Illinois Railway Museum Blog

The heat this weekend reminded me just how much I like early spring and late fall... anything over 65 degrees is just too hot.  But the high humidity Saturday didn't stop us from working.  The gang this weekend was Tom H, Steph J, Steve L, myself and special guests JD Marzec, Greg Frech both from the steam shop and John from the carshop who was attending for regular membership.  As advertised, most of us arrived on time and prepped for a trip to Four Mile Siding to replace the switchpoint on the turnout side of the new power switch.  We split into two groups to start out. Steve, Steph and John got the J580 A8 Motorcar, Welding cart and hydraulic cart switched out of Barn 2 while Tom, JD and Greg got the Model 50 Burro, CNW flat and EJ&E 529 caboose together in Yard 11.  I ran around gathering fuel, water and ice and got the forklift out to load the new switch point onto the flatcar. 

We made it out to Four Mile and were joined by Julie J and Bob O from the signal dept to replace the point.  We made quick work out of the job and had the new rods on, including the 'new' #2 rod within an hour.  It seems this point is indeed correct and will work fine.  We made the slow trek back to the property a bit after 1PM and had everything put away around 2PM.  I'm glad to report that all of our machines worked very well and the only thing that required a jump start was the forklift...sigh

The rest of the day we spent mostly in Yard 11 cleaning off the C&NW flatcar and continuing to load our scrap gondola.  The old switchpoint was set up near B&G for Volkmann.  JD was able to cut frog bolts with our oxy/ acetelyne torch making quick work out of that.  Everyone did a very good job and I appreciate all of the help.  I think everyone had an enjoyable day but I've been known to be wrong..

Sunday was only slightly lower key.  Tom, Steph and I made up the Track Dept while Steve L spent the day helping the Electric car shop in Barn 4. The goal was to cut brush near Karsten's crossing with the Amtrak brushcutter before operations got underway.  Tom and Steph arrived on time and got the machine out and on the rail early.  After the Electric car shop finished testing of the overhead on the main it was our turn to get on the line.  I showed up just as they were finishing up the first section of cutting and just as the machine developed an air leak... An old air line under the machine came loose from its fitting which put us out of service on the main until we could come up with a fix.  An hour or so later, after numerous trips to the property and failed attempts at a repair we ended up changing the entire hose.  We got ourselves back in service and cleared the mainline for revenue service shortly after.  There is still a little bit of cutting left to do near Karsten's but the worst area has been taken care of. It was a warm weekend and proved how important it is to carry water with us on the line.  We have a cooler in Barn 2, lets remember to keep it full. 

In the next few weeks we will need to take care of some housekeeping chores.  The fire inspector will be coming soon and we have a list of things to clean up ASAP.  All of the plastic hanging from the ceiling in Tk24 will need to come down and the aisles need to be clear.

Until next time...

Adam Robillard
Roadmaster
lzeje657@msn.com