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Thursday, December 31. 2009Wood Shop Update New Window? Buzz Morisette was taking advantage of the Christmas time off at his job and here he is starting on new windows for the MILW 01984 caboose. I know he is going to do this the 'right way', but it might be easier to take that slab of wood and just drill and saw out a hole in the middle of it. Some other work was continuing in the shop, including Tim Peters working on new windows for the CRT 1268, and more machining of stock for the new windows for the N&W 2050. Behind the scenes we constantly have to maintain and repair our machines and tooling and yesterday the Berlin Sander and our table mounted router saw some attention. Thursday, December 31. 2009Trolleyville CarsFive down and four to go!  Unloading The snow was snowing and the wind was blowing - - - Not fit weather for man or beast, and my digital camera apparently does not like the cold either. This was the only image I was able to salvage and it is not the best. But perhaps you can get a sense of what the volunteers went through as they are here unloading and re-trucking the 319. BRRR! Wednesday, December 23. 2009Wood Shop UpdateAs you may have guessed form the previous two entries today, Kirk Warner was back in town for the Holidays. He was able to use a camera to capture a lot of work and in the sharing spirit of the month, you are getting to see a lot of them posted. The volunteers at the Wood Shop and in the Freight Car Department would like to extend best Holiday Wishes to one and all!  Caught in the Act The project here is making new windows for the cab of N&W 2050. Today we jointed all the rough lumber, cut it to rough length, and here, John Faulhaber is ripping the stock to the needed width. The picture caption? Yes, you see my bandaged hand grabbing wood just fourteen days after the surgery. Promise me you will not tell anyone.  Still at the Saw Still at the saw, Bob Kutella and John Faulhaber are addressing the need to make 48 pieces of stock for the planned windows, not counting the custom beading and moldings.  More Sawing  A Little Help Dick Cubbage joins us in the fun as the pile of pieces grows larger and larger.  Mornings Work So here are the rough sized parts labeled with a secret code so we hope they do not get mixed up. But they are still too thick.  Plane Truth Dick Cubbage is catching the planed parts while John Faulhaber keeps them coming at the infeed end.  Measuring Well out of the way, I am measuring and setting up the next cuts and adjustments for thickness. Wednesday, December 23. 2009CRT 1268 Update Candid A candid shot of Tim Peters concentrating on a new window.  Posed Almost the same shot with Tim posing for the camera. What he is doing here is glazing the windows which have been made and primed.  Molding The windows require some custom made molding to act as retainers for each pane of glass. Complicating the situation here is that one corner of each window is curved! Each piece is custom fitted and sanded to suit.  Marking Dick Cubbage supervises while Tim Peters uses a paper tmeplate to mark the screw locations. Wednesday, December 23. 2009Barn 4 Addition Update Closed Tight On December 22, the long awaited overhead door was installed. Kirk Warner was in town for the Holidays and he and Dick Cubbage shoveled enough snow to allow the door to be closed. Now if we could get heat! Monday, December 21. 2009CA&E 36 & 319 Update
Nick, Joe, Charlie and I went to Cleveland to prepare the 36 & 319 for
Silk Road which will load the cars on Monday. The trucks come mid week and
the cars will not be shipped until next week due to permits and Christmas.
This trip was short notice and that's an understatement, Nick called me at one thirty in the afternoon Friday the 18th and said that the cars will be loaded on Monday the 21st, then I called Charlie and Joe, within a few hours of finding out we were on the way to Cleveland. We arrived in Cleveland around two am Saturday morning, got a few hours sleep at the Red Roof in and unwillingly woke up at seven thirty am Saturday. Grabbed a quick breakfast and headed to Brookpark to meet with Tim and Ken which already had the 303 pumped up and ready to do some switching. Thankfully Tim is a fan of IRM and allowed us to work in the shop which was heated, well lit and had a full length pit. The plan was made and we quickly got to work knowing that we only had till two pm to get this done and if not finished we were going to work outside in the snow. Charlie and Nick went to the roof and removed bases and poles along with Tim. Joe and I went deep and removed brake rigging and motor leads along with labeling everything. Once this was done Nick, Charlie, Tim and Joe removed pilots and steps from one end of each car. We also took down the globes and secured anything that may break while in transit. We got done around three pm and cleaned up, put tools away and washed up, then went to lunch with Tim. After lunch we hit the road and headed west toward Chicago and when I got home I passed out and woke up Sunday afternoon. This is one of two trips to Cleveland for preparing the cars to ship and the next time will involve much more work. Three cars which are all complete and one even has a pan to remove. This again will be extremely short notice and I hope to get one or two more guys to come and help. Tim will attempt to move the 451/460 to Central Rail this week to install the rebuilt DH25 onto the 451. Once that happens he will bring both cars to the terminal and get the remaining steel cars. The 451/460 and 409 as a half motor will pull the two dead cars all the way to Brookpark and round two begins. Here are some photos taken this weekend. IRM is soliciting donations to cover the costs of transportation of these cars from Cleveland, Ohio to Union, Illinois, please consider a donation today. Stan Wdowikowski |
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Comments
Wed, 04-11-2018 11:28
You mention in the header that you would like to have the Electroliner operational by its birthday. Was it?
Sun, 04-08-2018 20:03
As a child, IRM was always my favorite place to visit. Well, other than grandma's house next to the Geneva Sub. It's been many years since I now [...]
Wed, 04-04-2018 16:01
Those temporary walls could be constructed in a way that allows their reuse after the phase is done to close off the new phases.
Tue, 03-27-2018 03:08
Why did the smoke box cover on the shay need to be replace Do?
Mon, 03-26-2018 16:29
It never ceases to amaze me of the diligence and passion of the current mix of volunteers associated with IRM in 2018. Back when I was a active [...]
Mon, 03-26-2018 11:10
Awesome paint job Jamie!!! I never would of thought with the Rock Island history this locomotive in this scheme would of been preserved. Thanks for [...]
Sun, 03-25-2018 23:56
The Hick's blog lists it as Fruit Grower's Express FGEX #55407. Arrived in Union June 2016.
Sun, 03-25-2018 20:51
Good job on the diesel update 2018. Sincere, Ethan A.
Sun, 03-25-2018 20:45
Good job on the steam update 2018. Sincere, Ethan A.
Sun, 03-25-2018 00:12
Bill, The 1990 Roster has the PFE #68428; this may be the reefer that we saw moved. It is a rare car and deserves a paint job. Ted Miles, [...]
Fri, 03-16-2018 11:10
It would be rather difficult to operate an 11,000 Volt AC locomotive on our 600 Volt DC wire.
Thu, 03-15-2018 05:57
Good job steam update. Sincerely, Ethan A.