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Sunday, August 25. 2013Steam Department Update 08-24-2013It was a week of very hard work leading to a huge milestone. As described last week, we had reached the frustrating point of chasing leaks around the tube ends and a small check list of other minor issues requiring correction in order to get the boiler fit for the formal hydro test. Brian Davies is staying at Union for three weeks to help with the work and he put in long hours with some of us who were able to spend a day at Union during the week. Several important tasks were achieved. With Jason, he was able to largely complete the cleaning and checking of the air brake valves. However the key focus was the boiler. As the number of leaking tubes decreased, they became more frustrating and more inclined to cause an adjacent tube to leak when you rolled them. The final session on Saturday had many of us involved during the day and lasted until 11 at night but by the end, we were down to one super heater flue that has a small leak around it that we expect will seal itself when the boiler is fully heated, although it drips very slowly under hydro pressure.
So, Brian, Jim and I were back in the shop at 8:30 on Sunday, unfortunately not to assist with the last day of Thomas but to meet with the FRA inspector for the formal hydro test. I am glad to say that the old lady passed !. Aside from the tube end and a few drips from tri-cocks and blow down valves she held pressure very well with no sign of leakage. So Saturday was rather a frustrating day. Very little on 1630, aside from the tubes, could be worked on until the hydro was completed. Cameron and Phil worked with Tom on the bolster for the Shay.
Richard and Ed continued to work on preparing the cladding for lagging in the cab. Bob finally received a suitable breaker to link the planer into the supply panel. So he was able to continue work on running power to the planer. However on Sunday, after the test, a great deal of work opened up. The tubes can now be beaded so, in preparation for that, I spent quite a while in the smokebox grinding tube ends to the exact 1/4 inch required to form good bead. Later Brian took over and, by the time that I left, we were close to the point where he can bead all flues and tubes in the smokebox that are to be beaded. Ideally we want to get this done in the next couple of days so that the beaded tubes can be tested for leaks by Wednesday. On Wednesday we hope to take off the dome cover, drain the boiler and start drying it out so that the inspector can carry out the internal inspection on Friday. This is a Federal requirement. When a boiler has been over pressured, as it is for the formal hydro test, it must be inspected to ensure that nothing internal, such as the brace attachments, has been damaged or loosened. After this, any pressure testing is strictly limited to boiler pressure (180 psi). If any pressure beyond this is applied a further internal inspection is required. Beading of the smokebox end is essential before a lot of work starting with refitting the super heater elements and then moving on to the rest of the smokebox equipment can be undertaken. In the cab, work will now start on lagging the firebox and fitting the cladding so that all the controls can be finally refitted. With the hydro complete, we can now start covering the boiler again. Up until today, none of this could be started as a clear view of all the surfaces of the boiler was required for the inspection. In the firebox, Jerry applied the protective paint to the patch and rivets below where the grates will fit. Once this is dry, the grates that have been removed while we worked on the patch, will be refitted. One key thing about the milestone today is that, while she may currently look less complete than she did in 2011, we have actually passed the key inspection step for which we were preparing in Spring 2011 when we hit the problem with the firebox. So overall a very successful week. While not too much visible has changed, but we have removed the barrier to a whole lot of tasks that will make 1630 look much more like an operating locomotive again in the next month. Nigel Friday, August 23. 2013Wood Shop Update - August 21, 2013This entry is late since COMCAST was down most of the day today. But look on the bright side, I got to make driveway repairs! Always on my top ten list! And despite the title of these posts they include work done in the barn 4 shops as well as car work, often in the freight car department, and elsewhere on site.  Winner by a Nose Jim Leonard is always a hard worker and today he spent a lot of time on the nose of Chicago Great Western X 38 Russell snowplow. Lots of tricky areas hard to reach, to clean old rust and paint. We would like to remove the bent train line pipe, but so far that task has eluded us.  Primed Lots of work was done by the crew in several areas on the plow, and here Jim closes the workday applying more primer to an area on the knife edge of the nose. Dave Rogan, Victor Humprheys, and Buzz Morisette helped along on work for the interior.  Buzz Speaking of Buzz he measured up and cut many pieces of wood for trimming out and repairing the cupola interior. So naturally he had to stay late and get primer on one side of the pieces.  Room With a View One of our other ongoing projects does not get much press. That is the restoration of Illinois Central Gulf 199458 steel caboose. From the newly painted and lettered interior you have an excellent room with a view. Joe Luciani is on the west platform preparing to start re-painting.  An Inside Job The Wednesday Special Projects crew has made remarkable progress in a short time. Here is another view of the interior, including new lettering.  New Paint After cleaning and priming, Lee Regione is applying the new interior finish coat at the east end and under the cupola.  To a Letter Paul Gasiorowski has taken charge of the artwork on the caboose interior - GOOD JOB - and now is documenting and preparing patterns for the exterior lettering on the caboose.  Boxed In Rich Witt is applying finish paint to all the replica CA&E first aid boxes he built. The color is sort of a butterscotch pudding tan, and almost close to the color of the natural wood.  On the Beam Speaking of the CA&E, Randy Hicks and John Faulhaber have a boring job. That is, boring mounting holes 3/4 inch diameter in new solid oak third rail beams for car 36. That is certainly not a job for a hand drill, but it looks like they have it all figured out.  New Ceiling Lorne Tweed, and behind him, Simon Harrison, sanded down the new ceiling panels for Cleveland Transit System 4223 and applied finish paint by the end of the afternoon. Tuesday, August 20. 2013Steam Department Update 08-17-2013
A lot of work, a good deal of progress and some frustration. That is probably a good summary of the week in the steam shop. While a few of the team were able to assist with Thomas, most of us were hard at work in the shop.
Everything is focused on getting the hydro test for 1630 completed.
Tom, Mike and a small team worked long hours on Wednesday to get the two stays installed. They were in place ready for the Saturday team. Brian Davis and Jason, inside the firebox, worked with Brian and Sean, on the bucker in the cab, to hammer over the ends inside the firebox to compete the installation. This was a rotten job as the stays are high up above the arch tubes on the back sheet of the firebox. This makes it a very awkward place to operate the air hammer. However, they did it and the stays proved leak free in all the subsequent testing.
Life was no easier for the team in the firebox because we need to have the water in the boiler heated to 100 - 105 F and this takes a while for the pool heater to achieve. So, while they worked in the box, we had increasingly warm water circulating around it (not up to the level of the two stays but well up the sides of the box). So, by working inside a hot water radiator we were able to ensure that none of us who worked on the firebox tube ends during the day were in any danger of suffering from the cold on an 80 degree day !!.
By lunchtime we were able to apply pressure to the boiler. The more significant leaks from three weeks ago were corrected so there was now no problem with getting to the full pressure required for the hydro (1.25 times operating pressure so 225 psi). Various leaks were found and corrected. This is an iterative process, test, identify, tighten and retest. At one stage on Saturday we did think that we might be able to do the formal hydro on Sunday. However tiny leaks around tube ends proved frustratingly difficult to close. This is one of the joys of working with a steam locomotive boiler. Since the tube sheet consists of many holes close together, the force of expanding one tube can easily cause a minor movement to the next tube so you can spend a good deal of time chasing tiny leaks from one tube to the next before you get everything tight. I went back on Sunday morning to work with Brian, who is staying at Union for 3 weeks or so, and we still further reduced the number of leaking tube ends. However, it will be a continuing process during the week and probably into next weekend to get all the tube ends completely tight.
The pictures look extremely dull but are all the better for that. The tiny leaks can be seen around tube ends in the smokebox.
The overall rate of leakage is very gratifying. This small area is now the most significant
group of tube ends to be tightened. You
have to look closely in the center to see the small seepage that we must stop.
The real achievement is not apparent at the smokebox end. The sheet and tubes are actually under 225 psi pressure when you look at the gauge in the cab!!.
The new stays are
leak free at 225 psi.
The pressure drops from 225 at barely 1 psi per minute, an indication that the leaks are tiny in volume. However, where they are in areas like the tube ends, they must be completely corrected. So a week of frustrating work, tightening groups of tube ends and then checking the results with another pressure test lies ahead. If we get too frustrated, it is good to think back to the fact that, not long ago, the boiler was wide open. Now we can routinely plan to leave it totally full with minimal leakage for days on end.
The one unexpected item discovered was the union nut at the bottom of the fireman's gauge glass. Tiny droplets of water appearing thru what should be solid brass were an indication of hairline cracking. Tom now had quite a few hours of work to produce a replacement for the hydro test but I understand that this was fitted on Sunday afternoon.
Updates from Brian so far indicate that most of the leaks have been corrected by Tuesday so we hope that we can move on to other work next weekend around the planned hydro test on Sunday.
Nigel
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Comments
Tue, 06-02-2026 19:38
Always a treat when a new diesel comes to IRM! Only wish we'd get more diesel department news from week to week, I always wonder what's going on in [...]
Wed, 04-01-2026 09:01
Good job on the barn 15
Wed, 03-25-2026 18:21
Exciting to see a new barn going up! What's next, after the RAIL project is complete?
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.