Illinois Railway Museum Blog

I am going to lump all the projects together under the Wood Shop entry today, to recognize the diversity of our efforts, but mainly because the computer has been stubborn and I do not want to risk more operations than the minimum.

Fitting Up

Victor Humphreys is helping fit together the first four of the complicated parts for the new station door. This door will be heavy and hopefully stand the test of time.

Bottom Rail

Victor and John Faulhaber are getting ready to try placing the bottom rail in the door.  That will allow exact measurements for the two mid panel stiles, as the door will represent a four panel door suitable for the period restoration.

Upholstery Shop

John McKelvey is back north from his 'winter quarters' and has turned to re-upholstering the many seats in Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee 757.

A Lofty Task

Henry Vincent is constructing an opening and doorway to access the loft area above the existing wood shop ceiling.  Did he just bend that last nail?

CRT 1797

Tim Peters has now installed the large end timbers on the CRT 1797, added the anticlimber, and is installing some steel end plates.

In Control

John Nelligan is buried in wiring inside the cab of Charles City Western 300.  This is not a great photo, but the best I could do in cramped conditions, shooting through the doorway.  The controller fingers have a set of 18 wires going to a terminal board, and this is only on the No.1 end!

Mr Socks

To end on a lighter note, I went out the shop door to find our unofficial mascot and mousetrap for Barn 4, curled up nicely on the hood of a handy vehicle.  Before I could get too close, he roused himself and was preparing to make a run for it!

Here is another look at projects that are ongoing, but are seldom seen or reported upon, and with detail views, rare in themselves.  We are indebted to Steve Iverson for these, and he has been working on this car as reported in recent BLOG ENTRIES here.

Kansas City Public Service 755 is a single ended PCC car, all electric, built by St Louis Car Company in 1946, and seats 51.  It arrived at IRM in 1986 via SEPTA as number 2267.  The car is stored inside our barns and lighting for images can be most charitably put as 'challenging'.  But any picture is better than none, so here goes.

KCPS 755

The car as it sits now in all its glory as Frank Sirinek contemplates the next task.  Frank Hicks worked on this car to redecorate it in KC colors and graphics, even if only a cosmetic paint job.  Looks good, especially in light of what the car looked like in peeling Septa and grafiti.

Interior

With work lights providing the only illumination this is the interior, looking to the rear of the car.

Interior

And also the interior looking toward the front of the car.  You will easily see the TWO and ONE seating plan in the front half of the car, something foreign to us Chicagoans.  Of course the Chicago PCC cars were the widest of those models made, if I am not mistaken.

Cab

The operator's position, of course, in the left hand front corner.

Roof Work

Mike Stauber is on the roof, which was the object of the recent work blitz.

Roof Forward

Looking forward you will see the roof vent restored and installed, and nearer to us, the trolley pole shrouds.  Little of this did not receive attention.  Frank is on the ladder and seems to be looking down toward his next step.

Roof Rear

Looking back over the business end of the roof, there are the shrouds, trolley pole, hook, essentially everything completed in this area.

As with most projects at IRM there are small groups of dedicated volunteers working to bring the equipment back to life.  This car has been emptied of stored materials, the exterior repainted, and a LOT of work done to replace the all but opaque windows and get them working.  The work is getting to the stage where more funds will be needed, so here again, please consider a donation to fund R755.