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Tuesday, October 29. 2013Wood Shop Update - October 26, 2013It looks like this will be another long entry but it should get us current with shop and restoration work.  I am Seeing a Pattern We have repainted our large Great Northern tank car, it is the largest tank car in our collection at 20,000 gallons. Now, on to the lettering the car. I traced what remained of the old lettering before it disappeared in the painting. Then I re-drew and cleaned up those tracings. Step three was to cut out the letters, and some might think this is to be used as a stencil. But no, I use it mounted and aligned on the car and trace the outlines onto the car using the mylar sheet as a TRANSFER PATTERN.  Painting Then it is off to the slow task of painting to the above outlines. Here is the result showing the Great Northern name PROUDLY.  The Number Is Up I then moved on to add the number and identify the car. Great Northern X-1390.  Main Ceiling Eric Lorenz is finishing up some of the hardware for hanging the four large ceiling panels in our Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car. The view and effect is quite a transformation and a testimonial to the hard work of the crew.  Rear Seals Rich Witt is applying epoxy sealer to some new rear seals for a freight car truck. We have had quite a tutorial on freight car trucks as we work to remediate and make repairs to our DODX tank car following filming of the Chicago Fire episode. These seals are no longer available so we are making our own.  New Saw Is this a new saw? Or better described as a 90 year old saw that is new to operation in the wood shop? Either way, Tim Peters makes use of it as he continues wood work for restoration efforts on Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.  SCOOP I have finally manged to scoop the Hicks Car Works website with this photo of Randy Hicks cutting new roof moldings for the Chicago Aurora & Elgin 319.  Painting And while all the other work goes on, the crew on our Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow quietly goes on about their work. New lumber for the interior lining was recovered from storage, and Victor Humphreys is prime painting it before cutting and fitting for the new ceiling. A good deal of the exterior black paint was applied to the right side during infrequent breaks in the bad weather. Tuesday, October 29. 2013Steam Department Update 10-26-2013A great deal of work was done in the steam shop during the week and over the weekend. Unfortunately, on Saturday, we hit a snag that may hold us up significantly. The information this week is provided by Phil and Brian as I am far away on vacation. Thanks guys. On 1630, Brian Davies is now working full time and, with JD, Jerry, Cameron, Jeff, Jason and others all spending time working with him during the week the locomotive has seen a lot of changes: · The air system was all back together with the exception of the compressor by Friday. After a few fits, the brakes work! · Mike was working to finish that on Saturday ready for testing. Later in the day the house air was hooked up and the air pump was tested. At first the high pressure steam side moved once and then it froze up. The stuffing boxes were loosened and oil was put on the pistons. A second attempt was made. It worked beautifully. So, it was good to see that something be confirmed as done and working on the locomotive.
· All of the sheet metal in the cab is on. Some screws still need to be added. With the exception of attaching and plumbing the stoker jet manifold, the cab is basically complete!! Even the electric is hooked back up pending testing.
· Cylinder cocks have been cleaned and inspected, and a new pipe nipple installed after one broke. They should be good to go. · Jim and Brian are added the last little bits of insulation around about the last foot of flexible stays on either side of the wrapper sheet. · Sheet metal, minus the bands, was completed across the barrel. · On Saturday much of the banding was fitted. · The final normal hydro was performed yesterday to hammer stay bolts. This proved good so no issues with these. · The blow down muffler was installed. · Preparations have been made for the steam test including: o Setting up a large steam valve on the pipe coming off of the auxiliary dome lid to allow a gauge to be fitted for testing the safety valves; and o Making two gags that will allow individual valves to be held closed to allow the others to be tested.
· Unfortunately the key objective on Saturday, which was to apply hydro pressure to the front end to test the sealing of the super heater elements into the header, ran in to significant problems. This relies upon pressurizing the whole front end (cylinders, valve chambers, exhaust passages etc. with water to about 50 psi). This involves minimizing water leakage thru a whole lot of areas, such as the piston glands, that are not wholly tight under steam and are a lot more problematic using water. · A large team spent the morning preparing for the test and the first filling was carried out in the afternoon. This indicated a lot of leakage around the piston and valve glands as well as the junction where the exhaust steam from the air compressor and stoker enter the cylinder casting. · Water was them lowered so fixes could be made to seal the water better. While some progress was made on the glands it was found that the exhaust steam connection, which is in a really awkward place under the boiler, could not be sealed in a way that allowed a pressure of anything like 50 psi to be achieved. This is a complex threaded assembly on which the threads proved to be damaged. · To progress the test it will now be necessary to machine a replacement part. At the same time further work will be done on the packing glands of the piston and valve rods. After this we can again try to pressurize the front end and test the sealing of the super heater elements. On 428: · Tom has finished most of the machining on the wedges. All that is left to do is to drill several hole in them so that they can be adjusted when they are put on the locomotive. Brian and Cameron made a mount that will align for the drilling of these holes.
· The mounting brackets for 428's air compressor received a coat of paint. In other areas: · Stu, Bob, and Jane worked on painting the planer. It looks quite remarkable now that it has green paint on it. Bob also worked on assembly of some more small pipes.
So a lot was accomplished during this week. If we can successfully test pressure test the front end, we are just about ready to steam test. Sitting here in Australia!!, I will wait with bated breath for updates on progress with the front end testing. Nigel
Monday, October 28. 2013October Halloween MadnessThe Passenger Car Department crew under the direction of Curator Mike Baksic had been working on the streamliner cars from late September on to get ready for Terror on the Railroad. They had to put air on then they went through each car individually to do a brake test. The Birmingham had leaks and another car had a brake cylinder that needed to be rebuilt. The work was completed two weeks before Terror on the Railroad. Sunday, October 6th, department head Mike Baksic and crew member Mark Gellman emptied the dining room of the Ely in preparation for upcoming ceiling repair and Kevin Brown took pictures. Shelly Vanderschaegen and Wayne Baksic installed a door holder in the combine car and Wayne worked on seats.
Later on 10/6, Kevin Kriebs, Shelly and Wayne continued peeling decals from the second Exhibit Car. In the afternoon Mike and Mark replaced a seat in the RDC. John McKelvey and Wayne took measurements in the Lake City for men's and women's lounge seats to see how high to make them and where to position the legs. Wednesday, October 9th, Kevin Kriebs came down and peeled decals again on the second Exhibit Car and did a great job. Thanks Kevin!
Sunday, October 13th, Ray Mormann, Mark, and Mike put rubber around and in between the two Exhibit Cars to act as a temporary vestibule diaphragm. While Jon Habegger and Shelly continued peeling decals.
Wednesday, October 16th, Buzz Morisette taped up most of the clerestory from the ceiling down and secured cardboard over the cabinets in the Ely dining room until he ran out of cardboard.
Saturday, October 19th, Shelly and Buzz finished covering the clerestory and then put thick plastic all around the Ely dining room prior to taking down the ceiling. The ceiling was down by noon. Buzz applied epoxy to exposed damage wood.
Meanwhile, Ray, Mark and Mike cut a hole on the first Exhibit Car near the closed end vestibule exterior wall to remove rust rot and then they patched the hole. This job took most of the day. Later Mike heated up the nozzle on a caulking tube to bend it into position for sealing the temporary vestibule diaphragm between the Exhibit cars to help prevent leaks.
Saturday, October 26th, on the front vestibule of the first Exhibit Car Mike and Ray cut and patched another rust rot area. Then on the other side of the first Exhibit Car toward the aisle they marked another rust rot area to be repaired. Kevin Kosen and Shelly worked in the Ely pulling nails from the old ceiling where Buzz will be rebuilding.
During the Terror on the Railroad event, Passenger Car Department members were responsible for getting the streamliner cars ready for use and to act as safety monitors during each night's activities. Mike McCraren and Mark Gellman took most of the shifts. Mike Baksic, Shelly Vanderschaegen, and Andy Townsend were monitoring the streamliner cars on the last Saturday of the event. |
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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...