Illinois Railway Museum Blog

A Frame Up

Simon Harrison is working on one of the two new frames for our VILLA FALLS passenger car.  There was a minor setback last Saturday, but that has been corrected.  He and Rich Witt are working on a new jig to plow out recesses for the window lifts.

Layout Work

Victor Humphreys made a full scale layout of the footprint of our LARGE American table saw.  After taking as many measurements as we could a scale drawing had been created to design a new steel frame for the saw.  With the cardboard template on the floor, we removed the temporary wood cribs under the saw, and set it down to compare the actual footprint of the saw to the drawing.  This most closely resembled a scene from a Hollywood movie with a cast of thousands (or at least seven guys), steel bars, wood blocking.

Turns out it was good thing we went to the effort of this extra step before ordering the steel, as 'somebody'  (ME) had slipped up on one critical dimension.  So now we can be sure that what will be built will actually fit and support the saw.

John Nelligan took several images of the above process and I will simply add them here for your enjoyment.

Higher

Lower

My Best Side

Move Left

Lift

Hmmm

Pocket Warmer

Watch Your Fingers

And now back to the rest of this entry - - - -

The Electrical Detective

John Nelligan was back on the case - working on wiring for the Charles City Western 300 steeple cab locomotive.  A lot of complex functions on the drawing, then trying to identify those with the wiring in the field, and then puzzling out modifications made over the years.  The right man is on the job!

Tenons

Two of our other stalwarts, Lorne Tweed and John Faulhaber, are making the first series of cuts for the tenons on 22 top and bottom window rails.  These products are destined for the IC 3996 diner.