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Thursday, December 6. 2012Reconditioning overhead partsIRM has accumulated overhead parts from everywhere over the years. A small amount are old but never used but most are old used parts. Many are styles that are no longer made and therefore have historical value. A good example are wood strain insulators (wood strains). This is one item we have in abundance, in varying conditions from never installed-still-in-the-box to outside rotting in a barrel. Wood strains are insulating tension members installed in span wire to electrically insulate two sections of span wire or hardware and span wire. They are also used as insulation between pieces of hardware and in specialwork. They come in various sizes, lengths and end fitting configurations. The typical woodstrain is made of a section of turned hardwood rod with a mallable iron end fitting crimped on each end (eye-eye, clevis-eye etc.). The modern equivelant uses fiberglass rod instead of wood. Because of the wood which will rot, woodstrains are a high maintenance item. Because of this, my policy is to recondition used woodstrains before putting them in service. I have spent many weeks reconditioning parts to build up an inventory. First, they are stripped of bolts, pins and wire. Then, they are inspected for soundness. After passing inspection the metal ends are sand blasted to white metal. The wood is lightly sand blasted to remove loose paint and foreign matter. After another inspection, the end fittings are dipped in cold galvanizing compound and allowed to dry. One end must be dry before dipping the other end. Next, two coats of grey oil base house paint are applied to the wood. Once the paint has thoroughly dried the metal ends are given a final dip in galva-bright. Now they not only look like(better than) new, but will last for years. This process takes six days per batch (20-25 pcs). Other parts are reconditioned in a similar fashion. Round top and pulloff hangers that have durego or composition insulation have the exposed insulation sand blasted and are given one coat of insulating varnish. These are also dielectric tested to ensure insulation integrity.  Woodstrain before sandblasting  Woodstrain ends dipped in cold galvanize  Woodstrain ready for instalation Sunday, August 8. 2010Line Report - August 6, 2010WIRE DOWN! The following report is from Gerry Dettloff who was drafted to help in an emergency repair last Friday.  The Problem On Friday morning a transverse span wire that supported the trolley wire span wires came down between the tail track diamond and the Diesel Shop driveway on the Car Line. The wire that came down ran from the steel center pole west between the tail track and the Car Line to a
pole near the tail track switch.
 Long Reach Roger Smessaert and I happened to both be on the property. I
was helping Roger hook up electrical connections for the Thomas Event. I was contacted about the emergency and Roger and I along with Carl Illwitzer went to look at the situation. Roger moved Truck 70 into position and shut off power to the Car Line. We tied off the hanging span wire to make the area safe. Then in the true spirit of the DC Line Dept, we went to do something
else!  Tight Squeeze Actually, a vendor for the Thomas Event was waiting for the power to be
connected to his set up area. We did that and then after lunch, went back to the line problem . The problem was caused when a wood strain broke in half on the center pole that apparently has every other span wire and overhead line attached. After Roger figured out how to get in there, he replaced the wood strain. We realigned the span wire and Roger tensioned it and attached it to the new wood strain. Then Roger re-energized the Car Line.  In the Air  Finishing Touches We were done by 3 PM and I put the Car Line back in service. Monday, June 28. 2010 |
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Comments
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...
Mon, 12-27-2021 16:28
Happy New Year to all the Departments at the Illinois railway Museum! Thanks for all the good work you do in railroad preservation. Ted Miles, [...]
Wed, 10-13-2021 13:33
Was the CB&Q 1309 every transported to IRM?I’ve been reading old issues of Rail&Wire and the car was mentioned several times.
Mon, 06-07-2021 22:40
I was wondering if in the model layout display what scale would you guys be using and would you be displaying model train history as well? Just [...]
Wed, 06-02-2021 17:27
Nice to see 428's cab back on. Looking forward to when it is operable!
Tue, 06-01-2021 16:47
I hope the work will continue on the UP #428. Now that they are the museum's connection to the national railroad network; she would be very [...]
Sat, 04-17-2021 23:07
What is the status of 126, the Milwaukee Buffet car that is in S. Dakota? Any guess on when or if it will get to IRM?
Wed, 04-14-2021 21:09
Perhaps it is time to scrap the remains of the c, B & Q 7128 to make room for the Villa Real. Ted miles, IRM member
Wed, 04-14-2021 15:26
Hi IRM my name is Jason and I was wonder If you guys would be willing to save a CN Dash8-40cm they are currently being retired by CN and being [...]
Fri, 04-09-2021 19:56
Bear in mind that the Nebraska Zephyr is an articulated train set, so cars cannot be inserted at will. Although cars and/or a second engine could be [...]
Wed, 03-31-2021 11:37
I believe Silver Pony is currently on the back burner, and has been put into storage in one of the barns. The car needs a lot of work done to it's [...]