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Sunday, October 31. 2010Wood Shop and Other News - October 30, 2010I sent a lot of time on my back under the Sand Springs 68, continuing to repair and trace wiring with Victor Humphreys, so there was not a lot of opportunity to take pictures from there.  Visitor During the work, a friendly and personable visitor stopped to talk. Paul Parks actually knew something about the car and its history in Oklahoma. And he stayed on to assist in some of the work, cutting tape, handing tools, and aiming a very large flashlight. Above, he awaits the interior lighting as Victor raises the trolley pole.  Sanding Tim Peters worked away on the CRT 1797 wooden L car, in the shop, sanding on some window panels from the sliding side doors.  Side Doors And Eric Lorenz was on hand, continuing to work on the side doors of CTS 4223. This week it was to install the trailing black rubber nosing on the four door leafs. Thursday, October 28. 2010Wood Shop and Other News - October 26, 2010First, there was a surprise visit by Kirk Warner who was passing through town. Very good to see him, hope he can get back to help us soon.  New Trim John Faulhaber is cutting some stock for new trim for a passenger car, B&M 1094. This is a new request and the crew got right on it.  How to Do It Rich Witt made good drawings of the cross sections and pored over catalogs to try to find cutters that would produce the profile. They are on order by now.  Feel the Pane Randall Hicks continues to plow ahead on the tiresome job of sanding old finish off of CA&E windows and it must seem to be a never ending process. Other items of interest, is that Victor Humphreys again helped on the Sand Springs 68, painting reflectors for the front and rear running lights, and helping Henry Vincent and I on more wiring work. We have completed the car lighting segment and are now puzzling over a very difficult schematic for the passenger signal bells. Most cars at IRM have those disabled so as not to drive motormen stark raving mad once young passengers discover their function. Victor also began the first work on our wagon top boxcar, B&O 374065. The Wednesday Special Projects Group continued to make good progress on the CB&Q 993 baggage car; and began new work on the NP 230 baggage car. Won't that look sharp in the two tone green used on the North Coast Limited? Monday, October 25. 2010A small Olympus speedbumpwell, mike got down and inspected the car this past weekend, and he saw the same stuff i saw, with one distinct difference. since his inspection was focused more on mechanical that mine, he noticed that the trucks did not have any pedestal liners in them... OOOOPS! seems no one had noticed that yet so now we face one of two choices, with decisions to come soon. One we move the car on a flat car, and fix it here, This will add crane costs on both ends and the time and effort to install the pedestal liners once on property, a looong term issue since it would require jackng the entire car up again to install them Two we have the repairs made at St Louis, which will add to the cost of repair for transport, but would make the car "roadworthy" and faster for turnaround at IRM. The preliminary cost extimate is in the $4-5000 range for all eight wheels The cost differential between the two possible solutions is the issue, and the Executive Director is investigating that answer. i prefer to have the work done and over with, so we can begin to make the display and other preparations on the car as soon as it gets here. Mike agrees but we both await the answers regarding cost. So the end result, is that your donations, both past and future, will be put to extremely good use. It is also nice to report that the Olympus now has a donation site on the IRM website, for those of you that are inclined to help us. Thanks again for all the support thus far, and we hope to have an answer soon.
Monday, October 25. 2010Wood Shop and Other News - October 24, 2010 Painting Jim Windmeier was back on the job yesterday, sanding, priming, and doing other finish work on his project to produce replica stepboxes. This is really high class workmanship.  More Nosing Eric Lorenz was out another day, and was continuing to prepare and trim new rubber nosing for the new doors on CTS 4223, our Cleveland PCC car.  Nice Job Later in the day, Eric had applied that new nosing to the four rear doors on the car. It really makes a visual difference and prepares another area of the car to receive more finished paint.  Repairs Part of the Museum work is to maintain and repair any and all of the cars in our operating fleet. Dan Mulvihill was working on electrical contacts and arc shoots (used to contain and direct arcs created when the contacts open or close). This was on the Illinois Terminal 415, one of our most used trolleys, and which sorely needs a rest for more in depth renewal. In the previous BLOG entry by James Kolanowski he managed to get and post an image of the CNS&M 354. The car was a city car which saw service in the Waukegan area, and some duty on city streets in Milwaukee. I would guess it has been 15 years or more since seeing operation at IRM. A substantial restoration was completed by Jeff Brady decades ago, but the purpose here was to get the car running again, to evaluate any defects or problems, and to thoroughly inspect the car. There are some issues, and some will require some money to correct, but this is a very imporrtant first step to hopefully add another car to the regular operating fleet. Sunday, October 24. 2010Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway Company 354
The C&ME 354 operated today on the carline for some testing. Here we see 354 on track 41 west after changing ends. I think this is the first time I've seen this car operate at IRM, although it has been used some time in the past.
Sunday, October 24. 2010Wood Shop and Other News - October 23, 2010 Careful Fitting Tim Peters is fitting some replacement wood blocks and pieces to CRT 1797. This is a powered wood L car from Chicago that is occupying most of Tim's time.  Nosing Around Eric Lorenz is trimming some new rubber nosing sections that are destined for the new doors on CTS 4223.  Chapter Two Again, Victor Humphreys pitched in to help me along with the electrical work on the Sand Springs 68. Faithful readers of these entries will remember last Wednesday that we got the first of the interior lighting circuits operational for the first time in 55 years. By noon Saturday, the second circuit worked and is shown here from the car exterior, brightly lit.  WOW In the afternoon, we tackled the third and final circuit. It needed a little fiddling, but in the end all the lighting now works on 600 volts DC feed, as god has intended it. Joel Arendt came into the car to check on our work.  Rats Nest Those that have ridden the 68 since it first ran five years ago, may recall seeing a collection of temporary wires and jumpers running in the car. Their purpose was to feed ordinary 120 volt AC into some of the lighting circuits, with them isolated from the rest of the car, and thus they could be plugged in when the car was stationary to provide working lights. All of that is now a thing of the past, the car interior much more orderly. This image shows SOME of the old and temporary wiring that has been removed. Thursday, October 21. 2010Wood Shop and Other News - October 20, 2010 West Hood Charles City Western 300 - this is the newly painted west hood area. In the past you saw a similarly restored west hood, but the locomotive has been turned. The body area is now nearly repainted, look closely and you will see Pete Galayda laboring away.  Roof Parts John Faulhaber and Rich Witt are measuring carefully to produce new interior roof and framing parts for the Milwaukee Electric D 13 dump motor. Five new pieces were produced, and of course none of these could be made from anything close in a lumber dealer today.  Electric Supplies Henry Vincent was sorting and inventorying lots of electrical and conduit parts recently acquired in brand new condition as a donation. Maybe next time we will not have to look for the ONE PART needed.  Steel Side Sill Now for a quick look at the Lake Shore Electric 810 traction trailer. The new steel side sill has been coaxed into position with jacks and some muscle. Gerry Dettloff and George Clark are examining the fit and placement before welding begins.  Sparks Fly Gerry has begun the welding process for the new side sill. Exciting stuff to watch. It was in place and cleaned up by the end of the day. Next steps - fit and place a new wood filler side sill, tie rods, and bolts.  Let There Be Light We talked briefly in previous entries about wiring for the lighting circuits on the Sand Springs 68. Another full day on our backs under the car, with Victor Humphreys back from his vacation helping a LOT! Sometime after 3 PM we put up the pole and one of the lighting circuits worked perfectly - the first time since 1955 that trolley voltage coursed through the wires. There are two more circuits to complete, but here, Henry Vincent and Victor Humphreys examine the end running light, one of the lights in series with interior ceiling lights. All are glowing warmly.  Ten Years Ago Ten years ago there was little use of digital cameras, and no BLOG such as this. But Gerry Dettloff passed on a print of what we doing then. In this image I am carefully hand painting lettering on our GATX Industrial Molasses tank car. And yes, younger and healthier, I spray painted the car also. Those were the days. |
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Comments
Fri, 07-25-2014 16:47
Shane, Clean rain water is certainly possible. The snag is that you would need a BIG collection and storage system. We are using around 8000 [...]
Fri, 07-25-2014 16:42
John, Yes. Sadly the tender is in poor shape. She should go under cover as part of the new barn project. There will be much discussion around [...]
Thu, 07-24-2014 00:01
I will commit something to 2702 if I see a specific fund for it. Supposedly the owners made an effort to keep it original, other than removing seats. [...]
Wed, 07-23-2014 19:54
Hi Nigel, I have some suggestions to enhance the experience of steam railroading for museum visitors: 1) In September 2002, I visited on the [...]
Wed, 07-23-2014 00:17
while watching the Diesel Days parade, i noticed a detail on UP 1848 that stood out to me. it was its cab number, i could tell it had a previous [...]
Mon, 07-21-2014 17:48
The hydraulic drawbar on X-5000 works. Its operation was determined Saturday evening and successfully used all day Sunday. The car measured up to a [...]
Sun, 07-20-2014 13:56
2702 would definitely be a project of a massive effort. It has some sort of giant roadside casino sign installed on it. The interior is completely [...]
Sat, 07-19-2014 21:02
Great show today; 100% improved from last year. Ran at a faster pace which kept it interesting. Also, the brief synopsis of each loco made it very [...]
Sat, 07-19-2014 19:39
Missed the push me pull you this year. If you guys do a high noch engine pulling dynamic breaking load the X-5000 should go in the middle. Chuck said [...]
Sat, 07-19-2014 16:42
Roger, Is IRM going to pursue acquisition of RI commuter coach 2702 -- the one for sale for $11,000? It's an important link in the development of [...]
Sat, 07-19-2014 14:59
Nigel, thanks for all your continued work on the blogs! I'm a member living in NJ so it's always good to hear what's going on back home. Anyways, [...]
Sat, 07-19-2014 12:19
Nigel is there any possibility of using rainwater in the boiler to lessen the amount of treatment that needs to be done to it?