Illinois Railway Museum - Diesel Department Restoration Projects

Restoration Projects

Milwaukee Road 33C

The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific 33C, an EMD E9A, was brought into the diesel shop in November 2001. Restoration work has been steady over the last few months. The photos below show much of the progress to date, the photos are displayed with the most recent near the top to the earliest near the bottom.

Note (12/28/2003): Starting this month, we'll be using 500 pixel wide images instead of 400 pixels. This is to show a little more detail of the work as it progresses. The page may take a bit longer to load, but we hope the wait will be worth it.

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December 2003

A lot has been done since the last update here. Most of the skin on the firemans side of the cab has been replaced. All the shutters and vents, etc. have been removed from the side of the carbody. All the bad sections of the top hat channel have been removed and replaced on the bottom half of the firemans side of the loco. Photo by James Kolanowski, Dec 26, 2003.

Some I-beam sections of the frame will be replaced, such as this 2-foot section that is badly rusted and pitted, almost through the entire channel. Photo by James Kolanowski, Dec 26, 2003.

More sections of the drip channels and top hat channels will be replaced near the radiators. Photo by James Kolanowski, Dec 26, 2003.

A view of the side showing a lot of work on the bottom half of this side. This included replacing many top hat channels, drilling holes every few inches for the screws, and welding a lot of T-nuts/plates to the backs of those holes. Photo by James Kolanowski, Dec 26, 2003.

A view of the same side, different angle. Photo by James Kolanowski, Dec 26, 2003.

One side sheet was temporarily mounted to check clearances and more so for application methods for the other sheets. Written in soapstone on the side of the sheet: "1 down, 31 to go". Although this sheet will be removed and some other work done to it, its still nice to see some sides going on, which it hasn't seen since the days of NIRC. Photo by James Kolanowski, Dec 26, 2003.

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November 2002

This area under the fireman side cab door was completly replaced. Work is slowing down for a little while to get further along on some other projects in the shop. Photo by James Kolanowski, Nov 10, 2002.

A lot of steel skin has been replaced on the firemans side from the cab windows down to the anticlimber. Photo by James Kolanowski, Nov 10, 2002.

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December 2001

A coat of bondo has been applied to the engineer's side nose to fill in some of dents in the sheetmetal. Photo by James Kolanowski, Dec 2, 2001.

Some areas of the frame and other channels have been sanded and primed. A few of the deteriorated chennels will be replaced. Photo by James Kolanowski, Dec 2, 2001.

Over the last few weeks, the remainder of the nose has been needlechipped and sanded. Deteriorated areas have been cut out and will be replaced with new sheetmetal. Photo by James Kolanowski, Dec 2, 2001.

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November 2001

A day later than the picture below, the body work progresses to the fireman's side. Photo by James Kolanowski, Nov 12, 2001.

Needlechipping and sanding progresses on the Fireman's side nose. Photo by James Kolanowski, Nov 10, 2001.

Sanding to bare steel has begun on the nose. Some minor deterioration in the skin will be repaired and bondo reapplied to make a smooth surface for priming and painting. Photo by James Kolanowski, Nov 12, 2001.