Illinois Railway Museum Blog

March was a month of great activity in the steam shop.  Recovering from the set back at the end of February we have made great progress in preparation for the operating season.

Obviously the focus in the shop is on #1630.  However turnout has been good during the month and this has allowed substantial work on other projects as well.

Looking first at #1630.

By end of day yesterday she was ready for the formal hydrostatic test of the boiler which is planned for next weekend.

The stay that was found to be broken at the end of February was removed.  The old stay was ground off flush inside the firebox, heated and a large wrench applied to the domed head in the socket.  It came out smoothly making the rethreading for the new stay relatively easy.

Old stay removed intact

A new one was machined.

Slotting the domed head of the new stay

We are getting relatively practiced at this process.  The worst part of this particular stay was forming the domed end once it had been screwed into place.  The ball end must be bucked to prevent the stay moving as the end is hammered into shape.  This one was a bear to position the bucking tool and more of the cab floor had to be removed to position the bucker.

Six hands to control the bucker

Inside the firebox Jason used the air hammer to form the end of the stay.

Forming the end

The finished result is a neatly domed head.  … and there was never any leakage under testing.

The finished end

The weather improved at a critical time in mid-March so that we could safely run the water heater.  So for the last couple of weeks we have been filling the boiler, heating the water and pressure testing.  It is the nature of the beast that that high pressure water will reveal leaks that do not necessarily happen under steam due to the different temperature and expansion factors.  Also, given that all the plugs and a number of stay caps have been removed as part of the annual inspection, there are likely to be points that have not sealed completely.  So we have carried out a number of cycles of filling, pressuring, identifying leak points and then draining, fixing identified issues and repeating.

A couple of valves (one test cock and the rail washer) have nuisance leaks that Tom will aim to fix during the week but otherwise she looked good by end of day.

Subject to success of the test next weekend, we will then need to remove the hatch, carry out the internal inspection, and then we can start preparation for the steam test.

As suspected last month, it did proved necessary to remove the axle box shoes from number 5 axle for machining.  Phil has become our expert at removing and refitting shoes and wedges.  This is a horrible job, involving working in the confined space under the firebox with Portapower cylinders to drive the shoes out and then back in to position. 

Christian operates the Portapower

While Phil does the tricky bit

It is frustrating as they are not actually attached but just slot into place.  However, since they are a fairly close fit on the frames and between the substantial weights of the frame and axle box, a good deal of encouragement is required to move them against the adhesion created by the grease.  And this encouragement is not easy to apply in the very confined spaces under the locomotive.  The absence of an inspection pit is REALLY noticed in a job like this.  Hopefully this is a development that we can make in the next couple of years.

Anyway, by end of month both shoes were machined and back in place..  The plan is now to pull the axle forward, refit the rods and then test fit the wedges.  It is not certain yet if we will need to put shims onto the wedges but the material has been obtained to do this is necessary.

We have done a good deal more work than initially planned in this area but this actually covers work that was tentatively scheduled for next Winter so overall it is a gain and should result in a significantly smoother running locomotive.

Having proved that the stay caps on the backhead are all free of leaks, it was possible to stay reassembling the footplate and great progress was made on that. The major elements of the stoker delivery system were refitted and most of the footplate is now re-installed.  (No pictures of the stoker installation as I had to operate the fork-lift)!.

Start of day – no footplate

Hard at work installing sheeting

And we have most of a footplate

Another major area of work has been the tender draft gear.  As discussed previously, a lot of damage was found in the spring mechanism of the draft gear.  One big benefit was that it had been manufactured by Miner Enterprises in Geneva, who still manufacture such equipment and were extremely helpful in identifying options.  After a lot of measuring and comparison it was agreed that a later pattern could be fitted into the space and Miner very generously offered a reconditioned unit of the later type in exchange for the 1918 original that will go into their museum.

The new draft gear looks quite different but has the same essential dimensions.  One small anomaly is that it has a projection caused by the casting process in a place that would foul when installed in #1630.  Miner’s advised that it was of no significance and could be removed …. So it was!.

Preparing the new draft gear

Dennis has done a lot of build-up work on the yolk and coupler.  What remains is  the weld build -up of the support brackets under the tender.  Once Dennis can complete this, we will have the “fun” of refitting the whole assembly under the tender.

The drawbars that link the locomotive and tender have been annealed and then inspected.  A lot of hard work is required to thoroughly clean the drawbars to allow the inspection for cracks.

Cleaning the drawbar

Once the footplate is completed, they are available to reconnect the locomotive to its tender.  However, this will likely not be done until the draft gear is completed as it is difficult  to move the tender accurately until the coupler is back in place.

The reverser cylinder was finally disassembled.  This proved extremely difficult as it is clearly many years since this was last done and bolts securing the cylinder end to the cylinder were in very tricky locations and seriously frozen to their threads.

Reverser cylinder fully stripped

Snag is that you can repack / add additional packing to the piston gland for a long time but eventually you need to clean the whole gland out and repack.  This year was eventually!.  It is now being reassembled and will hopefully be another “catch up” job that will not need to be done again for a generation.

Cylinder end being refurbished

Reverser piston awaiting new seal

Work has accelerated substantially on the Shay. 

We have used donated funds to employee Phil for several days each week primarily to complete work on the firebox.  The result of his efforts, along with JD and Cody, is that all stays now either have tell-tale holes cleared to the required depth or have been removed.

The major success from this work is that all the stays that could not be accessed without motor removal have been cleared.  We can now progress on the basis that the project will not require removal of the motor.  Plans are now being made to fit new stays to replace those that had to be removed and then to re-tube the boiler this year.  The sequence may look a little strange as we will likely fit the tubes before rebuilding the smokebox.  While you would normally fit the tubes from within the smokebox, the small diameter of the Shay’s smokebox makes this an uncomfortable job.  So the thinking is to take advantage of the absence of the smokebox floor and refit the tubes before it is refitted.

A lot of other work has been progressing on the Shay.

Air tanks have been hydro tested;

Brian hydro tests the equalizer tank

Main reservoir set up to test

Interior of the water tank has been cleaned and prepared for painting;

Work has started on preparing the timber for the front beam and running boards.  Unfortunately the plan of obtaining the timber for the beam some years back and allowing it to season has not worked out as intended.  One of the timbers twisted a good deal more than anticipated in the process so we now have some tricky calculations to determine if it can be trimmed square and still be big enough for the purpose.

On 428

Ed has worked steadily thru the refitting of pipework.  This has now moved on from the cab to other areas.

The “riveting team”, led by Stu, has worked a number of days on the cab and has made substantial progress.

After a lot of effort, Mike and the team have the planer substantially operational ready for work on the axle boxes.  This has been a huge effort as it is probably about 50 years since this complex machine last operated.  The documentation is not very detailed and a long period out of use, coupled with uncertainty over any defects it may have had when last used, make for a few challenges!.  It is now clear just how complex the processes achieved thru the hydraulics are.  The huge table moves back and forth, travelling slowly on the cutting stroke but substantially faster on the return.  At each end of the stroke, the movement slows (to avoid a hard stop and reverse).  At the end of the cutting stroke, the cutting heads are tilted upward to clear the work as the table returns.  At the end of the return stroke, the traversing shaft rotates to advance the cutting head for the next cut by an amount that can be varied by the operator.  Seeing all these actions being carried out smoothly is fascinating and a number of us spent time watching in awe!.

So wish us luck in April.  We have made good progress but still have plenty to do in order to be ready to run in May.

Nigel