Illinois Railway Museum Blog

As expected, the completion of the spraying last weekend opened up a frenzy of activity.  Work got under way Tuesday and Wednesday once the paint was thoroughly dry.  Almost all activity was on 1630 and she now looks a very different locomotive from last weekend.  Even so, much of the critical progress is not visible.

On Tuesday and Wednesday work focused on preparing the boiler for hydro testing.  This involved fitting the various water connections, valves and gauges to allow the boiler to be completely filled with water and then pressurized. 

A full set of gauges installed

In addition the large copper pipe, that connects from the top of the firebox to the water column in the cab, had to be refitted.   Once all this was done, the boiler was filled and water circulated thru the pool heater to bring the boiler up to around 100F for the pressure testing.

While this was being done Jerry and his son made huge progress in fitting the banding that secures the edges of the sheet metal on the barrel and firebox.

Banding in place

On Wednesday a pressure test was carried out.  People have asked why this was necessary as #1630 was hydro and steam tested last year.  What is happening now is not a full hydro test of the boiler shell (which requires testing at operating plus 25%) but rather checking for any leaks that may have developed as connections have been separated and remade over the Winter.  For this we test only at operating pressure.  The test served its purpose!.  On Wednesday we found leakage around the connections of the pipe to the water column at both the first test and an attempt to re-seal it.

However, while this was going on, Phil and I made progress in refitting the injector starter valves.

Clearly on Saturday the first priority was to fix the connections of the offending pipe.  Eric, Brian and others spent a lot of time thoroughly cleaning the seats and pipe ends of the connections, annealing new copper washers and then carefully re-fitting the pipe.  It is a bear to fit as it is long, bent to fit around other equipment and fitted between two rigid seats.  So, if it not exactly aligned, the seals at one or both ends do not seat correctly and leak.

Water column joint of the problem pipe

Other end on the fire box

Anyway, all the effort paid off and, during the afternoon, she was successfully pressure tested at 180 psi.  This allows us to go ahead with the final steps to remove the hydro connections and install the remaining parts needed for operation (safety valves, brick arch etc.).

A lot of other work progressed in parallel with the pressure testing:

The biggest and nastiest job was refitting the two big air tanks under the walkways.  These tanks weigh about 300 lbs and are each suspended by three “U” shaped steel  rings the open ends of which pass thru the walkways to be secured by nuts. 

The fitting is a “masterpiece” of the pipefitter’s art.  The tanks must be squeezed into a confined space above the valve gear.  The tanks are wider than the walkways so the supports are not simple “U”’s that could be passed around the tank .

Installing the ES air tank

Then change in a few days since the picture further up in this note is substantial.

Working from all directions

The shape of each support is unique to its location and mixing then up can lead to the need to pull back the tank and start over again!.  By evening they were both in place although the frustration during the day had reached considerable heights!.

ES air tank in place

FS air tank also in place

The job of spotting and making good areas missed in painting continued.  A lot more of this will hopefully happen next weekend when we expect to move the locomotive at least a little and reveal areas of the wheels that have so far been hidden.

The fireman’s gauge glass, that has been thoroughly cleaned and rebuilt, was refitted and showed no leakage under pressure.

The injector starter valves and their large connecting pipes were largely re-installed.

Front sander discharge pipes were re-installed.

Work progressed steadily on the smoke box.  This is probably the area that most threatens our target to run on May 17^th.  Dennis, assisted by Christian and Jason completed the adjustment of the new steel sheet sections around the blast pipe.  By end of day the sheet sections were being finally installed on to the mountings that had been welded into the smoke box and work was progressing on the mesh sections and the welded mounts that will attach these to the smoke box and complete the spark arrestor assembly.

Substantial progress in the smoke box

The unexpected task that may cause a delay is in the smoke box front casting itself.  Close inspection of this has indicated hairline cracks between the studs that secure the bell mounting.  These will need to be weld filled, ground down and then  the holes for the studs re-drilled and tapped before we can remount the front of the smoke box.  It will be a busy two weeks.

So, we are close.  A couple of key tasks will determine if we can steam in two weeks as planned.

I am away next weekend so will follow the action with great interest!.

Nigel