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.

  

About a month and a half ago I took a big step towards finishing the exterior of the IC 3345 coach. The end buffers were not installed when we painted the coach last year.  Wanting to finally  finish that part of the project I went into the storage field and found both of them.  With the help from Jeff, from the steam department and operating the large fork lift,  we moved them from the storage field to an area next to barn 10.  This happened in the early spring of this year. This September I personally hired a contractor to abrade the exterior of both buffers.  Kane DeKalb Dustless Blasting is the name of the contractor. The process  involves using water as the medium mixed with in this case with fine particles of ground up glass to remove the old paint and rust. I would highly recommend its use on other projects around the museum for it worked very well.   Anyway, they were prepped, blasted and primed on a Saturday and then top coated with two coats, of Sherwin Williams urethane paint on Sunday, September 22 of this year. 

What a difference sandblasting and painting will do for any piece. Painting makes anything look  good.  The next step is to finally install each buffer onto the coach and then finally move it into barn 3 for display. If you would like to help defray the cost of the removal please send your donation and mark it for the IC3345 fund.              Thanks, Roger!

Yes, the 975 is receiving more paint from its painting friend, Gregg Wolfersheim. A coating of primer then the top coat of black paint sure makes the locomotive almost come to life.   The painting will continue until Gregg runs out of good 50 degree  weather. Here is a future consideration for all you steam fans. Why not send in a donation to increase the 975 fund for its future storage inside. This engine with its new paint job needs to be protected. Help place this engine into our next new building!               Thanks  Roger