Illinois Railway Museum Blog

I guess we must be becoming more adapted to the heat.  There is not much choice this summer !!. 

A lot was achieved in the steam shop this Saturday and we are now moving toward the key step of the FRA inspection of the interior of the boiler.  We have a few more minor tasks to complete inside but are now close enough to schedule the appointment.  This is critical to our ongoing schedule.  If the inspector is satisfied with the boiler interior we will be able to progress to painting the interior and refitting tubes.  If any additional work is required that impacts the timetable.

A number of tasks were progressed on 1630

·         Chris and George from Curtis Boiler Service came in to scope and quote for the specialized welding of the safe ends on the super heater flues.  George has done this work on several of our other locomotives over many years.  He will also do the work on the rear tube sheet.

·         Work progressed well on the super heater elements.  After the initial shock last weekend, when the first one failed, we now have 9 that have proved sound at the full 1000 psi pressure, have been cleaned and prepped  and are now back in the boxcar where they will stored ready for refitting.  Another 9 are outside the shop to be cleaned and tested during the week and next weekend.  That leaves 8 more to complete the total of 27.  (How does 1630 have an odd number of elements?.  Because decades ago one position on the header was damaged and plugged so at IRM she has always had one less super heater than she was built with.)  The process of cleaning and testing the elements is quite complex so I have made some notes below.

·         Mike has recovered and was back at the shop.  He is in process of grinding the mud ring to ensure a smooth fit for the patch.

Signs of Mike at work on the mud ring

·         Glenn finished the McCabe and we took the first steps toward getting comfortable with using it and setting up to produce a test sheet that we can use to prove we have the correct radius to accurately fit the mud ring before we bend the rather expensive boiler plate.

It looks as if Ralph has some doubts about what that lever does !

and if I pull this?

Phil working to set the test sheet in the jaws of the flanger.  This provides a good view of the way in which the McCabe operates.  The sheet slides between the flat surface on which Phil is setting it and the clamping head above it.  It projects back toward the machine and extends over the curved die (the dark grey curved surface that can be seen below the light grey clamping head) into the space below the press head.  The press head is at about 25 degrees to the horizontal in this view but would be drawn up to the horizontal to allow the sheet to be pushed into place.  With the sheet clamped, the press head is driven down by stages bending the sheet to the radius of the curved die.  The machine is hugely powerful, well able to bend 3/4 inch steel plate, and has few "fail safes".  Only care by the operator ensures that it does not apply the force incorrectly and severely damage the machine itself.

Phil sets a test plate into the McCabe

·         Ed thoroughly brushed off the various small pipes that run along the boiler feeding the lubricators and accessories such as the bell.  The object was to determine if they should be replaced and the conclusion was that we should do this.  Based upon examples such as this it seems safer to replace the pipes now.  None were actually leaking but the objective is wherever possible to aim for a long spell of incident free operation and these have the potential to be a real nuisance.  Once the locomotive is complete, these will be buried under insulation and lagging sheets.  If one failed then it would probably damage the insulation and a lot of sheet metal would need to be removed to get to it.

These pipes are pitted and best replaced

In other areas:

·         Tom has machined the spring retainers for the Shay so we can get those welded into place on the bolster fitted next time Dennis is in the shop.

·         Stu and Bob continued the assembly of the planer.

Jeff had arranged for the department's BrownHoist crane to run in the Diesel Days parade and here it is running thru the depot road.

Our BrownHoist enters the depot road

and comes to rest in the depot to be described.  It must be a long time since she has been out of the shop and barn area.

and pauses in the depot to be described

Cleaning and testing super heater elements

Each element has been located in a flue thru which pass heat and debris from the fire.  So they are thoroughly covered in soot and rust that must be removed before it can be inspected and tested.  What Phil is doing here can be referred to as cleaning but most of us who have done it see it rather more as transferring the dusty muck from the tube to the operator !!

Phil and Jerry cleaning elements

The test rig must then be fitted to the element.  The element has balled ends that, in service, are a dry fit into balled sockets in the super heater header.  These must be carefully cleaned with emery cloth to remove pitting.  A thin rubberized fabric washer is fitted between the test rig and the ends of the element.  If this survives the 1000 psi test pressure the balls are in reasonable shape to make a seal with the header when they are refitted.

Fitting the test rig

Once in place the element ready for testing looks something like this.  (Actually in this view the element is ready for the final step, after successful testing, when air is blown back thru the tubing to ensure that it is thoroughly dry and ready for storage in the boxcar.  For testing the water supply is connected to the right hand side to the test rig).

Rig for testing the elements

The rig is then connected to our high tech water pump.  Joking aside, this may be old but is a very effective and critical piece of equipment that can pressurize the elements to 1000 psi and the whole boiler to more than 200 psi when carrying out a hydro test.

The high tech water pump

The loan of this tank from B&G overcame a significant problem last weekend.  The pump operated very unevenly and Tom recognized that the problem was that the pump exerted sufficient suction to close the valve on the well if it is directly connected, even thru 100 ft of hose.  Provided with an unrestricted supply the pump builds pressure evenly.

Water supply courtesy of B and G

The pressure is raised to 1000 psi and the pump  valve closed.  If the pressure holds we have success.  The most common problem is that a leak develops around the ball joints necessitating more work with the emery cloth and/or refitting of the test rig.

Once an element has passed the pressure test, high pressure air is blown back thru it to make sure it is free of water.  The rings that hold it to the header are carefully cleaned and sprayed with WD-40 to protect them and the element is then ready to go back to storage with confidence that it ready to fit into the header, hopefully during this winter.

Nigel