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Thursday, August 16. 2012Freight Car Work - August 15, 2012GOT MILK? This entry and the work have a lot to do with the Thomas Event that starts tomorrow. How, you ask? Every year, for running the Thomas Trains, a large number of passenger cars come out from storage Barn 3 for train service. Through the cooperation of the Passenger Car Collection Curator, Mike Baksic, we 'poach' that empty space for a deserving project requiring a roof overhead to complete the work.  The Crew This year that project was our Borden's Milk Tank Car, BFIX 520. The crew included Simon Harrison, Dave Rogan, Victor Humphreys, Jim Leonard on the roof, and also, not pictured John Faulhaber, Rod Turner, and Henry Vincent.  The Roof Over the years a number of repairs have been accomplished on the car, and it sees regular operation in our various special freight trains. Its first restoration paint job was done for a stillborn movie project many years ago. The upper half of the car was beginning to show its age, light rust starting to show through in several spots.  Going Up in the World Shy as I am, Jim Leonard caught me scaling the ladder to work on the roof area. We decided that in the interests of time to clean, re-prime and re-paint from the black handrail up. Not a full restoration, but it will preserve the condition of the car and buy us 5 to 10 years. Hopefully, those reading this will send buckets of money and we can subscribe to the next open barn space to save this work.  Prime Work With most of the sanding and cleaning done, we released half the crew to continue on the snowplow, while Jim Leonard and Victor applied new white primer.  Ready to Move With the primer applied it was time to protect the work in progress. A switch crew came over and coupled up to the milk car.  Put to Bed The dirty work of sanding was done outdoors, and with still wet primer the car was put to bed on Track 34. It is very satisfying to see the car moving and going inside, even temporarily. And the crew got a cab ride and some training in moving equipment on the property. A fringe benefit you could also enjoy at the end of some of the work days. Want to help? Thursday, August 16. 2012CGW X 38 Update - August 15, 2012We split the crew today and got some work done on the CGW X 38 snowplow.  The Floor Buzz Morisette tackled the job on the floor inside the rear end, completing removal of five floorboards whose ends had a lot rot near the doorways. On the north side, the framing below those boards was rotted away to a large extent, so Buzz removed that, needlechipped and primed the steel below them.  In the Cab In the cab Dave Rogan continued to work on air piping, checking for leaks and working to understand the maze of piping, valves, and fittings.  Air UP Simon Harrison monitors the pressure gauge, here approaching 50 psi. That is perfectly adequate to check for leaks and other defects before we move to the next stage. The previous week we had started the process by hooking up air to the plow and charging the brake system. The way this is designed, that train air line also serves to charge two large air tanks that supply the plow blades, and all the other devices needing air inside the car body. It charges those tanks through two parallel valves and lines - one with a flow constrictor to limit air flow. The other allows more rapid air flow, to be used when filling for the first time before the plow train leaves, but not during road service. It fills the tanks faster but takes that air from the normal train line delivery system. Why the second line that works more slowly? Dave Rogan found out when he opened the rapid fill valve to save time and 'dynamited' the brakes providing loud noise and a surprise for everyone else in the car. The second SLOW line does not steal the air from the brake system faster than a locomotive can supply it. Thursday, August 16. 2012Wood Shop Update - August 15, 2012 Cleveland PCC Rich Witt was back in the shop and helped out by applying finish paint to many of the parts needed on the roof of the 4223.  THE BIG NEWS The BIG NEWS of the day was the delivery of this pallet of castings. They are NEW brake shoes for the CSL 3142. This is one of our service cars that is reliable and sees a lot of mileage every year. As you might imagine, certain things have a way of wearing out. Notable - the brake shoes. This pic shows delivery of many shoes for that very car. It marks a milestone in a five year odyssey to get new shoes. We made a complicated pattern in our own shop, the pattern was lost at the foundry, the foundry fell on hard times and was re-organized, the pattern was found and revised after a test shoe was cast and sent to IRM, and FINALLY, we released the production order. This project certainly belongs under the header "Nothing is Ever Simple". |
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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 [...]