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Sunday, April 29. 2012Permanent CollectionIt has been a long standing tradition that pieces of equipment at IRM have been placed on what is called the Permanent Collection List. I cannot for sure tell you what it means specifically. Having the membership vote to place something on that list also means only a vote of the membership can remove something from that list. Presumably (by me) that means a piece of equipment is regarded for long term preservation at IRM.  Dave Diamond Photo Over FOUR DECADES ago we acquired a wood bodied gondola, Chicago & Western Indiana 1185 (circa 1913), which is unique to our collection and has an interesting historical story to tell. It is the ONLY freight car on or published roster to have been built by Haskell & Barker. However no member support was forthcoming and only $300 of donations in total over 41 years. Mother nature has taken its toll on this car and at this year's membership meeting the consensus was that this car is not listed as part of our PERMANENT COLLECTION. This is a hard decision to make but clearly this is beyond our resources to save any longer. I do not think it can be RESTORED at any cost, but a REPLICA could be built using some of the parts at an estimated cost of $60,000. As it sits it is a hazard and there is some question it will hold together enough to be moved on its own wheels. So do not be surprised if this car 'goes away' soon. This state did not happen in the last two years or five years, or ten, so do not ask me why I did nothing about it. I suppose many will read this as an obituary and in a way it is. We celebrate our victories and mourn our fallen comrades. There continue to exist many wood bodied freight and passenger cars sitting outdoors year around in various states of repair or disrepair. What can we do to assure this does not happen to more of our collection? If we do not have the labor or funds to work on them immediately, the simple answer is that we MUST raise funding to place them inside the next Barn Building to be built. Placing them under roof will serve in effect to arrest over 95% of any continuing deterioration and buy time until the 'next generation' may devote time and energy to them. Please donate to INDOOR STORAGE SPACE for either of the above departments or to the restricted fund for any individual favorite car.
Sunday, April 29. 2012Model Railroad Public Display - April 28 , 2012The project has seen considerable work being done more or less behind the scenes. To give a short summary of the progress, below is an approved concept sketch of what the front of the building might look like.  Facade We have settled on a site, three lots, on our Main Street alignment, and developed a pretty good description of the building specifications. It is envisioned as a steel framed permanent structure with clear span of 50 x 70 feet. Those specifications have been sent to many possible contractor bidders and prices have been coming in. There is the building of course, but also the other things that go along with new construction. That includes, site preparation, electrical, concrete work, mechanical and heating, specialty windows and framing, the masonry work, storm water remediation, insulation, finish site work and grading, etc.  Interior We have also developed a very preliminary Space Use Plan for the interior space. I stress that this is preliminary and many good ideas are on the table. But of course, the next step is to get the building. It looks this will run between $125K and $150K so donations are urgently needed to accumulate funding. We will not go for a building permit and place orders until we know we have enough on hand to pay for that. As a reminder, donations may be specified to restricted fund RMRD. Sunday, April 29. 2012Steam Department Update 4-28-2012A rather brief update this week, not because of lack of progress but because I spent most of the day in the rules and safety sessions so was not directly involved in the work in the shop. While this was a day away from the shop for a number of us it is essential that we have a team able to control movement of equipment and these sessions are critical to ensure that this is done safely. Work progressed steadily on 1630: · Collin, Eric and Jason made good progress on cleaning and preparing the tube sheets. Both front and back tube sheets have now been extensively cleaned and checked. The good news is that no signs of cracking have been found. Work is progressing on smoothing and preparing the holes to take the new tubes. This will take several weeks to complete but good progress was made today. · Dennis, Bob and Mike continued building up of the mud ring ready to for fitting of the corner patch. Over the next couple of weekends this will move out of sight as the section inside the firebox is built up and the rivet holes on that face are rebuilt. · Plans are in place to do the thickness testing next Saturday. This weekend we were marking out the points at which measurements will be taken. Each section of the boiler plate work must be measured to assess its minimum thickness which then forms the basis of the calculation for the form 4. Clearly each part of the boiler is only as strong as its weakest point so the calculation is based upon the thinnest point found in each section. Measurement points are identified in a random pattern across each plate with a focus on the areas likely to be weakest such as the belly. Here the guys are cleaning off and marking measurement points ready for next weekend.
Nigel Friday, April 27. 2012CNW or CGW 285 Which is it? Work continues Bondo Bill  Bare metal  Joe wirewheeling  Cleaning trucks  caulking windows  Rusty vestibule Thursday, April 26. 2012Wood Shop Update - April 25, 2012 Rapid Transit Restoration To change the order of things a bit, I thought you would all like to see the west end of Chicago Rapid Transit 1797. Tim Peters has been working on this end and now it appears to be complete, shiny paint, all the extras installed and in place.  East End And here Tim is being helped by Victor Humphreys as new end panels are getting installed. Sharp eyed viewers here may notice that this car was moved to a new spot over the weekend, and is now on Track 42. Tim is rapidly approaching the point where the majority of this car exterior is done, from the roof down to the bottom of the car sides. Do not worry, Tim is not one to take a rest and most of the car interior still needs attention.  More Herald The Great Northern 70104 hopper also shifted its spot. Victor set up a relocated scaffold and I managed to transfer the remaining artwork to the car side and started on the white lettering. You will note the guide lines for adjoining letters and border. Why am I so slow?  Art Work Bill Leider is restoring lettering on an early photo mural showing Pennsylvania Railroad steam. The item was damaged and if you read these entries regularly, Henry Vincent has constructed a frame and mounting backer. Bill is a talented graphic artist and he is painstakingly touching up damaged areas.  Windows What would shop work be without WINDOWS? Early in the morning we reassembled and glued up one of the clerestory windows from the Sand Springs 68, and Victor here is sanding a repaired window sash for Boston & Maine 1094.  Beading Whenever new sash are made, and in many cases when sound sash have to be reglazed, the small 'beading' must be recreated. You simply cannot go anywhere and purchase the correct cross section and in matching specie of wood. Victor and I fabricated something over 100 feet of this small mahogany molding for some of our Pullman car windows. In this case it resembles a quarter round with 5/16 inch radius but is cut assymetrical with two differing straight sides.  Rear Bench Seat The worker bees for Cleveland Transit 4223 were not idly watching the other work, although many of them continued to receive the safety review and training. But Lorne Tweed has cleaned, primed, and painted the sheet metal box for the rear seat in this PCC. Sunday, April 22. 2012Steam Department Update 4-21-2012A successful day at the steam shop. We now expect the ultrasonic testing to be done weekend of May 5th so yesterday was an opportunity to progress other activities in preparation. 1630 saw the light of day for the first time in nearly a year when we pulled her out to remove the throttle valve and allow cleaning of both the locomotive and the shop area where she has been sitting.
Eric and his father made good progress in testing the tell tale holes in the firebox stays. The engineer's side is now largely complete. By midday Jeff had the BrownHoist de-winterized and running and we were ready to shunt 1630 out of the shop.
Once outside we worked on the removal of the throttle body, which will be lapped to ensure a good seal when reassembled. This is an awkward piece that sits in the dome.
However, with some help removing cotter pins from inside the boiler, it was removed and taken to the shop. It has apparently been removed and refitted in the past with all the tubes in place. I have a lot of respect for the guys who achieved that !!.
It was good to see 1630 in steam again !!.
Seriously though, it was an opportunity to do some steam cleaning and the locomotive now looks a good deal better and easier to inspect.
The opportunity was also taken to clear the area around and under the locomotive, that had accumulated the most amazing collection of insulation debris and other muck as well as odd items that had fallen while working.
By end of day she was back in the shop and ready for ultrasonic testing. In other areas, Paul and the lads made good progress on needle chipping and wire brushing the Shay truck. Glenn over came a problem, that has developed in recent weeks, of the fork lift battery failing to hold a charge. Far from the suspected defective battery he found that a loose terminal and blown fuse in the line from the alternator meant the battery had not been connected to the charging system at all for the last few weeks!!. Next weekend will probably be quiet as many of us need to attend the rules exam. Nigel Sunday, April 22. 2012Wood Shop Update - April 21, 2012This will be another shorter report. It seems my hands were full and no opportunity to take more pics. The benefit is that I can get this posted sooner.  Another Window We started the day working on one of the last two windows that has yet to see any attention for the Sand Springs 68. Victor Humphreys is test fitting the pieces for this long narrow sash for the clerestory.  ROCKY I moved on to giving some lettering attention to our recently painted hopper, Great Northern 70104. The railroad herald is fairly elaborate, at least for me to paint by hand. We applied the black circle last Wednesday for the center of the logo. Here, I am positioning a mylar pattern for the artwork, while comparing it to an official GN company drawing of the herald. "ROCKY" is the accepted name for the goat which became in effect a mascot for the GN.  Half a Goat I took a break to climb back down from the scaffold, and snapped this image of the goat in progress. It is all on now, but will need another coat of white.  By the Numbers Tim Peters was creating new numbered glass sash for Chicago Rapid Transit 1797. The glass has been etched by sandblasting on the interior surface and placed into the new sash. Then, computer generated artwork masks are placed on the inside. Here, Tim is applying several coats of black paint to the inside. When complete, the numeral masks are peeled off to reveal whitish numbers from the frosted glass in a black field, when viewed form the exterior of the car.  The Hole Job Lorne Tweed was clearing the old threaded holes to mount more interior panels and trim on Cleveland Transit System 4223, and running a tap through them as needed. Eric Lorenz was installing sets of window tracks on the north side of the car and he has exhumed four pedestals from storage. These will be restored, then mounted to the roof inside the cowl area to hold the trolley pole base. And, as usual, a whole lot of other work. Victor Humphreys cut some wood lining to be reinstalled in our B&O boxcar, and several of the 'boys' participated in safety and rule review meetings for the operators. |
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Comments
Sun, 07-27-2014 23:15
In looking at the general exterior condition of the Dynamometer Car you would think that it was a total wreck. It is wonderful that it is operational [...]
Fri, 07-25-2014 20:14
I had a blast riding in X-5000 on Sunday during Diesel Days. Brian was great to talk to. It was cool seeing the comntrol board work. I can't wait for [...]
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 21:38
Hello Richard In reply to your question concerning RI 2702. The museum is studying the acquisition but no decision has been yet made.
Thu, 07-24-2014 21:29
Hello Chris The 2702 is under study by those interested at Irm. Unfortunately, the possible acquisition boils down to $. First ,who will support [...]
Thu, 07-24-2014 13:01
Hello, is there anyone that I can contact in the Diesel Department about volunteering? I am studying mechanical engineering and I would love to get [...]
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 [...]