Illinois Railway Museum Blog

I should probably not have gone out to the Wood Shop yesterday considering physical condition, but I wanted to clean up year end paperwork and bills.  While out there, here is some of the work I saw being done.

Public Service

Buzz Morisette pitched in with some public service work, doing repairs on the vintage large bandsaw work light.  It is a rare item from FOSTORIA Lamp Company and the switch and socket finally gave up the ghost.  Buzz proceeded with a creative solution modifying currently available parts to get it back in working order.

1094 Windows

Work was completed on two new large window frames for the B&M 1094.  They will be turned over to the project people on that for finishing, glazing, and installing.

Villa Falls

Roger Kramer was out with some parts for two new windows the the VILLA FALLS.  By end of day we had laid out and plunged eight new mortises on the stiles.

Thanks again to all who worked so hard to make 2010 a success and a very productive year in the wood shop.  So long for a while.

Very Dashing

Time Peters was fabricating new steel plates for the dash panels on the ends of the CRT 1797.  The old panels were painted to show the potential of the car this summer (left) and now is the time to install new steel and finish the job.

Windows

The next batch of eight new windows needed for the CRT 1797 are complete, ready for glazing.  Tim is examining the painted and finished frames as part of our continuing quality control program.

More Windows

Rich Witt is finishing up new recesses for the window lifts on two new frames for the B&M 1094, while Roger Kramer examines a clever jig we made to quickly and accurately lay out the pockets.

Parts

Roger continued to clean up and paint parts for the IC 3996 windows and some items destined for the Dover Strait.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE I find that continuing physical and health issues will be preventing me from participating in the shop and restoration work at the level I have been accustomed to.  So, thank you all for the fine comments and encouragement that the BLOG entries have generated.  But you may not see so many and of such length as time goes on.

This year saw the Wood Shop continue to expand in capabilities and in the tremendous amount of work produced for our restorations.  That does not happen due to my efforts, but to the large participation of our many volunteers at all levels.  Thank you one and all and best wishes for a safe and productive, satisfying 2011.

                          HAPPY  NEW  YEAR  !

It has become an annual tradition in the Wood Shop, that there is a pot luck Christmas Party held each year.  It is a great opportunity to recognize and thank all the volunteers for their hard work, and a way to meet folks you might not see every day.  Here, thanks to some images from Rich Witt, is a peek at what you might have missed.

Ready, Set, GO

The food and fixings were set out with care.

The Line Up

The food line opened quickly and we see Gerry Dettloff, Henry Vincent, and Bill Greenhill moving methodically and making their best selections.

An Elegant Table

One of our workbenches serves as a table to allow efficient consumption of the goodies, shoveling it down the hatch.

Santa

Santa, Pete Galayda, did most of the 'heavy liftng' organizing the get together this year.  John Nelligan, on the right, just congratulated him on a job well done.

Whew

With full tummies the major activity shifted to recounting the year events and perhaps telling a few stories.  John Wosniak, Gene Mackowiak, Buzz Morisette, ?, and Victor Humphreys are busy solving all the problems.

Due to some physical problems I missed the event this year, but I would like to thank all those that did work in the Wood Shop, the Freight Department, the Electric Car Department (the list goes on) in 2010, and to wish you all a

  MERRY  CHRISTMAS !!

Fitting

A fitting end - OR - the beginning of the fitting.  Rich Witt was fitting together the mortise and tenon joints for two new windows for B&M 1094.  Seems simple enough when sliding the finished parts together, but somewhat more complex in the flesh when trying to get a good tight joint for a strong frame.

The Result

And at the end of the day the two new frames were assembled, glued, and in the press.  Rich Witt and Victor Humphreys have just checked  for squareness and Rich is cleaning up any glue that has squeezed out of the joints before it sets up.  These wide (over 50 inches) 'picture window' frames stretch the limits of our gluing press, but as you can see they were fitted into the press, just barely.

Painting and Glazing

Buzz Morisette has the next three windows on the bench, these for the MILW 01984 caboose.

Saddles

Victor Humphreys took advantage of some open time in his schedule to continue finish sanding the contours and curves on new roof saddles for CA&E 451.  I managed to rough out some more blanks on the big Wright bandsaw.

Windows

Always more windows.  Roger Kramer had some more of the rotted windows in the shop from the IC 3996 heavyweight diner.  There have been some comments about what the issue was if the car is finally inside a barn.  Here is the evidence that replacements are needed, and they need to be made new.  These parts have rotted to the pont where they cannot be salvaged and reassembled, and this is one of the GOOD ones!  Roger brought in some wood he has been accumulating and we will see what can be done with this.  We hope to start making sawdust on this project soon.

Pete Galayda and Jerry Dettloff went out to the South End to get some more lumber for the Charles City Western 300 decking, and Pete was cutting and fitting the first of many pieces.  George Clark continued on the Lake Shore Electric 810, and new steel was delivered for repairs on our B&O wagon top boxcar.  Of course that will have to wait for better weather next year.

We also visited with Bill Greenhill who is making steady progress toward the painting of Cleveland Transit System 4223, a PCC car now in Barn 2 for the painting process.