Diesel Department

Progress on the restoration of Milwaukee Road 33C continues at a slow pace. The next areas of engine room paint prep around the generators, aux gen, and blowers is extremely tedious to clean and prep. The same goes for the areas around the equipment rack, which includes the governor end of the engine, oil and fuel filter housings and strainers, lots of piping and other pieces. Here we see the main and aux generators primed and painted for the No 1 engine.

Photo: The FM side gets a coat of epoxy primer. While wet, it looks like it is a final coat, but it will dull a lot as it drys.

Photo: The engineers side with a coat of epoxy primer.

Photo: The finished product on the engineers side after the main gen, aux gen, engine blower and duct, and other accessories receive the final coat of paint.

While there was some paint mixed, there were four covers remaining to be painted that go between the radiators and the engine room. Those were primed and painted at the same time, along with one electrical cabinet cover.

Photo: The outside of the electrical cabinet cover and the four radiator covers all primed and painted gray.

Photo: The inside of the electrical cabinet cover is painted with red insulating paint.

We'll add additional small updates to this blog as we progress through the engine room. As always, we're looking for donations to the Diesel Locomotive Restoration Fund to help continue the type of work you see here. Thank you for your support!

Here is a follow up to our post from a couple weeks ago about our push for funding indoor track space. Two historic Armco diesel locomotives have been fully funded to be stored indoors, they are the Armco Steel B-71 and Armco Steel E-110. The B-71 is a Baldwin-Westinghouse build in 1930. The E-110 is a Lima-Hamilton LS-1200 built in 1951. The estimated cost to store these two indoors is just over $21,000. They have been marked to be the next two Diesel Locomotives to be store inside once the additional barn space is built and ready.

Photo: Armco Steel B-71.

Photo: Armco Steel E-110.

The reason we say estimated is the actual cost of the building is still being worked out and that could be a small percentage above or below our estimated costs. We continue to ask for your support to fund indoor storage for Diesel Locomotives, and remember, your donation will be matched dollar for dollar up to a total of $50,000. If we can achieve this goal, that is $100,000 to help preserve our Diesel collection indoors. We are hopeful to be able to also fund the BN Executive units, some CNW units, as well as some other historic Diesel Locomotives.

Please make sure the option is selected for Diesel Department if donating online, or if by check, make sure "Diesel Indoor Storage Fund" is written on the memo line of your check.

Thank you again for your support!

Here’s a quick update of happenings in the shop over the past week.

On the Plymouth 25 ton locomotive, the rear cab wall was straightened and repaired, and cab glass is being replaced. At some point in its industrial life, the engineers side rear corner had taken a hit and deformed the doorway and back wall. We straightened this out with a porta-power and will stiffen the back cab wall with additional supports. The lexan windows are all being replaced with safety glass as well as replacing the engineers door and windows.

HELP NEEDED: We are in need of a volunteer welder that can weld aluminum. The cab on this Plymouth 25 ton loco is constructed of aluminum and needs some cracks and supports welded in place. If you would like to volunteer on this project, please contact Jamie at the Diesel Shop or call the museum at 815-923-4391 x261.

The back cab corner after being straightened on the Plymouth 25 tonner.

Another view of the engineers doorway.

The front lexan window was replaced with safety glass.

The GE 25 tonner is also getting some attention. The switches on the gauge stand were all solid from dirt and concrete dust. Dan has been cleaning and/or replacing them, and adding the control switch back in place along with cab lighting, which were removed before arriving at IRM. The bottom of the engineers door was rotted and also was binding with the floor, which is expanding upwards making the door unusable. Rather than replacing the floor right now, we shortened the door by a quarter of an inch and replaced the rusted bottom. Other work is replacing the failed coolant block heater and adding a heater to the bottom of the oil pan to warm the engine oil in cold weather. All the air, oil, and coolant filters were changed as regular maintenance as well.

The gauge panel of the GE 25 tonner.

The bottom of the GE 25 tonner engineers door was replaced.

Another project that has been a long time coming is the installation of a pre-lube pump on Illinois Terminal 1605, an EMD GP7. A prelube pump circulates oil from the oil pan and charges the oil system of the locomotive before startup. The oil lubrication system can take upwards of 30 gallons of oil just to fill the pipes, passage ways, and other areas. Starting a locomotive without prelubing causes excessive wear as it takes a long time to pump oil through these areas to finally get to the critical surfaces that should have lubrication right at the time of startup. Over time we will be installing prelube pumps on many of our regularly operated locomotives.

Completed setup of the IT 1605 prelube pump.

It is great having the correct tools for the custom bends.

The new pipe bender kit made the job super easy!

A view in the crankcase with the pump running.

The top deck showing oil in a minutes time.

To support these restoration projects, you can donate to the Diesel Department Equipment Restoration Fund. If you would like, follow up with an email to support a specific piece of equipment. Thank you for your support!