Friday, September 6. 2013
GN X 1390 Update - September 4, 2013 Posted by Robert Kutella
in Freight Car Department at
02:32
Comments (5) GN X 1390 Update - September 4, 2013We are moving ahead with the prep work to have this fine tank car repainted. One of the decisions was to remove the dome running boards to allow a better job to be done. They are of a location that would make it difficult to repaint without getting runs, and a color separation for the orange dome is but an inch away. Almost impossible to mask that off well if they are in the way. John Faulhaber and Gerry Dettloff are at work with the torch. There are a lot of details to be attended to before traces of the old car and paint are to disappear. Dave Rogan is helping by tracing the built date lettering as we work along to document anything and everything that could be of use. Here is another of those details. We previously described much of the lettering on the car as it exists, and here is a LUBE STENCIL on the right end of the center sill. We think this means Texaco Grease 2301 applied by the Great Northern Railway in 1960 at a location shown abbreviated by letter "P". Are you GN fans watching this post? It would be interesting to identify that station name abbreviation. More detective work and some careful scraping revealed this lettering on the top chord of the truck sideframes. Great Northern was surely a class outfit to go to this level of detail. It says "G.N. 1390". Earlier we showed you the truck bolster lettering on the "A" end, here is the similar but different lettering on the "B" end truck. I do not think I will create a separate entry for shop work so will tack on a few news items here. Jim Foraker (shown) and Henry Vincent worked on finishing touches to the 'slider' table saw restoration and wired up the motor. It runs, but a few details remain. The old grind refers to the work, not that sterling individual (Al Reinschmidt) who cleaned the back side of a steel pilot destined for Chicago Aurora & Elgin 36. Monday, September 2. 2013
Steam Department Update 08-31-2013 Posted by Nigel Bennett
in Steam Department at
10:38
Comments (0) Steam Department Update 08-31-2013
It was a crazy week in the steam department. Passing the hydro test last weekend opened up a mass of new work on 1630, while the 60th anniversary event provided a great opportunity to operate as well as many demands for moving equipment in preparation. Luckily Brian Davies has been visiting from Florida so we have had steam department capability on site every day.
On 1630 many tasks are now under way and the critical ones have been progressing quite rapidly:
· After the hydro test, the dome cover was removed,. the water was drained and the boiler ventilated. This enabled the second important FRA inspection. When a boiler has been subject to excess pressure (such as the 125% operating required for the hydro) it must be internally inspected to assure that it has suffered no ill effects, such as loosened braces. By Friday it was dry and the inspection was undertaken when the inspector was on site to check Leviathan. Everything was as it should be. So we are now cleared to move forward to steam test. One key thing to note is that you will see reference to pressure or hydro testing in the next couple of weeks as we finish beading the tube ends. From here on it will always be at no more than the 180 psi operating pressure and just to ensure that we have not created any seepage at the tube ends. We have proved the basic integrity of the boiler and it must not be over pressured, else we would need to do a further internal inspection.
· During the week, Jerry had re-installed the support bars and grates on the engineer's side so she now has a complete and operating grate system again. Yours truly comes in on Friday and wonders why we now have air pipes snaking up the cab steps and thru the cab instead of neatly thru the ash pan as they were before. (Because the grates normally separate the ash pan from the firebox dummy !)
· The dome lid was replaced on Saturday to enable testing of tubes as they are beaded. Unfortunately some work is required on the throttle body so that could not be refitted and the lid will need to come off at a later point to refit this.
· Jane was hard at work painting parts ready for installation. All the bands that will hold the cladding sheets in place are now done. Now if only we can get her the paint for the air tanks we can get those fitted again !.
· Beading the tube ends has proceeded well. As shown later, beading requires the 1/4 inch projection of the tube to be rolled over tightly against the sheet. In the front not all the tubes are beaded. The super heater flues and the small tubes beside and immediately below them are beaded to provide additional longitudinal bracing to the tube sheets. In the rear, everything is beaded to protect the seam between tube and tube sheet from the direct flame burn.
Progress was maybe not quite as fast as we had hoped but the weather conspired against us !. Brian Davies has done most of the work but has now trained Brian Krause in the technique, which makes describing who did what complicated !!.
During the week Brian D beaded all the required tubes in the front tube sheet. On a couple of evening he apologized for not moving as fast as he had hoped. When I worked in the shop Friday I fully understood. At 90+ degrees and high humidity, doing anything physical was tough. How he did as much as he did I can barely imagine.
In the picture above you can see the distinction between the tubes higher up, that have a smooth rounded profile overlapping the seam between tube and tube sheet, and those lower down, where the tube is simply expanded into place. This is the effect of beading.
On Saturday and Sunday Brian K worked on the firebox tubes during breaks from the 60th anniversary operation. On Sunday I observed the process and took the photographs below.
At the start, the end of the tube is expanded into the sheet and, if necessary, reduced to a projection of 1/4 inch. The specially shaped tool in the air hammer has a small extension outside the tube and a longer one inside.
Having started to
hammer the edge of the tube is rolled outward.
Working steadily
around the whole circumference of the tube, Brian forms the rounded profile all
around the tube end.
A little tidying up
to ensure it is smooth all around, the rolled edge is tight against the tube
sheet and another one is done.
· The other major piece of work now under way is lagging the firebox in the cab. This apparently simple task is going to be a censored nightmare !. First blocks of insulation have to be secured all over the surface of the firebox. This varies from fairly large intact blocks on the lower sides, thru pieces that have to be laboriously cut to fit around stay caps higher on the sides to irregularly cut pieces, that will need to be squeezed into narrow spaces between fittings and pipes, high up on the top. The material is an unpleasant mix of fiber and silicates that is very brittle when cut. So getting it located and intact is a most unpleasant challenge. Once areas are in place we then have the fun of squeezing pieces of sheet metal between the pipes and into a position where they can be secured. This will have to be done as soon as possible since the exposed blocks of carefully located insulation are very fragile and will tend to break up on contact until they are covered.
Bob Milhaupt, who was a regular volunteer until he moved to Michigan, visited for the weekend and worked steadily at this job. By Sunday the insulation was in place well up both sides of the firebox. Dennis repaired one of the cladding sheets that had to be cut to remove it so we have the metal ready to install as soon as we can cover the top of the firebox.
·
Another activity related to the lagging was
identifying the route of some pipes that have been disconnected or replaced so
that we are sure they are in the correct place before lagging is put over them.
·
On Saturday the firebox door casting was lifted
out of the tender so that work could begin on preparing this for fitting. Rick managed to safely remove a couple of
badly burned bolts that secure the distribution plate and all the loose fire
clay. David made good progress in
removing accumulated rust in preparation for repainting. Once the beading is complete in the firebox
this casting can be re-installed. (You
can still get into the firebox with the door casting in place but it will be a
LOT more difficult).
·
Another major stream of work started with Jeff
bringing in from the boxcar the various pieces of sheet metal and mesh that
form the table plate and spark arrestor around the blast pipe in the
smokebox. As you may imagine this is a
harsh environment so the whole construction needs to be assessed to determine
which pieces can be reused and which replaced.
So Dennis needs to start on this to ensure that we have it ready once
the blast pipe is installed.
In other areas
within the shop:
·
Phil and Cameron
worked with Tom on machining the bolster for the Shay;
·
Tom continued
machining shoes for the axle boxes on 428.
There was a lot of
work outside in support of the 60th anniversary:
·
3007 and the
Centennial were moved out of barn 9 for display. This is a very time consuming exercise as a
lot of equipment that does not move often had to be moved to enable this. A number of people were involved in
lubricating the equipment so that it could be safely moved and then assisting
in the switching. When you move pieces
that are normally static great care is required as stiffness may make them much
more prone to derailment.
·
It was great to see
steam in operation with both 126 and Leviathan on site. While Leviathan was fully crewed, the
department provided crews for 126 thru the weekend. This was a great opportunity to get some
operating experience ahead of 1630 coming into service. I thoroughly enjoyed a short spell firing
126. However, when spreading a few part
shovels of coal around her firebox, you became rather aware that the box on
1630, that you had just crawled out of, will present some rather different
challenges !.
·
We observed the FRA
inspection of Leviathan on Friday which was useful as it confirmed what the
inspectors will want to see in the steam testing of 1630.
·
On Friday, 126
provided a chastening example of the exposures in operating a steam
engine. The piston rod worked loose and
detached from the crosshead when switching.
This allowed the piston to be fired forward, smashing the front cylinder
head casting. Luckily Barney had a spare
on another locomotive in process of restoration so, with lot of driving over
night to fetch it from Indiana, she was repaired and back in service on
Saturday. But it certainly highlights
how easily major damage can occur to a steam engine. Repairing something similar on 1630 would be
huge.
So a lot of progress. Much more must happen to enable the steam
test but the objective is now in sight.
Nigel
Sunday, September 1. 2013Wood Shop Update - August 31, 2013I am going to keep with the usual subject header although in this case none of the photos were taken in the shop area. The weather was just too nice and with the 60th anniversary in full swing, it was more a day for watching rather than working. Special events, special equipment, special displays, special operations. But some of us soldiered on with our projects. This is a very dramatic photo of Eric Lorenz and the front end of Cleveland Transit System 4223, one of our PCC cars. Eric has been working the last several weeks to make new wiring harnesses and string all that cable in the carbody, in preparation for installing ceiling panels and trim. Here, the thing to note is the front end marker lights illuminated for the first time. On to show you some of our work on our snowplow, Chicago Great Western X 38. Jim Leonard and Bill Peterson are up in the roof of the plow. They assured me they were hard at work but it looks to me they merely have a good bleacher seat for watching the trains going by. I guess they really were working. Jim has a large pipe wrench, well in hand. For several weeks we have been attempting to remove the damaged train line air pipe, that which runs down from the roof to the front end coupler. It has resisted many of our efforts. But they succeeded, straightened the air pipe, cleaned the old paint from it, and primed it. And the drop line from the roof is in, and now Bill and Jim are adding the angle cock and air hose assembly. Here is some new interior siding which was tricky to shape and patch in around one of the plow wing air cylinders. It was gone by the time we received the plow and Dave Rogan did a very good job of fabricating and installing the boards primed in white in this pic. Dave joined me in the cupola. I was scraping paint, while Dave worked to re mount some of the electrical gear that was installed when the current sealed beam headlights were installed. I said earlier it was a day for train watching. Here is the 126 in the depot, and pulling a mixed caboose train to the delight of visitors, young and old. The caboose train provided three mile round trips - also operating were the LEVIATHAN steam train, the Nebraska Zephyr, and South Shore 803. Here the 126 is returning from one of its popular trips as South Shore 803 idles on the west end of Station Track 2. Brother Chris Buck was the dispatcher, and I bet it was real interesting. At least five different mainline trains, some operating short turns and all needing to be governed efficiently and safely. |
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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 [...]