News from the 261 Shop

Milwaukee 261 returned to the shop at Harrison Street on Sunday, September 14th after a successful trip on the Canadian Pacific’s rails to La Crosse, WI; returning to the Twin Cities on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe. For both the crew and the engine it was a great way to end the season. And the beginning of the big rebuild.

Since Sunday, the shop crew has removed the elements of the exhaust system, cleaned the smokebox and built scaffolding across the pit to facilitate disassembly of the boiler. Last weekend the superheater elements were disconnected from the header and one-by-one all 58 superheaters were pulled from their flues, blown clear of residual water, numbered and stacked at the far end of the platform. With the removal of the superheaters, the flues can be cut from the sheets at both ends, pulled out the front of the engine and recycled.

Once the flues have been removed, the interior of the boiler can be cleaned, inspected and tested in accordance with FRA standards. The tube sheets will be inspected, ground clean of excess weld and prepped for the installation of the new flues.

Other near term jobs will include removal of the boiler jacketing and insulation. The reusable sheet metal will be sanded and repainted and new sheets will be cut and formed as necessary. The flexible staybolt caps will be removed and the firebox will be cleaned and needle-scaled.

All this work will take many man-hours of labor and the success of the rebuild will depend on money, the skills of the shop crew and the willingness of volunteers to spend time at the shop this fall and winter. To everyone who visits the website, we encourage you to contribute to this effort.