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Sunday, January 27. 2013Steam Department Update 01-26-2013Steady progress on a number of fronts in the steam shop this weekend. There are no photographs this week as I spent most of the afternoon inside the firebox with an air hammer !. On 1630 it was a case of pushing on with the same key tasks:
· We had a setback in the morning when the new tube roller, that had finally arrived, proved to be too small in diameter for the firebox tube ends. The intent with the new roller had been to simultaneously seal the tube end into the tube sheet and make the flare, which is the first step towards beading the end of the tube. Plan B was therefore adopted !. The expander can be used to fully seal the tube ends into place. It is just a slower process requiring a good deal more heavy work from the operator, which my wife would probably say is a darn good thing in my case !. Essentially, instead of air hammering each tube once to set it into place, fully sealing the end requires that you do this three times. Each time the expander must be released by hammering the central pin, turned a little, hammered back into the tube end to seat it and then air hammered again. Using this method, by end of day, we had set all but a few tubes higher up on the fireman's side. All the tubes we set this weekend were subject to the full process so they are sealed and ready to rolled in the smokebox to seal them into the front tube sheet. (The firebox end must be fully sealed to ensure that the tube cannot move before the front end is rolled ). In addition a number that had been set last week were fully sealed. The objective of this approach is that we now have a substantial number of tubes that can be sealed into the smokebox tubesheet, so that we can keep on working in the smokebox when the patch team needs access to the firebox. · This week we had free access to the firebox as Dennis and Mike were finalizing the remaining holes in the patch away from the firebox. The patch should be ready for final fitting next weekend. · Ed continued with the pipe fitting. We have now reached the stage where I have to locate the pictures of how the cab fitting looked before stripping so that the cab end of the new pipes can be set up correctly. · Richard and Lorne removed the timber supporting the cab awning. That became a fairly brutal process. Since it was held to the cab by coach bolts and the timber had rotted, allowing the bolts to turn, cutting the nuts off in the cab was about the only method of getting the timber off the cab; · Vince was setting up for machining the spacing ring that we need to fit one of the super heater flues. No one is real clear why but the hole for the top right super heater flue is about 1/4 inch bigger than all the others so requires a spacing ring when the flue is rolled into the sheet. In other areas: · The decision was taken to set up the new compressor as a direct replacement of the existing one. That means we will not set it up fully until the weather improves. However we will need to ensure that it is fully tested before we start the replacement as we will have nothing but the Sullair as an air source while we do the switch; · Lorne continued the cleaning of the Shay truck. Hopefully we should be able to finally inspect and repaint that shortly; · The new high pressure line for the planer was assembled; · A number of tasks were progressed on 428: o Tom is working on machining the new axle box wedges on the shaper; o Jerry continued grinding out the axle box channels in preparation for welding in the reinforcing plates; o Work restarted on reassembling the air pump. Nigel Sunday, January 27. 2013Wood Shop Update - January 26, 2013Here is another report, heavy on photos, aided and abetted by images taken by Jon Fenciki, and just a whole lot of activity by the volunteers.  Jon Fenlaciki Photo This a a very good example of how projects should work in the shop. Four days ago Jon Fenlaciki brought in a window that needed repair, from Indiana Railroad 65. We noted what we thought should be done and supplied info to Jon on purchasing new wood. Jon did exactly that and delivered some new mahogany Saturday morning. Before you knew it the stock had been roughed out and planed, and here - Bob Kutella, Rich Witt, and John Faulhaber are setting a jig for cutting the stop cuts for new tenons. Jon was on the spot, making decisions as needed and helping with the work. A real team effort.  Tenons The tenons are being nibbled away by Rich Witt and John Faulhaber on the table saw.  New Bottom Rail Rich has the new bottom rail complete, ready for final fitting, while Jon displays the original piece, the reason for the work.  What Is It It is always good to throw in a quiz question to see if the class is paying attention. What is it? Maybe some peanut butter and a glob of creme filling? See next photo for the surprise answer.  Jon Fenlaciki Photo The new bottom rail has been fitted and the window reassembled. Rich Witt is using an epoxy product that is both an effective adhesive and also serves as a wood repair filler. The window is clamped up and will be ready for sanding and refinishing the next visit to the shop by Jon. Our new motto - "One day and done!"  Caboose Grab Iron Victor Humphreys is making some final fit checks and careful readying three end fittings for welding to the curved caboose grab iron. A lot of metal grinding and filing, foreign to a sawdust maker like me. It is looking good.  More Window Work Victor Humphreys and William Peterson are busy completing the gray primer on all eight new windows for Chicago Great Western X 38.. Bill is a relatively new volunteer in the shop and seems intent on completing his 'apprenticeship' and joining the old hands club. Thanks Bill  Set Up We finished up a lot of 'small' projects early in the day before quitting time, so went on to the next steps for the two new doors for CGW X 38. That means setting up the mortising machine to plunge many slots in the door stiles and rails. William Peterson is making and installing new wood blocks for the 'hold down' clamps on the mortiser. Basically, almost every job is a different size and set up, and it takes some small time to get it ready. Set up complete, we made two mortises and hung an OUT TO LUNCH sign on the machine.  Molding Work Now to continue the story of Chicago Rapid Transit 1024, from last weeks report. Tim modified (sacrificed) a carbide router bit and ground it for the custom profile needed for the "UPPER" tack molding on the 1024. That is the piece that finishes the edge of the large flat roof, while a similar but different piece is needed alongside the hip roof areas, that called the "LOWER" tack molding. The best product is very long pieces of stock to minimize joints in this rail. It takes many hands to to this work carefully, here done by John Faulhaber, Fred Zimmerman, and Tim Peters.  Finishing Fred then hand sanded many pieces of this, and finished the effort with prime painting all of them.  Mock-Up It can be difficult to visualize how a project's parts need to be made and to go together. Here is a mock up of a key element needed for the next two windows for Boston & Maine 1094. The small heel or haunch on the side stiles will support and anchor the rounded top rail. We used a variety of steps, jigs and tooling to make this part shown by Rich Witt.  Molding Buzz Morisette is slicing thin strips of oak on a bevel cut. These will be replacements for damaged ceiling moldings in the private car ELY.  Jon Fenlaciki Photo Dave Fullarton, Greg Kapka, and Richard Schauer were in the Barn 4 pit working on the group switch underneath rapid transit car CTA 2154. As usual a lot of other work going on in the shop and around the property. I did not catch a pic of this, but we finished running six windows for heavyweight passenger car Illinois Central 3996, working with Roger Kramer, and also completed and surfaced the first of the door panels for the new CGW X 38 doors.
Friday, January 25. 2013Wood Shop Update - January 23, 2013Another chapter in getting better photos for you: These are from the new camera, and getting them this far was not without DRAMA. But things are getting better. Next step is to get better resolution. So - I was trying to take lots of photos in different situations, and the crew obliged with many projects going on. This report will be heavy on photos, thin on commentary.  Brake Cylinder We get questions all the time about the status of Chicago & West Towns 141. A lot of progress lately. The brake cylinder under the car floor was removed and new supports fabricated. Here Gerry Dettloff is adding mounting bolts while the weight of the cylinder is resting on a dolly.  I Can Reach That You almost have to be a contortionist to get where you need to be. Gerry is on the other side tightening the nuts. His rosy complexion is mostly due to the effort of working under the car while it was about 10 F inside the barn.  Brake Rods In the shop new brake rod assemblies were fabricated, now complete with bushings and pins for installation under the car.  Clevis Ends Special order clevises had to be sourced and then the rods made to the correct length. I already mentioned putting hardened bushings (two) in each clevis and one of a kind hardened pins made (four).  Door Work John Faulhaber is making stop cuts to define tenons for new door parts destined for Chicago Great Western X 38.  Window Work Meanwhile, Dave Rogan cut and fit quarter round molding for eight new windows for the X 38.  Windows Buzz Morisette pitched in and began prime painting some of those windows. The race is on. Will we finish the windows before spring when the hoped for better weather will allow us to install them in the control cupola?  A Molding Job Buzz continues to be the driving force in restoring and rebuilding the ceiling in our private car ELY. Here he is cleaning old finishes from some delicate molding.  Repair Buzz and Tim Peters confer on how to make a repair on one of the damaged pieces of ELY trim molding.  ELY New Ceiling Buzz and Victor Humphreys are wrestling large panels through the table saw to cut them to size for installation.  Jointing Tim Peters and Frank Kehoe have set out some long heavy pieces of new hardwood lumber, moving to the next steps on Chicago Rapid Transit 1024. The first thing to be done is to push them though our 100 year old jointer and this machine will make a smooth straight edge on a rough cut side, which may come to us somewhat curvy. Then the stock is ripped to width on the table saw.  Planing Some of the above lumber has been cut to width and now Tim and Frank are running it through the planer. These are LOONG pieces of lumber and must be threaded through the obstacles in the shop. What are they for? These will become new tack molding for the roof area of the car.  Another Window Jon Fenlaciki has removed a damaged rear window from our first car, Indiana Railroad 65. New pieces will be made in the shop and then it will fall to Jon to assemble and refinish the sash.  Roof Work Jeff Brady was taking careful aim with a tricky setup on the table saw. And making test cuts on new wood for the roof of Michigan Electric 28. So, yes, there was a lot going on and I did not capture some of the project work. There was MORE!
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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 [...]