Galesburg, IL: Robert Learmont's "tour" of the engine servicing facility

I have been added Robert Learmont's photos to my Galesburg notes as he posted them. But this explanation of the engine servicing facility is worthy of its own set of notes.

Robert Learmont posted several photos with the comment:

A day or two ago, someone had asked me if I could do a bit of a picture tour of the shop I work at.
We have 6 crafts - Machinist (IAMAW), Electrician (IBEW), Sheet Metal Workers “Pipefitters” (SMART), Laborers (NCF&O), Boilermakers (IBB). We run 3 shifts, 24/7.
The two major areas of our facility include the Diesel Servicing Facility (“DSF,” “Pit,” “Service Track,” “Circus Track”, “Tower of Power”) and the Diesel Shop (“House,” “Shop,” “Barn”). The Pit is basically a glorified gas station - locomotives are fueled and sanded, cabs and toilets are cleaned and resupplied, fluids are topped off, light repairs are performed, and a daily inspection is performed on each locomotive. Locomotives that are good for power are assigned, and consists are built and laced on the ready side once they come off the pit. Bad order locomotives are set over to the shop after an ADP (Arrival Diagnostic Process - wheel sheet, downloads, and a check over of the locomotive for obvious signs/symptoms of the issue) is performed. The pit is supervised by foremen who work 12 hours (plus about an hour on each end for turnover) on a 3-on-3-off schedule, and the foreman is responsible for planning what the inbound power will depart on, making sure horsepower and locomotive configuration matches train tonnage and length, making sure consists are built to be ready in sync with when each train is built in the departure yard, supervising servicing on the pit, supervising consist builds, and assigning power to hostlers to take to the train or other moves that hostlers may need to make in the yard.
Bad order locomotives are set over to the shop. The shop is supervised by a foreman on each shift - there are two foreman who run each shift, with overlap and both on duty three days per week, and a solo foreman four days per week. Work starts two hours before the craft shift, and ends about a half hour after the craft shift, making for a 10.5 hour day 5-on-2-off. A GE tech rep is also present in the shop. Shop work can range from federal inspections (accompanied by defect repair and preventative maintenance), to troubleshooting electrical issues, to traction motor chances, to power assembly changes, to main gen changes, and everything in between. Usually when a locomotive is bad ordered, we know a symptom, but not the cause of the symptom. We will typically look at downloads (on units so equipped), and work an inbound on a unit if we can to try to isolate what part or system is causing the problem, and to find other problems that may exist or be forming with the locomotive that weren’t reported when it failed on the road. This is important because in-house shop space is at a premium. Once we have the problem narrowed down, we will bring the unit in the house if it needs work that needs to be performed in the house, work further diagnostics, and then replace or repair whatever needs fixed. Afterwards, locomotives are taken outside and receive an outbound load test to verify repairs and that we have not created other problems during the repair process.
My normal job is 2nd shift house Foreman, and I relieve on both day and night shift as Service Track Foreman when one of the normal ones is not at work.
I included a map here that I drew up for the tours that come though here during Galesburg Railroad Days to give a general orientation of our shop. I will put further descriptions on the individual pictures as follows.
Galesburg, IL - Various Dates.

Some of the photos are 360-degree photos, which I can't copy. That is why you will see gaps in the numbers.

1
Shop map showing general layout and shop flow.

2
Looking south over the shop - 1-Track on the right, 2-Track on the left.

3
The Service Track, looking south.

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The “Tower of Power,” looking north.

5
North end of the pit. 4-Track on the right, 5-Track on the left.

6
North 1 drop table, looking north.

7
Down into the drop pit.

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Storehouse

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Storehouse

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Boilermaker/fab shop.

11
Boilermaker/fab shop.

12
Looking north at the left side of 1-track, past all the craft areas.

13
Looking north from South 1 Track.

14
Traction motor rack - and a lot more traction motors on the ground in the distance. Large components for GE units are also stored on the concrete pad behind the rack.

15
Smoke rack

 16 was a 180-degree view photo of the storehouse.

17
Middle of 1 track

18
Some GE supplies and specialty tools

19
South 1 Track

20
Middle 2 Track. Looking north

21
Middle 1 Track. Looking south.

22
Looking north - 2787 North 1, 3038 North 2

23
Middle 1, looking south from North 2

24
North 1 looking north from Middle 2

 25 is a 180-degree photo looking north from the south end of the house.

26
South 2 looking south

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South 2 looking south

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South 2 looking south

29
Drop table on 2 track

30
Under 2-Track looking south

31
Our north. Left to right: 1-track, 2-Track, West Stub, East Stub

32
North 2 looking south

33
Between 2 track and 1 track looking south from the north end of the House

34
Service track. Looking south. The enclosed skyway in the distance carries fuel, oil, water, and electricity over to the service track from the shop and the fuel storage area.

35
Looking north on the ready-side.

36
South 1 - looking south from the foremen’s office

37
South 2 - looking south.

38
Middle 2 from the foremen’s office.

39
Looking north at middle and north 1 from the foremen’s office.

The last four photos are 180-degree photos.


A reminder that locomotives, like cars and airplanes, have been invaded by computers.
Robert Learmont posted 24 photos with the comment:

Covering the “maintenance operations” part of this group’s topic - no trains here, but this is the inside of the module room at the Galesburg Diesel Shop, which supplies repaired, upgraded, and tested EMD Dash 2, Super Series, and Mod3 modules to the entire BNSF system (EM2000 cards get sent back to EMD). Lots of equipment and documentation here from the old West Burlington shop.

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While looking for a satellite image of the DSF and SFS area, I discovered that the street view car driver was a railfan. and the public can get quite close to the facilities.

Street View
In addition to BN and Santa Fe liveries, this ready track has three out of the four BNSF liveries. From left to right, it appears to be H4, H3 and H2.