Illinois Railway Museum Blog

The long awaited exterior restoration of the crane finally began in earnest this last August. Under the direction of Jeff Calendine from the steam dept this project is now near completion.  When completed the Bay City Crane will provide a mobile 15 ton lift capacity tool to serve the museums many future projects.  The plan was to remove all the steel panels surrounding the mechanicals; then sandblast each using museum tools and personnel, prime and paint and finally reinstall each. The first scheduled project for the crane is the lifting and re-installation of the Union Pacific steam locomotive UP 428 rebuilt cab.

After each exterior panel was blasted they were then primed and later painted with a beautiful coat of yellow.

As you can see this entire cab assemble was completed inside the steam shop. There was given a two week window to reassemble the cab and that goal was met. The road engine was then fired up and the entire crane was  moved outside for the winter. A tarp was then wrapped around he crane cab set outside for the winter season. The Spring project will be to install the newly rebuilt boom, string new cable and test the various systems before certifying the machine for service. Thanks go to Jeff and his large crew for all their hard work. Please  consider a donation the to Steam Department to keep all current projects advancing.                    Thanks    Roger.