Illinois Railway Museum Blog

 Here is some of the latest news from our steam shop.  I thought I would pass these developments to you since the flow of news has been spotty, recently.    This fall emphasis have been concentrated on the shay, 1630, wheel lathe, the 428 mechanicals, and RI 938.

Part of the reason the shay has taken so long to complete has been  the complete rebuilding of many old failing parts.   Newly manufactured grates poured at a foundry a few years ago had to be custom fitted and tabs for the grate shaker  welded by our volunteer welder.  In this first picture is the new connection in the smoke box of the dry pipe flange.   Again all made by our volunteers.   The bottom of the smoke box was so badly deteriorated and rusted from years of coal dust and ciders that a new bottom section was needed.  The old rusty steel section was removed.   An  outside steel company then rolled two new pieces to the specs Tom Schneider had prepared. It was then riveted back into place.  O yes, I almost forgot all tubes were cut out and replace with new. This was done about three years ago. Rebuilt and tested super heater tubes were also installed at that time.  This last summer the boiler pasted it federal hydro test!   All this takes a lot MONEY, time and volunteer hours.   While this project was slowly being worked these last many years,  the 1630 received the majority of the  attention of our volunteers    Now the work has begun again on the Shay and, hopefully, it will be operational in 2017      At this time of year many members make their yearly contributions to Irm   Please consider funding the UP 428 project.   I know its taken a long time to get it this far but the volunteers can see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, on this locomotive!!     Also, the 428's cab has undergone  an extensive rebuild.  Its almost ready to receive the wood lining interior.   Before that can begin, Dennis, our welder, has one more roof section to weld into place.                                                                        A project that has  been slowly forming for at least 15 years is finally seeing the end results.   Our long resident, machine, the 90 inch wheel lathe, hopefully, will be made operational by the end of the year.  One locomotive I failed to take a picture of is the RI 938.   It now has indoor storage in barn 9.    Phil, the project leader, has completely repainted the front end of the engine.  A lot of work has been put towards this engine this summer.   The credit all lies with his large crew and himself. The engine  really looks good!  The work will continue next year and I have heard that the headlight and markers might be installed and made operational.  Wow.                                                                       Again,  Please remember the Steam Department and its individual locomotives in your year end donations.            Thanks  Roger