Illinois Railway Museum Blog

A brief update this week as I was away in Cleveland at the weekend.  The update is based upon input from Phil and Jim.

Unfortunately the key conclusion from the week is that we will not be able to run next weekend, which was the first that we had scheduled for operation this year.  We are pretty much “day to day”.  #1630 is complete and ready to steam aside from refitting the smoke box front and the bell / lamp fittings mounted on it.

The key activities have been repairing the cracks recently detected in the smoke box front casting.  This is approaching completion but has been a much slower job than anticipated as the casting proves to be iron rather than steel.  It must therefore be brazed rather than welded (a much slower process).  Aside from other issues, brazing requires working from both sides so the huge casting had to be turned over part way thru the process.

While Dennis was working on this:

The steel and mesh work of the spark arrestor was largely completed.  There seems to be some discussion over whether a handle will need to be bent to provide sufficient clearance from the petticoat casting.

Eric and Jim worked on putting lagging on the steam dome.

Jerry brought in the Frisco stencils he had made that will be used to letter the cab side..

Tom lead a team of guys on rebuilding the steam pipe from the governor to the air compressor.  This pipe was seriously wasted and a new one has been fabricated by an outside contractor to the intricate series on bends required.  A new union has been fabricated to replace one of unique pattern at one end that was very eroded.  The current activity is the final step of threading the ends of the new pipe, fitting the unions refitting the new pipe to the locomotive,

Brian worked on painting the windows of the cab.

Mike over the last couple of weeks has been working on the brake valves of the milk car to get it ready for service.

A large group of guys worked on cleaning up the rods of 1630. Although they will be covered in oil when in service, they look a whole lot better if the oil film is on clean polished steel!.

Track department finished fixing the switch off the car line to the steam leads. The track is now back in service.

So, work continues during the week and we will be in service as soon as the smokebox door can be refitted.

Nigel