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Monday, March 29. 2010Wood Shop Update - March 27, 2010 409 Sash Frank Sirinek and Rich Witt are proudly displaying the new sign box sash for CA&E 409. Rich did most of the woodworking and Frank finished the painting and glazing. By the end of the day it had already been installed on the car!  Next Rich Witt began at once on the next window project, this time a door drop sash for the CA&E 450 series cars. First step was to take measurements and create a drawing to proceed.  Jointing Buzz Morisette continued his fine efforts on ten new windows for the MILW 01984 caboose. After long trips to Barn 11 to check the fit, he decided to use our century old jointer to shave a bit off the width.  Priming With the fit satisfactory, it was on to the bench to apply primer. Buzz sure gets a lot done and makes the most of his time out at IRM. I wonder how he does it?  Gutters Tim Peters has made new gutters for the CRT 1268 using new sheet copper. Here is a side by side of one of the few originals and the new fabrication, which included forming a folded over lip and rolling to shape.  Back in the Saddle Here is the first prototype of a 'pilot model' for new saddles for CA&E 451. The old one Tim Peters is holdng can be seen to be 90% rotted and missing. I think there will be no entry here for March 28. I have come to rely and appreciate guest photographers in the last recent weeks but no such help yesterday. And a lot of the shop remained nearly empty with the large attendance at the CTA fantrip. But work continued by the ME 28 crew, the passenger coach department was on hand to continue seat work, and to lend me a hand milling more battens for the depot project. Oh, and one other thing - a lot of folks were working on the CA&E cars including the 409 and the 460. As I was leaving, I saw a three car set of steel cars rounding the ess curves on the car line! 431-460-409 Sunday, March 28. 2010Track Dept Weekend Report Mar 27, 28
Saturday Report --- The day's primary project was the joint effort with the Signal Dept to get the very large Corwith Tower lever machine into our Spaulding Tower. This proved to be no easy task. The entire lever machine is roughly 20 ft in length and weighs nearly 9000lbs... The signal dept can report further on its future but our part was the heavy lifting with the Model 50 Burro crane to get it into the lower level- through the doorway. Tom Hunter ran the crane and after a few test lifts near Barn 9, we lifted the machine near the station and ran it into the Tower very slowly and carefully. We were successful in getting it in the building around 2PM and hit lunch. Lets hope that machine never has to leave the tower again!
Sunday, March 28. 2010Snowflake Special Report 03/28/2010The Snowflake Special was today and it was great! The equipment used was a 6 car train made up entirely of 2200s, the oldest in the fleet. We traversed parts of every line, traveled in every subway and visited some rarely seen yard trackage. We started at Rosemont northbound for our first photo stop at O’Hare, then headed back south. We pulled into Foster middle track (former Jefferson Park yard) for photo run-bys at Jefferson Park and Addison. Then into the loop and out to 63rd St. lower yard. A rare opportunity for a passenger train. At that point we headed back to the loop for our lunch stop. After lunch we went on the Orange line for a photo opportunity at 35th/Archer. Afterward we headed down into the State St. subway and up to Howard, then to Skokie Shops. The CTA was kind enough to park a pair of 5000s for us to see as we entered the yard. After some switching, we headed down the Skokie test track. The CTA guys thought that this was the first passenger train to ever go down the test track. Don’t know if that is true (there have been a LOT of fantrips dating way back), but it sure was a highlight for us. We headed back to Howard for a restroom break and to do a few loops around Howard yard, then up to Linden to loop that yard also. Then it was back down toward the loop, then over parts of the green, pink, and finally blue line for the trip back to Rosemont. Of course the afternoon was littered with photo stops including a thrilling one where our train paced a revenue train southbound into Belmont. Thanks to our CTA crew it came off without a hitch and the collection of photographers at the south end of the Belmont platform was incredible. What a great way to spend a day as I’m sure the approx. 280 passengers will attest to. David Harrison did a great job getting the ball rolling and working with Bob Heinlein and the CTA came up with a great routing plan.
The trip was a fundraiser to get the 2000s inside the next barn. The good news is we are about half way there! The challenge is that they still need donations. Please consider donating to the “2000s Fund” as they are the only Chicago Rapid Transit equipment in the museum’s collection that is still stored outside. Great job David, Bob, Richard Schauer coordinating ticket sales, today’s IRM volunteer car captains, our fantastic CTA crew who made sure the day went smoothly, and most of all those of you who supported this trip with such enthusiasm that we had to put an additional 2 cars on the train to accommodate everyone who wanted to ride. The museum and the 2000s THANK YOU!!!!! Sunday, March 28. 2010PART TWO - Wood Shop Update - March 24, 2010From the camera of John Nelligan, here are some more images of the shop work producing new battens for the depot. I will present this as a short photo essay, not to bore you with a lot of text.  The Set Up Rich Witt, Henry Vincent, and Bob Kutella install a set up of fences and featherboards for the table saw.  Ripping Three pics here showing Pete Galayda, Henry Vincent, and RIch Witt ripping 14 foot long boards into the correct width for the battens.  Ripping  Ripping  Planing The next step was to plane the strips to the needed thickness and here, John Faulhaber is feeding our old faithful Boice Crane planer.  The Crew Bob Kutella, Rich Witt, Pete Galayda, John Faulhaber, Henry Vincent, and Victor Humphreys all worked a long day and are shown here behind a stack of nearly 1100 feet of blanks ready to be fed into the shaper for final profiling. Saturday, March 27. 2010Thursday, March 25. 2010Michigan Electric 28 Update - March 21, 2010Here is a fairly long post of progress on the new baggage doors being made for the ME 28. Lots of images, short on text, all from the camera of Ray Schmid, Gwyn Stupar was the photographer.  Berlin Sander We continue to make good use of the massive Berlin Sander obtained from the Milwaukee Cold Springs Car Shops over 35 years ago. Finally exhumed from our IRM storage and restored to use a few years ago, it serves us well. The new doors are almost four feet wide and there was no problem running through the sander. L to r, Bob Kutella, Jim and Tom Windmeier, Norm Krentel, and Ray Schmid run one of the doors into the feed end of the machine.  The Gathering Bob Kutella moves to the outfeed end while Jeff Brady, Norm Krentel, and Ray Schmid gather, ready to receive the door.  The Catchers Norm K, Jeff B, and Ray S are the 'catchers'.  Smooth The top surface seen has already had a few passes through the sander. You must remember that the real work is done on what is the bottom surface. We have the drums set to be very conservative, only removing 0.005 inch or less per pass. More passes are needed, but this allows one to carefully monitor and inspect the surface, to decide when 'enough' has been done. OR - we could be more aggressive and run enough passes that it would be thin enough to serve as a window sash.  One More Pass Do we need one more pass? Norm K, Ray S, and Jeff B inspecting the latest side surfaced.  On the Bench Both doors are complete through the Berlin Sander and back on the bench. Ray S is checking the panel smoothness (these are thinner and were not touched by the Berlin). The blue patches are thin layers of filler applied to correct some divots or defects which would essentially 'never' get sanded out. This is not an issue since these doors will be painted both sides.  Resting Easy Ray S resting easy now that the big hurdle is over, having come through the sander with a fine job, no damage, and the machine worked well.  Filling This particular filler is polyester glazing putty and the ME guys were not too familiar with its use. I demonstrated what little I know and was happy to back away after smoothing out the corner.  Smiles All Around Ray S and Jeff B satisfied with a good job well done! Thursday, March 25. 2010Wood Shop Update - March 24, 2010I am hoping for some images to come in shortly, to tell more of this story, but thought I would at least post a quick entry as I take a break from other work this AM.  Battens We had a sizable crew yesterday and proceeded to continue on the new battens for the depot project. By day's end we had sawn and planed 1100 (ELEVEN HUNDRED) more feet of blanks to be milled into battens. The stack of completed strips was piled high! We had the shop set up as a sort of factory production line and here you see Rich Witt, Victor Humphreys, Henry Vincent, and John Faulhaber processing the fourteen foot long pieces. I am behind the camera.  The Line Another view of Victor, Rich, Henry and John ready to go. Pete Galayda and I also pitched in for a crew of six. The extra hands made the work much faster and more productive. |
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Comments
Sun, 05-19-2013 22:13
Hello again. I had an idea that was (somewhat rudely, mid-sentence) dismissed in talking to a museum volunteer a few years back, but here it goes [...]
Thu, 05-16-2013 21:52
Looking good Bob! I hope to come out soon once I'm done with school.
Wed, 05-15-2013 21:28
I was not around at the time. General discussion suggests that it was "pretty marginal" in a number of areas. Nigel
Mon, 05-13-2013 11:08
"THUMBS UP!"
Fri, 05-10-2013 02:15
No, it will not be necessary to hold any of the work waiting for the plow to be turned, end for end. Weather will be the major factor, but there will [...]
Thu, 05-09-2013 19:54
The CGW X-38 plow is really coming to life. Bob Kutella and Vic and crew need to be very proud of your collective efforts. I am very appreciative of [...]
Thu, 05-09-2013 15:20
The snowplow looks great! Are you going to apply the door and upper windows befor it is turned to continue work?
Thu, 05-09-2013 09:09
Max, Is there any progress to report yet, in regards to the installation of the poles and overhead wires? Have a good day, sir.
Wed, 05-08-2013 18:40
Thanks for the update! I still don't understand why Commonwealth #5 was removed from service. Do you know why?
Tue, 05-07-2013 09:28
Mr. Kolanowski.....I was just wondering if the Spaulding webcam will be up and running soon for us stay-at-homes. Thanks!2FP
Mon, 05-06-2013 23:04
Max, Has work begun yet on the construction phase of erecting the poles and putting up the wire? Wish I could be there to watch it happen.
Mon, 05-06-2013 23:02
Keep up the good work, Bob. Wish I could be there to help!!!!!!!