Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Entries from June 2014

Sunday, June 8. 2014

Steam Department Update 06-07-2014 Posted by Nigel Bennett in Steam Department at 11:05

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Steam Department Update 06-07-2014

The break in the weekly blogs reflects a very different dynamic in the steam shop the last couple of weeks.

After the frenetic activity to get into service for Memorial Day there has been little apparent project activity in the shop. Turnout has been less as people recover from the intense effort to complete #1630 and there is the growing realization of just how much is involved in running the locomotive most weekends.

#1630 has run well for a locomotive returning to service after a long break and major work. The new bearings on the rear drive axle ran fairly hot the first few days but now seem to be settling in to run at more normal temperatures.

I had my first day as a student fireman yesterday. Hopefully by mid-week I should be able to move again!. Firing a locomotive of this size, even on light work, is hard work on a hot and humid day. With preparation and disposal it is a solid 12 hour effort. During the day you will fire several tons of coal and, with the large firebox, a lot of it must be accurately thrown a long way to the front corners of the firebox. Compared to UK locomotives that I have fired you notice that she was not optimized for hand firing. Not surprising as she has a mechanical stoker that is in place but not operational. The major differences are that the tender simply dumps coal at footplate level rather than having a shovel plate at fire-door height and the stoker mechanism somewhat restricts the fire-hole. Nothing too significant with the limited work required on the museum trains but it certainly means that you sure know you have done a day’s work!.

Operating the locomotive requires a lot of time and effort. Hopefully some of this will reduce as she stabilizes and we have less minor repairs to do each week. After Memorial Day weekend there was a significant list of leaks at valves and unions that needed attention. The limited turnout last weekend meant that it was only as a result of intense work by Tom and team mid-week that we were able to run this weekend.

Some jobs are clearly defined. Leaks were identified at unions on the FS check valve and the air pump governor. These unions were separated and remade. This fixed the problems. It sounds simple but each is several hours of work. The real wildcard is ones that you cannot clearly identify.

A troubling issue was signs of water leaking out from under the sheet metal and lagging below the footplate at the back corner of the firebox. Hours of work were required to remove sections of sheet metal and lagging to even be able to investigate the area. This did not provide any insight on where the water came from so she was steamed this weekend with this area uncovered. (Big bonus for the fireman whose seat is right beside this. So you are sitting close to a very effective radiant heater on a hot and humid day!). Anyway the result proved to be of no real concern. A valve high up on the firebox crown leaks steam, particularly before it reaches full temperature. The steam condenses on the inside of the sheet metal, runs down a tortuous path along the back of the sheet metal that leads to the back corner, where it can run down to escape at the bottom corner. So, no concern but quite a few hours work still required to refit all the sheet metal and lagging as well as trying to reduce leakage at the valve (tricky as it seems to seal well when hot so you do not want to change that).

We really need to put in quite a lot of effort mid-week every week if the locomotive is to be ready for midday on Saturday. Five and more tons of coal need to be loaded and the tender water tank topped up. The firebox must be cleaned and a lot of clinker and ash removed from the grates.

Mid-week coal loading is a new problem this year as we cannot load coal using the crane in the service area as this is removed to allow building of the new cut-off track. With assistance from the B&G department, loading is quite efficient using the forklift and skidder. However, since this must be done on the road crossing, we can hardly do it on a Saturday with the museum open to visitors!.

The other issue that became apparent on Saturday was the effects of having shifted the coal pile from its original location to a temporary location. New coal acquired in 2013 has been mixed with old material that is largely dust and was apparently problematic even in 2004. After 3 great trips, the fourth was very difficult when we hit a seam of material in the tender that looked like coal dust but showed little inclination to burn!. Hopefully we can work thru this in the next couple of weekends and then get in new supplies.

So, going forward, we have to decide how often we operate and what we can do in the shop alongside the operation.

The objective will be to get in no more than 28 operating days thru the season. The reason for this is simple. A quite significant inspection is mandated under FRA rules after 30 days of service. We ran 2 days in 2013, leaving 28 before this is required. It would not make sense to put several weekends of work into this inspection late in the season when we can do it over winter. After a break of nearly 10 years we have a shortage of trained crew, which also restricts how often we can run, and means that we have a trainee rostered on every operating day.

Don't forget your tickets for the Sanfilippo Benefit 29th June. The raffle there will be the only opportunity this season to win a footplate ride!.

What is next?. At the moment we have been fully occupied in the jobs around keeping 1630 in service and preparing her each day. Hopefully, as we get more experienced in this, we can agree a plan on what we do next!.

Nigel

Thursday, June 5. 2014

Streamliners at Spencer Report from ... Posted by Pauline Trabert in Diesel Department at 16:20

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Streamliners at Spencer Report from Brian LaKemper

Brian LaKemper captured the following images during Streamliners at Spencer, an event organized by the North Carolina Transportation Museum, gathering 26 streamlined locomotives from railroads and museums across the country. The event was held at the former Southern Railway Spencer Shops, now the site of the North Carolina Transportation Museum.

IRM sent E5A CB&Q 9911A Silver Pilot, F7A C&NW 411, and several volunteers. The locomotives participated in various photo line ups, and took turns with other locomotives pulling the North Carolina Transportation Museum's coach train. IRM volunteers operated IRM's locomotives, and manned a booth in the museum's 37 stall roundhouse.

All photos by Brian LaKemper.

Nick Kallas is prepared to man the museums booth with plenty of brochures and a poster with photos of the museum

Silver Pilot with Atlantic Coast Line 501, the only two operational slant nosed E-units in the world

Silver Pilot accelerating away with the North Carolina Transportation Museums coach train

Jamie K. riding CNW 411 to couple up to the Silver Pilot for departure

CNW 411 under the water column next to the roundhouse

CNW 411 with FT demonstrator EMDX 103, the locomotive that paved the way for all other F-units

In the last photo, Silver Pilot and C&NW 411 share the roundhouse tracks with Erie 833 (New York & Greenwood Lake Railway), New Haven 2019 (Railroad Museum of New England), Wabash 1189 (Monticello Railway Museum), Pan Am Railways 1 (Pan Am Railways Executive F), ACL 501 (North Carolina Transportation Museum), and Soo Line 2500-A (Lake Superior Railroad Museum)

Sharing the roundhouse tracks

A big thanks to Brian for passing along this information to share here on the blog.

Thursday, June 5. 2014

Memorial Day Weekend Passenger Car ... Posted by Pauline Trabert in Passenger Car Department at 16:07

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Memorial Day Weekend Passenger Car Department Update

Due to hardware problems this blog post was delayed for one week. Thanks to Jamie Kolanowski for getting the blog back online as quickly as possible after his return from the Streamliners at Spencer event at the North Carolina Transportation Museum.

Saturday, May 24th was the start of another warm, fabulous Memorial Day weekend at IRM!

Several volunteers were working on different projects. In the morning, Michael Baksic and Mark Gellman conducted an air brake test on the Bessemer & Lake Erie 25 steel combine. Kevin Kriebs was back on adhesive removal detail on the exterior of the 1st Exhibit Car.

Kevin Kriebs continues adhesive removal on the 1st Exhibit Car - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Kevins work exemplifies how much of the Museum work is done - a little bit at a time - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Jon Habegger and Ken were inside the 1st Exhibit Car greeting visitors, answering questions and talking about the displays. Michael McCraren was the conductor in the passenger coaches all day. Mark Gellman was the coach department representative on the passenger train. John McKelvey spent Saturday working on the Duluth Missabe & Iron Range Railway 84 passenger coach seats and installing seats he had reupholstered in the smoking section.

John McKelvey with a stripped down DMIR 84 coach seat back in the Wood Shop - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

The backside of a DMIR 84 coach seat back - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

John McKelvey installing a newly reupholstered DMIR 84 smoking section seat bottom - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Inside the DM&IR 84 coach today there are a variety of upholstery colors and materials. While the original smoking section was upholstered in leather, vinyl is currently being used to reupholster those seats because it is much less expensive. Outside of the smoking section, seats were originally covered in green velvet. Shelly Vanderschaegen has been reupholstering those seats over the years as time allows in a green crushed velvet. She also fabricated the seat back covers which slip on over the worn out seat backs to help keep riders comfortable until all the seats are refinished

John McKelvey in the rear of the DMIR 84 coach - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Green crushed velvet seats reupholstered by Shelly - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

A smoking section seat of DMIR 84 coach reupholstered by John McKelvey - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Warren Newhauser, Brian LaKemper, and Chuck Trabert spent Saturday working on the Milwaukee Road Dynamometer X-5000 car which was parked outside of Barn 3. Warren applied a metal prep solution to some of the many exterior rust spots on the upper side of the car facing the scaffolding. This produces a “black rust” which forms a seal and stops further rusting until sandblasting. An IRM guest a few weeks ago worked for PPG Paints in R&D for over 40 years and suggested this was a good idea which could be repeated every few years as necessary to protect the metal from further rust damage.

Brian installed the air signal gladhands which Roger Kramer provided from the Coach Dept. on both sides of the car. He also traced the air signal lines which end under one of the lower bunks and in the instrument room. It is still undetermined if there is a whistle in the car or not. Brian would love to connect with anyone with knowledge of air signals.

New air signal hose (lower hose) - Photo by Warren Newhauser

Chuck and Warren worked at replacing a 1-¼” rusted heating pipe that runs underneath the floor. Armed with large monkey wrenches, pipes to use over the wrenches for additional leverage, acetylene torch and Kroil penetrating oil, they were eventually able to loosen a union next to the side door. Chuck then spent some time heating up a 6” nipple of pipe and a lot of time trying to loosen it only to find it had left hand threads!!

Chuck heating a pipe in the X-5000 to remove it - Photo by Warren Newhauser

Chuck cutting out old pipe - Photo by Warren Newhauser

Old pipe removed - Photo by Warren Newhauser

Gary Sherman offered to adjust the fan belt tension on the Waukesha Enginator so he and Warren got Chuck’s large wrenches and pry bar to tighten the belt. Chuck and Warren had tried previously but were unsuccessful. Gary was an auto mechanic for several years which really helped with his skill. Waukesha later developed a quick belt tensioning bracket for these units. They fired up the Waukesha Enginator for the first time this year and it ran spectacularly!

Warren Newhauser and Gary Sherman tensioning the fan belt on the X-5000 Waukesha Enginator - Photo by Brian LaKemper

Meanwhile Chuck removed the screws from the side door lower panel to begin the replacement process due to rusting through. With heat from a torch and persistence most screws came out.

Chuck Trabert working on the south door of the Dynamometer - Photo by Brian LaKemper

Brian wanted to test the Safety Car 32VDC-to-120VAC Motor-Alternator so they hooked up a 120V bulb to the output and sure enough, it worked. However, the reason it really can’t be used currently is the golf cart batteries on board aren’t strong enough for the high current demand. They also need to inspect/clean the brushes/slip rings and inspect the bearings. At this point, most all of the electrical/mechanical systems are in working or close to working order.

They removed a 1” tee pipefitting in the kitchen that must have frozen at some point in the car’s history and had leaked. The water tanks were partially filled a few weeks ago and are functional.

Warren's team is always looking for volunteers to work on the Dynamometer. His group tends to come out approximately every other week or so. Please leave a comment on the blog post if you are interested in working with the X-5000 crew. Also, if you know of a manual for the safety car motor-alternator (32VDC - 120VAC) Warren and Brian would appreciate having a copy.

X-5000 motor-alternator - Photo by Warren Newhauser

The Frisco 1630 was the big deal of the day making its debut on Saturday for the first time in several years. Passenger Car Department volunteers took some great photos of the Baldwin 2-10-0 as it pulled passengers on the main line all weekend. The 1630 ran Saturday, Sunday and Memorial Day.

Frisco 1630 was the main attraction of Memorial Day Weekend at IRM - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

3:00 PM Frisco 1630 departing East Union Station on Memorial Day - Photo by Buzz Morisette

Memorial Day Steam Team crew - Photo by Buzz Morisette

Fans lined up for a ride on the coach train pulled by the Frisco 1630 - Photo by Brian LaKemper

Late Saturday afternoon, Shelly Vanderschaegen and Michael Baksic finished shampooing seats and carpeting inside the Loch Sloy sleeper coach.

Sunday, May 25th, was a hot day.

Mark Gellman, Michael Baksic, and Michael McCraren worked on a vestibule latch to secure the door to the wall on the 9933 RDC on Sunday morning.

Michael Baksic repairing a vestibule door latch on the RDC - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Jon Habegger was in attendance in the 1st Exhibit Car and Kevin Kriebs continued adhesive removal on the exterior of the 1st Exhibit car. John McKelvey returned to upholstery and installation of the DM&IR 84 smoking section coach seats.

Later in the morning, Michael B. and Mark G. took a break from working on the latch and did an air brake test on the DM&IR 84 while Michael McCraren replicated more magazines for the Santa Fe Lounge Car magazine rack display.

Saturday evening switching with Jim West, Jeff Fryman, and Brian LaKemper pushed X-5000 into the clear on track 32; pulled Dover Strait, IC 2804, and DMIR 84 out of the barn; put Dover and 2804 back, and spotted 84 on track 31 next to the Dynamometer so Michael B. and Mark G. could inspect it Sunday morning. The switching team also pulled the Bessemer 25 out of the barn and parked it on track 34 where CRIP 2612 normally goes so that Mike and Mark could inspect it. The photo below was taken Sunday morning and shows the close clearance between 84 and X-5000, plus or minus 1-1/2 feet.

DMIR 84 spotted on track 31 next to the Dyno so Mike B. and Mark G. could inspect it on Sunday morning - Photo by Brian LaKemper

After lunch in the Birmingham, Andy Townsend, Michael B., Mark G., Lee Evans Jr., and Jeff Calendine worked together to put window air conditioners in the streamliner cars. They used a fork lift to assist.

Jeff Calendine drove the fork lift for the air conditioners - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Michael Baksic and Mark Gellman building a platform to hold one of the air conditioners - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Curator Michael Baksic rode the fork lift up with the AC unit for installation - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Michael Baksic and Andy Townsend work to position the AC unit - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen

Mark Gellman using his head for AC unit installation - Photo by Jon Habegger

Andy Townsend holding up an AC unit during installation - Photo by Jon Habegger

Michael Baksic and Mark Gellman installing AC - Photo by Jon Habegger

Monday, Memorial Day

Buzz Morisette went to the Museum on Memorial Day to chase steam trains but the cloudy sky sent him back to the Ely to finish up a couple things. Shelly had taken the plastic down but there was still a lot of dust so he tacked up the dirt at the East end. There is still a need to clean and wax the east wall and desks but there is less dirt now.

The clerestory in the Ely dining room is all done. Buzz finished the quarter round trim and then filled the nail holes all around. One SE window is missing some hinge hardware but it can wait until some turns up. Buzz says, "Macy's may have the Walnut room, but we have the Honduran Mahogany Room."

Ely dining room clerestory is complete - Photo by Buzz Morisette

Mahogany woodwork cleaned and waxed - Photo by Buzz Morisette

Thanks to everyone who accomplished the huge amount of work done in the Passenger Car Department over Memorial Day weekend!

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Comments

James Kolanowski about Milwaukee Road 33C update
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 [...]

AJ about Milwaukee Road 33C update
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...

Ted Miles about Progress update of the Multi Purpose Building
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, [...]

J Blustein about The Old Bag and the Silver Beaver
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.

Jason E about Progress update of the Multi Purpose Building
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 [...]

Thomas about It Happened One Saturday at IRM
Wed, 06-02-2021 17:27
Nice to see 428's cab back on. Looking forward to when it is operable!

Ted Miles about It Happened One Saturday at IRM
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 [...]

bob miller about Dover Strait Progress Part Three
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?

Ted Miles about John McLoughlin Progress - Part Two
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

Jason Erkenswick about Diesel Shop update 1/29/2021
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 [...]

Alex Schneider about Dover Strait Progress Part Three
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 [...]

Matthew Maloy about Dover Strait Progress Part Three
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 [...]