Illinois Railway Museum Blog

There was a very good turnout this Saturday.  Unfortunately the timing of the holidays means that the next two weekends are likely to be very limited.  A few of us who have time off are planning mid week sessions so if anyone is available, drop me a note.

I had to leave early this Saturday but, even so, saw a number of milestones reached and more was achieved after I left.

On 1630:

·         Collin broke the tube end removal record by single handedly removing 61 tube ends, including many large ones, by early afternoon.  This completed the job of removing all the tubes we plan to remove for this inspection.  (As previously mentioned we currently plan to leave the central group of super heater flues in place as they do to obstruct access to the boiler barrel for inspection).  This success highlights one of the sad facts of life in the museum environment.  None of us are experts so we have to learn on the job.  A lot of the tasks get a great deal faster as you learn the tricks but it may be years before they are required again.  Had all the tube end removal been at the rate the guys can now do it, we could probably have done it in half the time.

This week I got into the firebox AND remembered to put the memory card in the camera !!.  So the shots below give a good idea of the work and the conditions in which the guys operate.

In the morning all the fire tubes were out on the fireman's side.  The ends of 6 flues remained, which were removed during the day.

Progress in the firebox

Cutting the excess metal from the end plug of a fire tube.

Cutting a tube

The same exercise on a super heater flues clearly shows the cut being made.  You can also see how close Collin must be to the cut in the confined space of the boiler.

First cut the flue

With the excess metal removed and the tube still hot you use the air hammer.  You can see the top of the tube forced in and starting to pull free of the tubesheet.  Now the side is being hammered to finally push it out.

Then use the air hammer

And, if all goes well, it suddenly pops out and lands in the firebox.

and hopefully it pops out

·         Now we move on to the cleaning and inspecting the boiler shell and firebox.  Jason did some test cleaning of the barrel.  This is important as we need to understand the condition of the boiler coating.  This was applied at the last inspection 15 years ago and has not had many days of usage.  If it is intact, and the mineral deposits can be removed without damage, this will substantially reduce the amount of sand blasting that is required.  First tests looked encouraging.  The coating in the areas tested seemed in excellent condition.  However, we need to identify a reliable way of removing the mineral deposits, which are pretty tough.

·         We also started the set up of the sand blasting gear that is certainly required for the firebox.  This will be another "nice" job.  A helmet respirator (which arrived last week) will be essential for this activity.  Now we have to plan and test the air supply.

·         When I left, Dennis had started working with the corner patch team to cut out the section to be replaced.  Ralph tells we that this was completed during the evening.  Another major milestone.

·         Set up continued for swaging the tubes.  The furnace was moved into the area and initial cleaning and testing of the swager was carried out.  This identified a couple of parts that need to be replaced before it can be operated.  Hopefully I can get these next week and test during the week.

·         The last of the materials for storage were moved out to the boxcar and Jeff hopes to get the boxcar switched this weekend so that we can access the tubes, which are currently on the South side of the car.  (This will be essential if we are to be able to get batches of tubes in for swaging during January).

A major milestone was reached on the Bay City crane.  Glen fired up the traction motor in place for the first time in 20-25 years.  (It failed when being driven to the museum in the 1980's).  Now it is back in place, cooling, muffler and transmission set up and runs very smoothly.  Some of us were in favor of putting it into gear and seeing it move.  However Glen is a little more "conservative" and believes in having the means to control and stop a beast this size before setting it in motion.  So the power steering and air pumps will be fitted and tested before it goes anywhere!!.

It really is running

Well done Glen!

On 428, machining continued on the coupling rods and piston bushes.  The steel has now arrived for building up the axle boxes but this depends on Dennis's availability to weld this into place as he has work on 1630 and the Shay ahead of this.

Happy holidays and thanks to the team for a lot of hard work.

Nigel