ISP Murray Corliss

10/09/2026

Forms are off and the grouting looks great. We pulled the side jackets off of the cylinder to clean it up. The bare casting of the Corliss cylinder is an interesting view not seen very often. Next up is sandblast and paint the big parts.

10/07/2026

A big step forward accomplished over the weekend and Monday. The grouting is finished! To explain, we leveled the engine by shimming by each mounting bolt. That gets us level and square but the engine could easily vibrate or even move when it runs. The special non-shrinking grout locks the engine to the concrete. It isn't going anywhere.

09/05/2026

While going through documents found at the Glenwood Resource Center (where we are rescuing the 500hp Murray Corliss) we came across an original blueprint of the boiler at the Mt. Pleasant Mental Health Institute. They had a 500hp Murray Corliss that was moved to the Mt Pleasant Old Thrasher's Reunion Powerhouse. We felt it belonged there and presented it to the operators and curators of their Murray Corliss. Maintaining and preserving this engine is in their blood. By the way, guess what the first name of the lady on the left is. Hint, it's not Murray.

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.