Illinois Railway Museum Blog

The team today was myself, Tom H, Frank D and our newest track dept volunteer Steve L.

The previously mentioned ex Amtrak brush cutter saw its first day of service today. After a typical jump start, we drove it over to Barn 2 where we had a battery charger running while the rest of us greased the entire machine, cleaned it up and checked fluids. It turns out the alternator which we thought was bad was working fine, but the battery was shot. It wasn't holding a charge so that will be the first thing to be replaced on it soon. Mid morning the car dept brought out the West Towns 141 for a switch move. The car looks great and was the first time i've seen the car outside. Can't wait to ride on it someday soon. Always though blue was a good color for streetcars.

The cutter had its fuel topped off and we headed to Central Ave where we set the machine on the tracks and ran it to Karsten's crossing. There Frank and I got a crash course in its operation, which is a beast to get used to, but we managed to cut a couple hundred feet of brush on both sides of the RoW. We found that the line poles for the overhead is going to cause a headache to cut around, but to do a quality cut of the right of way we'll have to spend the extra time to do it right. Steve met us out on the main line around noon and got his first views of the machine as well. The cutter is a two person machine, one driving/ operating one boom and the other person operates the other boom. I think we all agree that it's a pretty powerful machine, enough to cut 5" trees in half...

After a late lunch at Wendy's, the four of us met up in Yard 11 to do a few test lifts with the model 50 burro crane. The cold weather made starting the crane very difficult even with the block heater plugged in for most of the day. We did get it to fire and test lifted 3 track panels to measure weights for the new track in yard 11. A few new operators got a chance to run the crane for the first time and all did exceptionally well. All of the track panels are within the capabilities of our crane to handle including the stack furthest away. The 6000 tamper and Model 50 Burro are both on 11-0 track with access to power for the block heaters. We couldn't find a heater on the 6000 tamper (if it even has one) so that is not plugged in. Minus the seasonally cold and crappy weather, today turned out to be a great day. Thanks a lot to Steve for coming out and helping in this subprime weather. Even though it'll get cold and the snow will fly, we'll be working outside a lot taking advantage of the offseason not worrying about revenue trains. If anyone wants to help out there is always something to do. Next weekend will probably be brushcutting, prepping barn 11 or continuing machine maintenance. The switch tamper needs an oil change/ filter and the brush cutter does as well. More to come throughout the week...

Adam Robillard