Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Wednesday evening in the shop was Kyle M, Jeron G and myself. We continued on the inspection items on CE 15. Before Kyle and I arrived, Jeron continued working on all the hood latches, removing any one that had bend or stiff linkage, straightening them as needed, and cleaning and lubricating all of them with a dry graphite lubricant. It is amazing how well and easily these doors close and latch now. All three of did the engine inspection, with Kyle on the right side, me on the left side, and Jeron and the bar turning the engine. During this process, we check the pistons, rings, and liners, a whole bunch of things in the air box and crank case. With no issues found, we moved onto other things. Kyle sanded and primed the surfaces where the front radiator screen bolts to the carbody, and finished by bolting the screen back on. Jeron started pulling the flange lubricators off to see if those can be repaired and put back into service. He was finding some very worn parts and it should be interesting to see what we are able to do with them, more to come there in the future. I spent some time removing the water sight glass, cleaning it, and reinstalling it. Much easier to see the coolant level now. I also changed both main reservoir drain valves.

Photo: Here we see the cylinder liner and intake ports through the air box inspection hole.

Photo: Going in close, when the piston is down, you can see the top of the piston, and across the to the other side of the liner to the intake ports and wall of the liner.

Photo: While the engine is be turned by hand, you can see the upper piston rings.

Photo: While the piston is near the top of the liner you can see the condition of the bottom half of the liner.

Photo: Another view of the same cylinder and bottom of the piston carrier.

Photo: This is what is left of the flange lubricator shoe, many many years of wear.

On Saturday, it was Mike B, Jeron G and myself. Sorry, no pictures from this day as I just didn't remember to take any. Mike checked and oiled the friction bearings, went through the fuel pump motor and cab heat motor, cleaned some light safety globes and bulbs, and cleaned the rear headlight lens and reflector. I oiled the radiator fan bearings and then we both put the panels back in place for the duct from the fans to the radiators. Jeron started working on the sand hoses and checking more with the flange lubricators. After I had returned from a meeting and after we all had a late lunch, I went through all of the traction motors and checked the motor support bearings. All of the latch handles on the top of the motors were stuck, at some future date those will have to come off and have the pins replaced to make them work properly again. The cab floor and subfloor were all vacuumed. There's just a handful of items that remain before this inspection, along with some other improvements, are completed. Until next time.