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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
Tue, 04-15-2014 16:44
Yep. IF there were ever to be incentive or funding to put one of the larger items of the steam collection into operation, my personal favorite would [...]
Tue, 04-15-2014 15:20
yes, i remember one of the guys in the steam shop telling me that the size of 1630's wheels make it difficult to navigate the modern railway. but if [...]
Tue, 04-15-2014 10:50
John, We are not intending to repaint the tender end and sides. No #1630 does not carry cab signaling. (She left Frisco service long before it [...]
Tue, 04-15-2014 10:43
Jeron, I do not think this is something we would seriously consider. The IC car is already part of the collection. It did run on passenger trains [...]
Mon, 04-14-2014 20:42
I don't see any stripping on the tender..will that be repainted too? Also, I'm not sure how relevant this is to the discussion, but does 1630 have [...]
Thu, 04-10-2014 01:58
Nigel, I know the auxiliary water tender for Frisco 1522 was for sale a year or two ago. I don't remember if it was sold, or is still for sale. I [...]
Wed, 04-09-2014 22:32
Yes. We are looking at what it would take to rig it like the existing one to use as a water back up for #1630. It currently lacks the [...]
Wed, 04-09-2014 10:34
It is interesting to see both the milk cars together. I had been wondering if the steam department would use the IC car. The Railway Express reefer [...]
Sun, 04-06-2014 17:53
Perhaps because it would be months of work to lift the tender from the trucks and then ship the trucks to a facility with a bath big enough to do [...]
Sun, 04-06-2014 17:51
Not to my knowledge
Sun, 04-06-2014 15:24
Would the passenger car department be interested in some donated "Pullmman Style" wool blankets and/or travel type pillows for display purposes in the [...]
Mon, 03-31-2014 08:40
I've heard rumors that the museum is trying to get another GTW 0-8-0. Is this true?