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Sunday, December 9. 2012Covered space for steam collectionIn parallel with bringing #1630 back into operation we urgently need to improve the storage of our non operating steam locomotives. Many of our locomotives are currently stored outside where they are deteriorating. As detailed on the Illinois Railway Museum main website, the museum is currently planning an additional covered storage area. Space in this building will be provided based upon the cost of the building, which works out at about $215 per foot length. This is a substantial cost for a large steam locomotive which can be about 100 feet in length. Some of our best examples, notably the Burlington Hudson #3007, do not have dedicated covered track space. (While it is currently under cover it is occupying general department space and would potentially have to be put outside again when we have locomotives in operation). Other items that we would dearly like to get under cover, where they could be cosmetically restored for better display, are the Rock Island 4-6-2 #938 and C&O 2-8-4 #2707. Please consider donating to the fund raising for barn #14 nominating the steam department. As an added incentive, we have a number of the "Burlington Bulletin" books on the S-4 Hudsons including #3007, which we will provide to anyone who can donate $25 or more to the steam department for covered space. Nigel Sunday, December 9. 2012Steam Department Update 12-08-2012There were two very separate activities at the steam shop this weekend. Outside, the Kansas City Southern tender from Galt arrived and had to be unloaded and put back on its trucks (which had arrived separately during the week). Here the rather unusual trucks of this tender await the arrival of the tender itself.
The tender is a fairly substantial items as can be seen from comparison to the B&G building as it enters IRM for the first time.
A good deal of careful back and fore was required to position the tender (still on the trailer) centrally over the track so that the mounting points would be in the correct position to fit into the trucks.
Once in place steel beams were located under the body. The trailer had then to be raised, blocks placed under the beams, and then lowered a number of times until there was sufficient height to set jacks under the beams.
Finally the jacks were all placed and the tender could be raised off the trailer.
The trailer is free and starts to move out from under the tender.
The trucks are chained to the trailer and each other so that they are pulled under the tender, at the correct spacing, as the trailer pulls out.
The job of lowering the tender back onto its trucks so that the pins aligned and the pivot points located into the sockets in the trucks proved to be a long and tricky exercise. It was well past dark by the time this was completed so pictures of the completed tender are for next week !. On 1630, things looked bleak in the morning. We are absolutely dependent for tube loading on those of the team who can fit into the boiler. Having arranged a morning and afternoon shift, as it is more than one person can do to work in these conditions all day, Collin's car failed and he was not able to get to Union in the morning. However, while we lost the morning shift, Jason did sterling work in the afternoon. Here we see him "relaxing" between loading tubes. It is not a environment in which you can work for more than a few hours at a time.
We have now completed loading of the tubes down both sides of the super heaters. The fireman's side, looking forward, now looks pretty full compared to earlier views when we were sand blasting.
Looking toward the firebox on the engineer's side also shows the boiler filling rapidly. This also shows the positioning of the copper ferrules, which are set slightly below the surface of the tube sheet in the firebox, where the end of the tube will be beaded, but projecting into the boiler barrel, where the copper can be seen around each of the new tubes.
Mike continued work on drilling the rivet holes in the patch. The accurate alignment of these holes is proving to be a significant challenge. Nigel Sunday, December 9. 2012News and Views - December 8, 2012There was a lot of activity yesterday in spite of cold blustery weather. This could probably go into several categories, but I will lump all together under this heading. First, our NEWEST ARRIVAL.  A Tender Subject Here is the Vanderbilt tender from Kansas City Southern 759. Newly arrived and now placed on its trucks, south of Barn 9. I believe this was acquired decades ago and owned by IRM - stored offsite at Galt, IL. If not mistaken it was plucked from the scrap line at Northwest Steel and Wire in Sterling, IL before they shut down.  X 38 Windows Here is your first view of three newly completed windows for the CGW X 38 snowplow. We processed these last week and they are now ready for paint. Buzz Morisette graciously volunteered to check dimensions.  Carlines Working on his own project Buzz had made several new carlines or roof ribs for our private car ELY. Any such repair project inevitably turns out to be much more work and requires more effort than first thought.  Threshold Victor Humphreys is on 'the threshold of a new discovery' as he grinds weld on new steel for this threshold for our B&O wagon top boxcar. I say threshold guardedly since it is a heavy steel plate which get fastened to the wood floorboards just at the doorway.  Lettering Tom Bernacki volunteered to help document lettering on our MILW 97054 airslide covered hopper. It was very cold and blustery, windy, but dry most of the day. He made several trips to the car's storage location in the South End Yard 14, coming into the shop for lunch and some breaks to warm up. Here is part of his work, half of the reporting marks and car number.  Another Window Joel Ahrendt is working on a new window for the cab of our Milwaukee Electric L 4 steeplecab locomotive. Now painted and finished, he is glazing and putting the finishing touches on it before installing it in its rightful place.  The Rack New shelving and racks were assembled and installed just this week in the latest addition to the Barn 4 shop space. Volunteers wasted no time in putting them to work and doing some housecleaning in that room. Eric Lorenz is the antithesis of a hoarder, yet manages to survive in the world of IRM packrats. Behind him is an entire shelf of windows and other parts for our Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car.  Ceiling Parts Eric and Lorne Tweed exhumed several steel panels from storage and they also are now stowed on the racks. These are curved sections which will be stripped, primed and painted, ready to hold the ad cards originally displayed by them in the 4223.  Seating Seating was also placed high on the new racks with a large crew removing the parts from Chicago Rapid Transit 1024. Some of those seat back 'cushions' must be 20 feet long of rattan, springs, and wood frames. The crew included Scott Greig, Bill Wulfert, Tim Peters, and Eric Lorenz. |
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Comments
Mon, 09-08-2025 08:22
Good job on the Burlington Nortern 9976. OK.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:56
No new news that I have heard of thus far.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:53
I'll also be doing another update on it soon. Keep en eye out for that.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:47
A little work was done to it for Diesel Days this year. You'll see photos floating around for the temporary short term job that was done to make it [...]
Wed, 08-06-2025 13:01
Is steam car CN 15444 going to be coming to museum several times it was to be moved to muesum
Sat, 07-19-2025 18:56
Yeah, sadly it's still there as of 7/19/2025
Thu, 06-12-2025 19:14
Its been 14 years guys, where is the unit? Like really? Did you guys misplace it? Or are repairs taking that long? At this point be might we will have [...]
Wed, 04-09-2025 17:40
Jamie Thanks for the update. She's gonna shine like every thing else you guys do! Smeds
Thu, 03-06-2025 16:28
Yes, there is a wye. Those two have been MU'ed on diesel days a year or two ago.
Wed, 03-05-2025 14:04
7009 number boards look good. Is there a way to turn a locomotive around at IRM? In case you ever had a mind to connect 7009 and 6847?
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...