Illinois Railway Museum Blog

June and July are normally quiet months for project work in the steam shop with many volunteers on vacation and the demands of operating and maintaining #1630 taking the time of those who are available.  A cursory look into the shop would suggest 2015 is no different.  After the insulation work, #428 and the Shay are now back in their familiar positions and #938 is back at the North end to continue the cosmetic / evaluation work.

However, the cursory look would miss some radical progress!!.  Read on!.

#1630 has continued to run fairly well but with minor issues that take a lot of time during the non-running weekends.  On the crewing side three trainees )including me!) have now qualified as firemen, which means that they can now operate with just one of our qualified engineers, so reducing the demand on our small pool of engineers.  Unfortunately one engineer is now largely unavailable due to external demands so we are still on the edge for crew.

Mark got the Kohring crane back into operation and has subsequently done most of the coaling.  This makes it a much quicker and less demanding operation than last year;

The new water softener system seems to be a big improvement.  The daily production is much improved, in part due to a better flow rate and also because it will regenerate immediately the required volume is reached while the old one regenerated only at night;

At each “off” weekend we deal with the minor issues noted by crews during the previous weeks but two issues have proved “niggling” and have been addressed a couple of times.

The steam connection to the fireman’s injector starter valve has proved very reluctant to seal completely free of small leaks and will be reworked again this weekend; and

A small leak around the feed to the fireman’s sight glass reappeared a couple of weeks after it was last addressed and will be addressed again this weekend.

It all takes time and small groups of volunteers are to be seen Saturdays and sometimes during the week dealing with issues such as these as well as helping the crew with start-up and disposal activities.  This is a big help as I can assure you that the full day of grate cleaning, lighting up, ash pan cleaning, greasing, then firing for the day before taking on water and shutting down is a VERY hard day’s work, particularly when temperature and humidity are high!.

The new roof insulation in the South shop was completed and the shop is back in use.

Sudden rapid progress on the new compressor shed, which is a big development funded from the annual benefit at San Filippo,  has been made in the last few weeks:

Base in place

Framing erected

We have a compressor shed

The concrete slab was laid with the bolts to secure the large compressor set into it;

In the last week the building itself has been erected and the old door replaced by a solid wall that will significantly reduce heat loss in Winter;

The compressors were moved to the West side door to allow easy pick up by the fork lift when they are moved into their new location;

We now wait on the fitting of the roller doors before we can start the insulation;

The pressure will be to get everything operational before Winter.  We have some significant riveting in prospect and a key expectation of the new compressor installation is that it will provide sufficient air to support riveting without the need to use the Sullair (mobile compressor).  This will be a big bonus as Winter is ideal for a hot job like riveting but digging out the Sullair and starting it in sub-zero temperatures can be “fun”.

Now to the huge progress …….. Shay #5

On a walk around the shop she really does not look any different but, look into the smokebox area and, she is VERY different!.  As discussed in the last blog, there are huge benefits in daily working to move large projects forward quickly.

Brian Davies, assisted by a number of the younger volunteers as available on a day by day basis, worked solidly for two weeks on the boiler.  The effects are remarkable:

The tube and flue holes in both sheets were prepared (rough edges removed) and profiled;

Ferrules were expanded into all the holes;

Ferrules in place

Expanding ferrules into place

Both small tubes and super heater flues were cut to length and installed in the tube sheets;

The ends of all tubes and flues were expanded into the tube sheets;

Work is now progressing on grinding excess material from the tube ends in preparation for beading.

All tubes expanded into place

So the Shay now has a fully tubed boiler and is being worked towards hydrostatic testing!.  We now have some tasks, such as preparing all the tubes for beading and lapping the various valves that are required to seal the boiler for hydro, that can efficiently be carried out by weekend teams.

The tubing was much easier to carry out with the bottom of the smokebox missing.  However subsequent work will be less affected by the smokebox bottom so the plan is to pull the front truck out shortly and start fitting the new bottom of the smokebox.  This is actually a smaller task than the tube fitting but will have a much greater impact on the appearance of the locomotive.

The last couple of weeks have really confirmed our belief in the importance of at least periods of full time work to progress a major steam locomotive project.  We attracted some donations from the appeal last month (final information next month) that will allow another intensive session later in the year.  Having #5 running for 2016 now looks very realistic if we can continue this way.

On #428 riveting of the cab has continued and this is now well advanced. 

Ed has worked steadily on the pipework including finding old photographs to help in the complex task of identifying how the various pipes were routed and what they did.  Really tricky when you start from a pile of pipes of different sizes bent to follow complex paths but removed years ago by people no longer around ………… and the probability that some are likely missing and a few from other locos may have been included in the pile!.  However, the cab pipework is now substantially complete.

A big barrier on #428 will be the availability of fabrication / welding time.  Many hours of skilled fabrication and welding are required to fit the new cab floor, build up the axle boxes and rubbing plates on the wheels, etc.  Over Winter this will still compete for time with any work on #1630 and the Shay as that moves toward running condition.

On a side note, I was one of the volunteers missing for a couple of weeks in June as I visited family in the UK.  During that time I did a day of throttle pull (called footplate experience over there) on the Severn Valley Railway near Birmingham with my oldest son.  They are a very welcoming group with a whole organization around footplate experience that is run frequently and includes time both driving and firing on a train running over a 15 mile line with family / guests riding all day.  Anyone interested in steam throttle pull and recognizing the shortage of opportunities here might well consider it if you visit the UK.

Nigel and son Michael

Amazing how different a steam engine can be in the detail.  We used a GWR Manor class 10 wheeler of 1930’s design. 

Erlestoke Manor

Only just over half the power of #1630 but with 68 inch wheels and easily able to accelerate a 6 car train to line speed on a heavily graded line.  Aside from the obvious attention to appearance the amazing thing was the simplification and standardization.  Historically all substantial overhaul work was done by major works that also designed and built the locomotives.  So even pipework is common to all locomotives in a class and many of the parts, even to the extent of the whole boiler, are interchangeable between classes.  There is also a startling reduction in the amount of pipework when the boiler an fittings are all designed and made together.  Generally one valve to control and shut off each unit where we have multiple shut offs.  You get on the footplate and the immediate impression is “there’s nothing here.  Where are all the controls?”.

Still a tremendous day highly recommended to anyone visiting the UK.

So a lot of progress and hopefully a lot more to come.

Nigel