Diesel Department

The beginning of the day.

On Friday, November 23rd, Brian Swan and I made it out to the shop for part of the day. The main task was to further the vestibule end of the combine that the wednesday special projects group was unable to finish. This end is the last of the welding and fabricating to be done before the carbody can be painted.

We focused on needle chipping and cleaning up the frame and accessories under the vestibule platform, and under the door threshold. The diaphragm had been cut off this end long before it came to IRM, and the parts that were left in were rusting and heaving up the deck. The parts in the center were removed and stored, and the plan was to clean everything up, prime and paint it all on the inside and then replace the deck and other sheet metal that is rusted through.

More rust to be removed.

Prepped for new steel.

The end of the day.

Brian started to prep the corner by torching out the rusted sections and cleaning up the cuts for new steel. We started digging through all the sheets of steel we have in stock, trying to find the right sheet to use, which happened to be some leftovers that were originally used on CB&Q 504. Brian started cutting the stock to shape and prepped and primed what will be the insides. Meanwhile I continued priming everything in the frame and all the remaining springs and parts within the frame.

The next step will be to weld the deck back on and start working on the side sheets on both sides of the vestibule steps. We are still looking for some additional welders, and anyone that would like to help in the shop for that matter. If you are interested, please contact me. thanks, Jamie.