 'temporary' arrangement to allow both cars to be placed on wheels and to be able to return the flat car used to ship the SILVER PONY.  Interiors One of the Rock Island coaches used during the Thomas Event and occasionally on our other passenger trains is getting ceiling work and other interior finish improvements.  The Other End I probably should have tried to make some digital image corrections on these last two, but you get the idea - a lot of effort expended and a huge improvement! Other Passenger Department work continued in the Wood Shop. See that BLOG ENTRY for more images and details. Tuesday, March 15. 2011GB&W 2407 progress 2407 behind 714 The progress on 2407 continues as a lot of people volunteer their time. We are likely just a few weeks away from being able to start its 2,400HP engine for the first time in over 15 years. About a week ago, Jeron Glander and I finished cleaning out the bottom of the oil filter box of sludge and debris, and installed new oil filters. This past Saturday, Scott Nauer and I cleared track 22 so the Cleveland PCC could be moved out to make room for the next painting project. Once the PCC was moved, we moved the 2407 out of the way so the NSL 714, the next to get a paint job, could go all the way east. We spotted the 2407 after the 714, that way we can move the Alligator in and out as needed without interfering with the work on 714.  combination fuel and governor oil pump On Sunday we had Roger Broms, Jim West, Warren Lloyd and myself. The main tasks were to free up the last of the injection pumps that were stuck and drain more contaminated fuel and refill the tank partially. We started on the fuel injection pumps, Warren checked all the ones on the engineers side and made sure they were all still free as they were the last time. There were 4 on the firemans side that were still stuck, or were very sticky to move. The method was to simply work the rack in and out on each, using a block of wood to tap it in, and a bar to slide it back out. Eventually they would move by hand and then after more lubricating and exercise they would return to no fuel with its own return spring as it should. After a few hours of this, we broke for lunch.  fuel level After lunch we drained another 50 gallons of fuel out of the tank and pumped it into a 55 gallon drum. We spend a little time finding a way to break into the tank to see how much fuel was actually in it. After finding a cover over a 1.5" hole, we found there was about 4 or 5 inches of fuel left in it which we later found out to be about 250 gallons. We began to transfer about 300 gallons of fuel from the 5383 into the 2407. The 5383 and a few other locos had been filled the day before as we decided to stock pile a truck load of fuel for the year while prices were somewhat reasonable. Jim West removed the fuel gauges to see if they were complete and working, both of them had been painted over some time ago. One side had the float rod broken, and the other was complete and working, but it had been sandblasted and painted over, so the glass will need to be changed. Its temporarily back in place without its glass. We spent some time on the fuel pump and relief valve. The way its plumbed is causing some issues with priming the system, we are gonna make a few changes to where the bypass dumps to so this problem can be resolved. We are also looking into changing the fuel filter element to one that is common with other locos that we run. The last few items that we need to work on next time are to add some oil to the engine, during prelubing it is running a little low. We'll need to change the fuel filter type and replumb the fuel relief bypass valve directly to the tank via the existing return lines. We can then move it outside to try to start and idle in order to do some running checks. There is still a long way to go to make it operational, but just getting it started will be one huge accomplishment for everyone. Be sure to visit the Photo Gallery of the current work going on. Also, donations to the RSD15 are still needed and appreciated. |
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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 [...]