Illinois Railway Museum Blog

A good deal of progress was achieved on 1630 today despite a low turnout that was to be expected at Easter weekend.

The main effort was heavy duty cleaning.  The objective was to clear the abrasive and associated dust from the locomotive top down so as to minimize the amount above the wheels and motion before the sheeting could be removed.  This was achieved and she now looks recognizable again with the wheels and rods uncovered ready to shunt next weekend.

The walkway is back to normal

Matt spend several hours inside the boiler sweeping, shoveling and finally vacuuming the sand from the boiler barrel.  There is still some more to remove from the sides and top of the firebox but the barrel itself is now clear and open again at both ends. 

Looking in from the front the view is open thru to the firebox again.  The tubes are clear of the sand that could be seen in the views last week.  The strange rod running between the tube sheets was being used to measure lengths for the super heater flues.

Clear view thru the boiler again

The scale of the effort over recent weeks can be judged from the medium removed.  Each of these tubs is about 80 pounds and there are several more that did not fit on the pallet!.  Paul, Ed and I were kept busy shifting the material that Matt pushed out while also cleaning the outside of the locomotive, tender and surrounding areas of the shop.

All this and more came out of the boiler

The decision was taken not to use sandblasting on the footplate.  We will needle chip the back head as the effort of removing the medium would outweigh the gains of quicker cleaning.  The diesel department moved the rotary snow plough from in front of the shop so, weather permitting, we are now ready to shunt outside next Saturday.  The objectives then will be steam cleaning to remove any remaining residue and prepare for painting as well as lifting out the throttle valve body for lapping.

We were also able to start work on preparing the super heater flues for refitting (safe ending).  The preparation is complex because there are small but significant length differences between different areas of the tube sheets so the final length of individual flues will vary by about 1/2 inch.  The length of each flue is currently different depending upon how much was lost in cutting each one out of the boiler.  There is a limit to how long the narrow section can be so each flue must be measured to determine if it can be fitted by attaching a safe end just at the narrow end or if it must be extended at both ends.  Once this is done work will begin on cutting the required extension pieces matched to each flue.

After we had removed the sand blast material from the area, Mike was able to restart work on the firebox patch.  Progress here will depend upon availability of our welding expert to build up the mud ring.

In other areas:

·         Steve, Bob and Ed were working on the hydraulics that will drive the planer.  This machine will significantly increase our capability to machine axle boxes and wedges, which is currently a very slow process.

·         Cameron was using the shaper to prepare the sections that will be used to build up the axle boxes for 428.

Shaper work to prepare plates for the axle boxes

Nigel