Illinois Railway Museum Blog

A short and late update this weekend as I was in Michigan for my son's wedding on Friday.  This did at least mean that we had smaller groups working both Saturday and Sunday.

On 1630 work continued on the key tasks:

·         Between the two days we managed to remove 5 of the fireman's side smoke box bolts so we now have 10 of 11 out and have started to source the replacements.  None have shown any sign of moving when hammered.

So now we first cut off both the exposed thread and the head of the bolt in the smoke box:

Phil grinds off a bolt head

Then we have to drill most of the bolt core away with a magnetic drill.    

Mike and Gemma drill out a bolt

Only then can you drive the shell of the bolt out with an air hammer.  Heaven knows how these were fitted - but they sure were not intended to come out again !!

·         Jason completed a full review of the flexible firebox stays and marked those where the caps must be removed for inspection and hammer testing.  Most of these have been done leaving about 20 for next weekend.

·         The pipe to replace the corroded lines down the side of the boiler has arrived and marking up to bend and connect the replacement sections can now begin.

·         With a family visit on Sunday, my wife spent much of the day sorting our supply of ferrules into sizes and removing those that were damaged. 

Sorting the stock of ferrules

These ferrules are a critical part of the re-tubing process.  They are copper rings that are fitted in the rear tube sheet between the sheet and the tube when it is expanded.  From initial count it looks as if we may have all we need but will need to match them up to the tube sheet in the next couple of weeks to determine if we need any more.  The key objective is to ensure that we have all that we require in hand before we get to tube fitting.

·         Unfortunately we seem to be having difficulty agreeing a start date with the welding contractor who needs to finish the work on the rear tube sheet before we can schedule the internal inspection of the boiler.

On 428 the machining of the axle boxes was started.  The first box is now on the Bullard turret lathe and the process of machining off the lateral bearing has begun.  The intent is to fit brass wear plates similar to those on 1630 rather than the poured babbit used on these boxes in the past.

First axle box mounted on the turret lathe

Bob came by with the newly fabricated collar for the wheel lathe that now needs just final boring to be ready for fitting.  With this critical piece in hand we are a major step nearer to being able to bring the wheel lathe into operation.

Nigel