Illinois Railway Museum Steam Department

Shop Update 3/23/10:

March 24th, 2010 Posted in News
Work continues to restore steam operations to IRM within the near future. The past couple months have proven to be very productive toward accomplishing this goal and have seen work nearing completion on many major projects on two locomotives: J. Niels Lumber #5 and Frisco 1630.
J Niel’s #5: The Shay has been the center of attention in the shop for the last couple months and as a result, much progress has been made. The front tube sheet patch has been welded and riveted in place, and Tom Nigel and others have been busy drilling out the holes in the tube sheets to accommodate the installation of flues. As of late last weekend, all but 2 holes were drilled. Once work on the tube sheet is complete our attention will be focused on rebuilding the smoke box and front end of the Shay to allow for the installation of new tubes and flues.
Stay bolt work remains to be done and that will most likely be this summers major project once the tube sheet work is done. It has also been decided the new springs are necessary on the front truck of the locomotive and parts are being fabricated to allow this to happen.

Frisco 1630: The last of the machining work is being completed on this locomotive’s running gear overhaul. The crown brasses of both boxes have been machines to their final diameter and grease groves are being cut into them with a die grinder by Stu. Brian and I put one of the driving boxes on the Bullard Turret Lathe to allow for the final machining work on the hub liners and facing of the crown brass. This is the last task before re-installing them on the axle and putting it all back under the locomotive.

Bill and Tom are working on machining the shoes and wedges and they too are getting very close to the final dimensions. Grease groves remain to be cut into them, and a special machine too has been acquired to complete this task on the Bridgeport Milling Machine. There are a few other small tasks to complete on the driving boxes, shoes, and wedges but hopefully within the next couple weeks all of them will be completed. This would allow us to begin placing the rear axle back under the locomotive in time for operation this summer.

Jason worked on drilling out some of the last remaining stay bolts in the firebox and once this is complete, a hydrostatic boiler test will be preformed to double check the quality of the boiler. This is required as part of the annual maintenance of the engine and will be preformed twice annually: Once for the department to check if there are any problems to fix prior to the test being preformed again under supervision of the FRA inspector.

Dennis and Rick have been working on the tender patch work to return this tender to service. Dennis has completed all the welding on the various patches and holes and Rick has been working with an angle grinder and body filler to make the weld work seamless. The body work will be completed and then Brian will paint the bottom portion of the tender sides to complete the maintenance work on the tank.

All this work will be inspected by the FRA and pending approval of the running gear work and a successful hydrostatic boiler test the locomotive will be returned to service. We are hoping to return it to service this season, but there are still many unknown variables that may prevent this from occurring.

Stop by the shop and keep checking back for updates on this project and the operation of steam at IRM.

All Photos Matthew Dowd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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