358 Update - 3/4/2020 - Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society

Submitted by WD Miller

Hello everyone:

Steady progress continues with Project 358, electrical repairs in the cabinet continue, plus the fan contactor panel is being reassembled as well. Found a rectifier that is toast, so we’re on the hunt for one of those now, but shouldn’t be a problem. Tedious work on all this electrical, but when the locomotive is a diesel-electric you want to be sure that everything is good to go.

The cooling system saw some progress this weekend as well. After discovering a couple weekends ago that we only had one out of 4 gaskets we needed, the word went out that we needed a different gasket kit, and within days we had the correct kits from our New Jersey connection. I started on Friday by fitting the gaskets up and making sure we had everything we needed. Worked on bolting up the elbows from the block to the water pumps, was running into some trouble getting things to line up, and after some time, with the night getting late, tired, and frustrated, I stopped before breaking anything. Saturday morning Cory picked up where I left off and with a few adjustments was able to get everything bolted up, torqued and marked as such. Cory put together a list of other parts and pieces needed, so we’ll work on getting those items gathered up to finish out the cooling system.

Carson arrived Saturday afternoon, welded the access panel cut to aid in the installation of the power cable for the fans, and scoped out a plan for adding our pre-lube pump and plumbing.

Next few weeks will see more mechanical work for the cooling system, plus fuel lines. Probably pull the brake valves off the unit and see if they’ll be able to make the trip with Tom along with several other brake valves from the shop. More electrical work repairs, plus need to get the headlight resistor panel mounted and wired up. A bit of grinding will be needed on the long hood where the sections along the roof meets, there are welds that need ground off.

Work list is being updated, I’m going to condense a few things on it, and move the completed items to a common area so it’s easier to see what is needed to be done yet. I’ll send that out in a separate email.

Meanwhile some one from the Project 358 team is there Friday, and Saturday’s and sometimes on Sunday. If you’re looking for something to do, and wish to help, give me a call or send an email.

Thank you!

WD Miller