Illinois Railway Museum Blog

The report this weekend is entirely second hand as I have been on vacation in Mexico.  Thanks to Jim, Phil and Collin for detailed input.  The common theme seems to be that, with Nigel out of the way, there was a good turnout and they were able to get a lot done.

As ever, the primary focus is on 1630 and getting everything in top shape for the season:

Jerry spent most of Saturday scraping grease off the frame on the fireman's side of the engine. 

Jane put more of the frame in primer.  She also painted the portion of the frame that was already put in primer by Jeff. 

Trevor crawled under the boiler and cleaned the interior of the frame. 

Jim painted one of the two remaining wheels on the engineer's side and the two back wheels on the fireman's side of the engine. 

Jim paints the motion bracket

Jane and Jim also put the last wheel on the engineer's side in primer. 

Substantial progress on the ES

On Sunday, Jerry and Jim gave the fireman’s side frames and wheels a final power wash to get ready for full priming on that side.  As part of this they tested the painting of the wheels on the engineer’s side.  We had some doubts as the paint used is really old but seemed to apply and adhere very well.  It also passed this test with no sign of any flaking under high pressure washing.

Intensive work started on the smoke box where we need to fit a thicker gasket on the front ring and Dennis has to fit the spark arrestor assembly into the box.

Removing the appurtenances from the front of 1630 was challenging due to the weight associated with the bell and smoke box door & ring. Typically, we would prefer to use either the large CAT forklift or, preferably, the boom truck to effect such moves, however, that equipment is currently inaccessible due to the accumulation of snow around the property. We therefore made the most of the small shop forklift, which Ralph maneuvered around. Rick, Eric & his Dad rigged the bell and Ralph lowered it down.

Front stripped for spark arrestor fitting

Phil & Paul worked on the new smoke box baffling and hardware. This had been assembled in the fabrication area and then had to be disassembled, brought up front to the locomotive, and reassembled. During this time Eric & Collin worked on burning out the netting channels and Paul finished up by grinding to smooth the smoke box interior. Dennis will now be able to plan the replacement of the mounting hardware.

Collin prepares netting channels

Rick, JD and friends worked on sanding down and stripping the paint on the cab of 1630.

Work continues on preparing the cab

In the evening Dennis worked on the weld repairs to the cab sides and roof interior.

On the Shay:

Ralph, with help from Jason, removed several brake rigging pieces to allow for access to stay bolts on the throat sheet.

Ralph removes rigging

Despite the appearance he is not cutting the rigging but heating a rusted nut to allow its removal.  This is a common technique that usually allows even very old and rusted nuts to be removed without sheering the bolt or stud.

Firebox clear for work on the stays

After this work the firebox front is clear for work on the stays.

On #428:

Dennis worked on the welding of the boxes and pedestal braces. Work progresses on all of them at once as the most effective method is to weld one until it gets too hot then move on the next.  By the time the 4^th is too hot you can move back to the 1^st.

Axle box with weld repairs in progress

On Sunday Tom, Cameron, and Philip all worked on machining various parts including the brake rigging.

In other areas:

Jerry and Bob about the planer tried longer bolts in the pump block and this seems to have overcome the problem of the gasket blowing.  There are still minor leaks but, unfortunately the table still does not show any sign of moving under pressure.  It is hoped that we have found an outside expert who may have some experience of this type of machine and is willing to come by and advise.

Hopefully this coming weekend we can do as well as this with me around, otherwise I will really start to wonder!.

Nigel