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Sunday, July 8. 2012Steam Department Update 07-07-2012Another day with temperatures reaching 100 degrees certainly slowed work in the shop. However, we plugged along with frequent "cooling breaks" and made good progress on the key tasks. Alex and I completed tapering the safe ends for the super heater flues. So we are now ready for the welder to attach these to the flues. Paul cleaned up the pressure testing rig, that we need to test the flues once they have been welded. As shown below it consists of blanking plates that are tightened from each end of a rod so that will tightly seal the ends of the flue. One has the connections to allow water to be pumped in and air allowed out. Once free of air, the flue is pressurized to ensure that the welds attaching the safe ends withstand boiler pressure.
Glenn, Phil and Jeff spent the day refitting the piston rod to the McCabe flanger. The rod is now in place.
This view gives some idea of the power of this machine. The main cylinder shown here is approximately 3 feet in diameter. Operating at 90 psi this creates a force of more than 40 tons on a few square inches of plate in the jaws. In this way it can smoothly bend 3/4 inch steel plate with no apparent effort. The downside is that minor errors in adjustment or operation can cause this force to fall onto the machine itself causing issues such as the broken piston rod. There is some tricky drilling to be done to place a set screw but once that is done, we can hope to refit the piston and get the machine back into operation to start work on the firebox patch. Kevin has been working most of the week on preparing and then priming the tender tank top. This is a massive improvement. Unfortunately I failed to take a "before" picture but this area was in really bad condition, probably due to water lying on the tank top at some stage.
Stu and Bob worked on reassembling the planer. A new bearing has arrived and the shaft has been machined so it is beginning to come together. Nigel |
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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 [...]