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Tuesday, February 19. 2019Steam Department Mid-Winter Update
Steam Department Mid-Winter Update
Despite the Polar Vortex, work in the steam shop has continued unabated. Our shop crews have been hard at work on 1630’s annual inspection.  Conn testing telltale holes in the firebox.  Volunteers inspecting the valves on the cross-compound air compressor.  Phil inspecting and cleaning the sight-glass and water column passages.  Conn again, using an ultrasonic tester to chart the main reservoir’s thickness.  And Carina, painting it black again afterwards.  These volunteers worked their way down the frame of the locomotive, cleaning old grease off the rigging. Work on our auxiliary tender, which we are hoping to place in service this spring, has also continued.  Several patches on the front of the tender were laminating. Don cut out the bad metal and welded in new patches.  Holes were drilled to mount new steps.  And a new platform was installed to provide access to the brake wheel.  Don needle-scaled around the rivet heads.  While Carina and the Blakes gave the front of the tender a final round of sanding. Surface preparation on the tender is almost complete, and we are hoping to be able to begin painting in the coming weeks. Our machinists and welders, meanwhile, have stayed busy working on projects to support Union Pacific 428’s eventual return to steam.  I spent the last month machining new T-bolts for our wheel lathe on the 1940s vintage Boye and Emmes lathe.  While Ben has continued to bore holes in the brake rigging on the Kearney and Trecker milling machine.  Meanwhile, worn components were built up with weld so that they can be remachined. Although I do not have any pictures to prove it, work has also continued on the Shay. Following the successful steam test this fall, we are continuing to make minor improvements and we look forward to public operations this summer (dates will be announced on the IRM website once finalized). As a reminder, you can also follow the steam shop on facebook at facebook.com/irmsteam. |
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Comments
Mon, 09-08-2025 08:22
Good job on the Burlington Nortern 9976. OK.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:56
No new news that I have heard of thus far.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:53
I'll also be doing another update on it soon. Keep en eye out for that.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:47
A little work was done to it for Diesel Days this year. You'll see photos floating around for the temporary short term job that was done to make it [...]
Wed, 08-06-2025 13:01
Is steam car CN 15444 going to be coming to museum several times it was to be moved to muesum
Sat, 07-19-2025 18:56
Yeah, sadly it's still there as of 7/19/2025
Thu, 06-12-2025 19:14
Its been 14 years guys, where is the unit? Like really? Did you guys misplace it? Or are repairs taking that long? At this point be might we will have [...]
Wed, 04-09-2025 17:40
Jamie Thanks for the update. She's gonna shine like every thing else you guys do! Smeds
Thu, 03-06-2025 16:28
Yes, there is a wye. Those two have been MU'ed on diesel days a year or two ago.
Wed, 03-05-2025 14:04
7009 number boards look good. Is there a way to turn a locomotive around at IRM? In case you ever had a mind to connect 7009 and 6847?
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...