Track Department

Trying to beat karma to the punch....

The weather was beautiful today... and that was the problem... Today's plan was to get some minor repairs done on the tie crane. We are once again getting ready to go pick up about 720 ties that were changed out by Volkmann a couple weeks ago. So to avoid problems we did a little preventative maintenance.

I arrived at the museum about 9AM and found Bill there already. Bill and I started to de-fuel the tie crane. Even though the fuel was out of the sight glass there was still about 10 to 15 gallons of fuel left in the tank. We drained the fuel then took the hose off the tank.  We also removed the fuel sight tube to replace that as well.  Jeron showed up and we ran to town to grab parts. While  I replaced the fuel hose, and sight tube, Jeron replaced the damaged mirror and Bill replaced the windshield wiper. We drained the fuel out of the transfer tank, but that was a drop in the tank so to speak. Unfortunately I left my keys in my winter coat..... at home.... SO no truck key, no fuel key.... Guess I'll fuel the crane in the morning.

After that it was time to take in some of the sights of the Illinois Terminal to do.  I took a ride (my first I'll add) on the IT B motor, to see how the ride is after our tie change out.  It's not perfect, but the 25MPH speed restriction seems to be adequate until we can get the line tamped.

While out and about today I did find three more sticks of rail along the ROW, that we need to get picked up and in the gon.  One is out near the Big tree, the other two are along the main line just east of the depot.  We also need to re-set the whistle post along the main. I think we can just pick it up and add some ballast to hold it up.

While all this was going on, Dave and Evan continued work on the 580 Motor car. They have most of the wood off now, and have started to clean old paint and rust off the frame.  They bought a couple of wire wheels for my grinder and were using that to clean it up real nice. They were getting ready to spray on some primer when I was leaving for the day.  It's looking really nice.  I also found one of the brake leaks on a caliper thanks to all the wood being off. Nice work guys! I'll post some pictures to the Members photo section in a few minutes.

Frank D.

Today was a new member spectacular!

The day started with myself and new member Keith Ziolkowski joined me and returning new member Bill.  We found the model 50 missing it's exhaust circuit, under rebuild by Jeron. So a Plan B was formed.  Off to 14-4 track to solve a reverse super elevation problem on the curve to this track off the switch.  We gathered jacks, bars, forks, and shovels, onto the tie crane and off to yard 14.

We hand jacked the track and hand tampped from about 8:30 to 11:30, picking up the outer rail from "in the mud" to out of stone. A lift of over 6".  After lunch we took the regulator back to yard 14 and dragged stone from the north side to the south side to fill in the cribs that were now devoid of stone.  A quick broom job and the track was back to a useable status.  Before this work, when the diesel department would try to switch cars on this track they had a tendency to derail when being pulled out.

Meanwhile back on the main........

Tom showed up later in the morning and fired up the mower for one last trip on the main before it leaves for a job.  Tom was able to mow by Karstens crossing, cleaning up some trees that the farmer cut down and pushed over onto the property.  He also was able to give a good pass between East switch and West Switch.

Third trick was Jeron coming out after work and installing a new exhaust elbow off the turbo.  The old 90 degree bend had been previously welded, and subsequently rusted out again, and as Tom put it, made it smoke like a Russian tank.  Jeron was able to find a suitable part and had Jamie from the diesel shop weld the flange to the turbo onto the new pipe.  The exhaust was then put back on the crane for the Sunday activity. From what I understand it was a real wrestling job to get the exhaust back in.

During the wrap up of my tour of duty, Dave, and his young son Evan showed up having just joined the museum, and coming out to see what they can do as a team to help IRM. Work on our motorcar fleet was offered up, and they are eager to get started.

Unlike last week, cameras were on hand to record the festivities.  Photos from Tom and myself have been posted here: http://www.irm.org/gallery/album155

Frank D.