Illinois Railway Museum Blog

I would like to make a note of a couple of things. The sandblasting process involves taking the sand like material, called blackblast, and smashing it against the object at 110 psi. (It is self explanitory) Now when you do this process the blast is ricochetting off the the object being sandblasted and going right into me. So during this I have to wear some protective clothing. Jeans, Steal toe shoes, gloves and the protective helmet. Now to describe this helmet it is like on of the biohazard scientist helmets, except without the complete sealing off from the world around you. Now with all of this protective clothing on I can not feel a breeze on me and what didn't help was that we had a few tarps set up as a wind block. So when you are working outside in the blazing sun you can, well let me put it this way, GET REALLY HOT AND SWEAT A LOT. Now also during this the mask's visor is not very clean and I can hardly see three inches in front of me. So the working conditions are this: extremely hot in the blistering sun, with drops of sweat dripping down your face while you wear heavy clothing and can hardly see what is in front of your face. Overall an average day at the steam shop. Also Nigel and all other steam department members, I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!

#1 Philip Cwikowski on 2012-05-20 17:31

Glad to see progress on the restoration of the 1630 I rember riding her as a kid at the museum in the '80's including one ride from the coal bunker on the tender! I have not seen any updates lately on UP 428 since her steam test in 2010. What is her status and when is sge expected to be operating at the museum?

#2 Patrick S on 2012-05-26 21:15

Patrick, Yes we are all focussed on getting 1630 back into service so we can have steam operating again at IRM. This has to be our top priority so work is progressed on 428 where this can be done without delaying 1630. Normally some work is done each week so on 5/19 her axle boxes were sandblasted ready for building up. Once 1630 is running it is to be hoped that more resource will be available but there is a great deal of work to be done and I would not currently like to suggest a date. Nigel

#2.1 Nigel Bennett on 2012-05-27 14:34

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