ISP Murray Corliss

08/03/2026

Square and Level!
Spent the day leveling the main casting, squaring the crankshaft to the cylinder, leveling the crankshaft, and positioning the outboard bearing. Jim 3D printed inserts for the rod journals to position a stringline. The service truck crane came in handy to tension the line and adjust it to exact centerline. We even rotated the crankshaft today, a little.

06/07/2026

Work progresses on the ISP Murray. It was a bit hot and humid, but Jerry Holmes and I got the head and support on. This was done to assist final alignment before grouting and painting. They will have to come back off after paint to clean the cylinder and install the piston and shaft.

05/21/2026

A big Thank You to Ken Gerdes of Techmar Grout. Ken donated a pallet of grout, release agent, and the use of a grout mixer to properly grout the base of the ISP Murray Corliss engine. Ken and his office of Techmar are from Burlington, IA where the Murray was originally built back in 1939.

04/22/2026

39 years. The First picture from April, 2026 in Belmond, IA. The second picture is from April, 1987 in Waukee, IA. It is too bad it had to be moved, but I am glad we are saving it.

04/21/2026

04/18/2026

The whistle at the Glenwood Murray Corliss site came down this week. It was fed with a 3" steam line! Can't wait to get the valve down, mounted on a pole, and try to generate enough steam to blow it.

04/05/2026

Pulled all the sheet metal covers, belt guards, and hand railings today off the Glenwood engine. Then tackled the exciter. It only weighed 2000 lbs.