Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Brian also provided an update on a locomotive that is rarely heard of.

In fact, we hope that this is a lead in to the sort of thing we hope to do more of in future.  As space becomes available in the new barns in the South Yards, we hope to move smaller equipment stored partially stripped for restoration out of barn 9 so that larger pieces can be moved into this barn for conservation and cosmetic restoration.

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 2-8-2 #4963

Hello all,

Everyone needs a day off once in a while.  My trips up to IRM to work on the shay could, I suppose, be considered "vacation time".  But even while on a work vacation I still need a break from working on the shay.  But instead of doing what any normal person would do and take a day off away from the shop, I relax and unwind by working on little projects on other locomotives.

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 4963 has become one such "little" project I have worked on for a few hours on each of my trips to IRM in 2015.  The locomotive currently sits at the far south end of track 94 in barn 9.  While the three other locomotives on display at the far south end of the barn--Milwaukee Road 265, the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 electric, and DT&I 16--look quite nice cosmetically as viewed from the end of the building, the 4963 looked incomplete and out of place.

As was – the poor relation

Looking at the locomotive every time I was in that part of barn 9, I decided there are a few things I could do to improve the appearance of the front end of the locomotive.

The smokebox was already years ago painted a light grey, and much of the piping, handrails, and such were in primer.  The first step then was to paint the smokebox.  The smokebox received a couple of coats of what is called Slip Plate paint.  This is basically graphite in suspension in other chemicals that, when dries, looks very close in appearance to the graphite and valve oil mixture we use on 1630's smokebox, but unlike that paint it does not require heat to dry it.  This Slip Plate paint is used in general industry as a lubricant, and is used by some steam locomotive operators as a smokebox paint.  Following a couple of coats of this paint, all of the above mentioned parts on the front of the locomotive that were in primer received a couple of coats of black paint.  This in itself created a remarkable transformation in the appearance of the locomotive!

Now the locomotive needed a headlight.  While we do not have 4963's original headlight, fortunately for the locomotive there was one readily available.  The past several years Phil has been putting a headlight on Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 938 during the summer season.  This headlight, while very nice looking on the 938, is not the proper headlight for the locomotive.  We do have the headlight that 938 was retired with, and Phil has been working on restoring it to put back on the locomotive.  The headlight that has been on 938 recently is, in fact, a headlight from another Burlington 2-8-2 from a class older than 4963.  This headlight was brought out to barn nine and lifted onto the locomotive with the help of several Steam Department volunteers.  So while not her own original headlight, 4963 now has a true Burlington headlight!  The headlight was wired into the electrical power in the building, and now comes on when the lights in that part of the building are turned on.

The headlight looks great on 4963.  However, there were no number glass plates in the headlight.  Before my most-recent trip to IRM in October, I made two new number plates for the headlight.  These were made by hand cutting individual numbers from heavy paper to use as stencils, then painting painting around these in black on plate glass, then covering the same side of the glass in white paint.  This technique allows light from a bulb inside the headlight to shine through the numbers at night.  There were several different techniques used to make number plates like these, such as using a metal or cardboard stencil between two pieces of glass, but my research shows this particular process was one of the techniques used on the Burlington.  An additional piece of glass was placed in the brackets with each of these painted pieces to protect them, and special thanks needs to go to Tim Peters of the Electric Car Department for not only giving me the glass to use for this, but also for offering to cut it.  Thank you, Tim!

At this point I thought it sure would look great if 4963 had a number plate on the front of the smokebox again.  Luckily for us, Tom Schneider, curator of the Steam Department, was able to have a replica number plate cast years ago for the locomotive.  The plate needed to have mounting holes drilled and tapped for bolts to secure it to the smokebox, then several coats of primer and black paint were applied, followed up by several coats of yellow lettering paint.  Once dry, JD and I brought it out to the 4963 and bolted it on.

The new plate

Now 4963 really looks like something to be proud of!  I still need to add another coat or two of Slip Plate paint on the smokebox on the front and on the side the public sees, as well as several coats on the side of the locomotive facing the side wall of the barn.  Over time I would like to add proper classification lamp holders and flag holders to the front of the smokebox.  We have metal on hand that was cut long ago to make new class lamp holders.  Eventually I hope to get these welded together and machined and painted.  We have the correct lamps on hand.  New flag holders would have to be cast.  We have ones on another locomotive that are correct and can be used as patterns to have the new ones cast.

One nice feature on this locomotive's smokebox is a set of hinges that allow workers to open up the whole smokebox face and swing it to the side without having to remove it from the locomotive.  Half of each of the two hinge assemblies are still bolted to the side of the smokebox.  While looking around in the smokebox we found one of the two parts that bolts on to the front of the locomotive. We appear to be missing the other piece.  If any readers out there know where we could acquire the other hinge piece, please let us know.

Looking much better

How much farther will we go on the cosmetic work on this locomotive?  I don't know.  Right now it is just being worked on as I have a few spare hours a few times a year, and that is how it will be for the foreseeable future.  However, money also talks, and if you would like to see a little more cosmetic work done on the locomotive over time, a few more dollars in her restricted fund couldn't hurt!

Oh, and to answer the question which I know will be asked:  Right now there is no plan to return the locomotive to operation.  However, the locomotive has many good things going for it towards any future rebuild.  The tender tank is in very good shape, as is the cab.  The running gear is far from new and is missing a few parts, but is generally not in horrible shape upon initial inspection.  The firebox also doesn't show any obvious problems upon initial inspection.  However, there are many parts from in the cab missing, as well as the bell, whistle, auxiliary steam dome lid, and a list of other items.  That being said, there is nothing I have seen to preclude its restoration sometime years down the road.  And with her appearance improving, it is easier and easier to imagine what 4963 must have looked like in revenue service on the Burlington.