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Wednesday, July 4. 2018Number 5 is AliveThe steam department accomplished a major milestone July 3 when the J. Neils Lumber Co was fired up for the first time since 1999! The FRA inspector was out watching the first fire up checking on any repair issues that that show up. There were a couple of minor problems but they will be addressed and repaired before the next fire-up. Here are some pictures of the event.  Moving the engine to the fueling facilities  The front of the Shay with a new number plate painted by J D.  The Shay is sitting next to the 1630!  Pouring water and loading coal into the tender at our steam servicing facilities. Not many museums can boast two operating steam locomotives. We can !  July 3rd was the fire up date and there was a big contingency of steam volunteers to watch it get hot.  These guys sure put in a lot of volunteer hours to make this engine FRA ready. Much praise to all of them!  You can just see a whisper of smoke coming out of the stack.  Here Brian Davies is turning the blower valve and smoke begins to appear from the stack. That was a pretty site!  The FRA inspector talking to Erick and Jason.  Look up folks! She is a steaming!  Turning a valve and make sure everything works.  The Steam dept curator Tom Schneider watches as the shay moves.  Brian in the engineers seat opens up the throttle as steam moves into the three upright cylinders.  The engineer is slowly backing up the engine.  Another view. Tom is carefully eyeing the machine for any problems and strange sounds.  Now its moving forward.  Stopping about where it started from.  If you watch carefully at the sequence of pictures you can see the movement of the cylinders and wheels.  Back to home base, in front of the steam shop! You can see the steam coming out of the engine! I don't know when both engines will be operating together for the first time! BUT.... Make sure your schedule is open for Antique Transportation day, Labor Day and or Railfan weekend in September! During these many blogs I have always asked for donations to various projects here at Irm. Well, This is the reason. Your separate donations DO make a difference. Here is the proof. Although, it took a long time, the results are worth the wait! Now to the next operating steam locomotive. Union Pacific 428 needs more money to complete that project! My next blog will be about the progress on the 428. Please help with this project ! Thanks Roger |
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Comments
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 [...]
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...
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, [...]
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.
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 [...]
Wed, 06-02-2021 17:27
Nice to see 428's cab back on. Looking forward to when it is operable!
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 [...]
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?
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
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]