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Thursday, April 19. 2012Wood Shop Update - April 18, 2012 Work Plans We had a very good turnout today and the crew for Cleveland Transit System 4223 gathered around some MORE window tracks to be restored. Welcome back to Simon Harrison after a short leave for personal business, joined by Al Reinschmidt, Lorne Tweed and Jim Leonard. Jim is a new volunteer and we would like to welcome him to the crew.  Rustbuster Dave Rogan was on hand and has earned the nickname RUSTBUSTER as he went to work cleaning old paint and rust from interior sheet metal trim pieces for this PCC - CTS 4223. Lorne Tweed continued prep work in the back seat bench area in the interior, and some more cleaned window frames had clear finish applied.  Art Also a hearty welcome to Don Ingwersen, a Great Dane who Dave Rogan coaxed along to join us today. Don has jumped right in, preparing artwork for lettering on Boston & Maine 1094, one of our passenger cars being restored.  The End Not the end of the project, just a lot more progress by Tim Peters on the west end of Chicago Rapid Transit 1797. New steel panels are in, hardware and fittings hung, and touch up painting pictured here. Not a lot more pictures were taken by me, but Buzz Morisette and Victor Humphreys worked on passenger window repair, I resumed lettering work on our GN 70104 hopper, Frank Sirinek and Mike Alterio worked on Chicago & West Towns 141, I did a little more polishing of brass fittings for the interior of Sand Springs 68, a crew was working on body work for the NYCTA R-28 cars (outdoors on a VERY windy day), and the TM D 13 was out in the sun, no doubt getting attention from Gerry Dettloff and John Faulhaber. Wednesday, April 18. 2012Children's Playgound - April 17, 2012Here is an exciting report submitted by member and volunteer Ray Bellock -
You may have noticed the removal of sod and soil and deposit of a first installment of a sub-base on a large area on the north side of Barn 3. This is the site being prepared for a children’s play area using playscapes with a train theme on the largest piece that will be installed.  Right Side  Left Side This project is moving along with uncommon speed for us and will definitely be open for the majority of our summer schedule. Three separate pieces are being installed in this project. It is moving speedily as a major funding was made by one of our members, supplemented with funds and labor from Dave Diamond’s B & G Department, to get these three pieces. What is common for this project with others around the campus is the need for more funding to add one missing piece to a small child train set ($2900) and about $1000 for landscaping to create an attractive but effective barrier between the play area and the east leg of the wye. If you believe in this as a needed addition to our museum and would like to see it finished or replicated elsewhere on the grounds, your donations of any amount will be gratefully accepted. A separate restricted account has been established “Playground Project” and be assured that your donation will be used promptly towards these identified needs. Please note that the price of the missing piece will rise if we don’t commit to get it as part of the current order being shipped, so please consider helping soon. Monday, April 16. 2012Wood Shop Update - April 14, 2012I will continue on with this BLOG ENTRY under the Wood Shop banner, although, as in the past, there are many projects being worked on and you deserve to know about them.  Sign of Spring The old adage states that the sighting of the first robin is a sure sign of spring, here in the Midwest. At IRM it is the parade of electric cars visiting the pit area in Barn 4 for annual maintenance, lubrication, and inspections. Above we see CTA 4391 getting attention from Frank Sirinek and several others who helped in the tasks. This is a necessary but unsung ritual to maintain the cars and provide reliable transportation every year.  Get A Handle On it In previous posts you have seen a number of volunteers working to finish up surfaces and polish brass hardware for the Sand Springs 68. This marked the installation of the first seat handle, from an IRM pattern and rough foundry castings, and slowly finished over previous months. Victor Humphreys is snugging up the last screw.  The Line Up By the end of the day, Victor and I had installed half of them (nine) and here he is trying out one of them, on a stiff seat back.  Brown Paint Tim Peters applied the first coat of brown paint to Chicago Rapid Transit 1797 on Friday, and here has just finished sanding that down. The second coat went on after this photo.  Up for Grabs In the shop Tim has been preparing, cleaning, and painting the grab irons, soon to be installed by each side door.  Signage In keeping with the Rapid Transit string of photos, Bill Wulfert was working to restore a vintage UNION STATION sign rescued years ago from one of the L platforms.  Passenger Windows Victor Humphreys was removing old layers of paint and varnish from a Boston & Maine 1094 passenger car window. This and another one were in from the SPC department for repair and help as we were able.  At the Saw As fast as Victor handled paint removal, Buzz Morisette was making new wood parts for those items too far gone to salvage.  After Winter Our Great Northern 70104 hopper car rested outdoors over winter, and still looks good. We are working to complete all the lettering on this car.  Rear Bench Seat Lorne Tweed is working on our Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car. He has cleaned out the rear area of the interior and is prepping the sheet metal for paintwork, repairs as needed. Note the first interior trim panel installed to the left of the rear window.  Window Tracks Eric Lorenz is throwing the sparks as he fabricates a special drilling jig to be used for mounting the cleaned window track elements for CTS 4223.  A Side Job Joe Luciani and Jerry Saunders are working on restoration of our two NYCTA R-28 'redbird' cars. The sides do not look too bad, but many of the panels have a LOT of body filler and the car framing behind some of them is almost non-existent, having disappeared from rust and corrosion. Selected areas are being cut out, new steel ordered and on the way. Monday, April 16. 2012TMS Project Update - April 14, 2012This is an active and ongoing project with the goal of restoring two cars to operation - TM 972 and CNS&M 354.  Assembly Jeff Brady is assembling the many components of the truck. This is a complex and intricate process involving many pieces and requires a level of expertise I do not share. There are and have been many players in this project. The recent focus has been to rebuild this truck from the 972. As might be expected in a car which left service in 1958, and then may have been near the end of its useful life, we have uncovered many areas needing attention. These are never known for sure until the disassembly and inspection is well along the way. For example, the pedestal liners were missing in one case, or cracked and worn in bad repair. We managed to get new liners fabricated - cost $2000. Then we were on to the the pins and bushings used to connect the many moving parts in this truck, primarily but not exclusively associated with the braking system. I have reported extensively on that process and progress. Over one hundred specialty bushings were manufactured in our shop and heat treated. In the past we ordered these parts from outside vendors, but in today's world that would have been very costly to meet needed dimensions - none are 'standard' - and a delay of 3-4 months for delivery. By making them ourselves we were able to complete them in about nine weeks at a savings of several thousand dollars. Hardened pins are used in these bushings, and none of these were simple. All of those involved a lot of machining, heat treating, and were made in our shop. Again, savings in time and money. The bottom line is that over $8000 in unanticipated costs were added to make these upgrades and the rebuild. We will have a mechanically reliable and safe car to operate. So, we again thank you all for your support but must again ask for help to continue the work and move forward. The restricted fund is designated RTMS and donations can continue to be sent to Illinois Railway Museum Box 427 Union, IL 60180 We hope you can help on this and we all look forward to seeing this car roll down our line this year. Monday, April 16. 2012ATSF 1400 Wood Caboose - April 15, 2012Here is a short report from Buzz Morisette who has been steadily working on this car.  ATSF 1400 Our roster shows this wood caboose as being built by American Car and Foundry in 1923. It has several unique features and is well worth preservation. Note the rotating arm and signal disc which could be operated from the cupola.  New Flooring New flooring was being installed in the interior during summer 2011.  Old Windows The original or old windows are shown before removal in Spring 2012. I say original with lack of conviction since historical photographs show a different style and arrangement of the sash.  Mortise and Tenon Detail The new sash are constructed with exacting precision using traditional joinery featuring mortise and tenons.  New Windows Installed And the new windows are being installed now, Spring 2012. And the inevitable commercial message. A lot of this work, all of it really, is being funded by donations to the restricted fund for this car, R1400. And as a wood bodied car living outdoors, we greatly hope to raise funding to that same account which will allow us to subscribe to indoor storage space. Can you help?
Sunday, April 15. 2012Steam Department Update 4-14-2012A very productive day thanks to a good turnout. We did not move 1630 as Dennis was available to do welding on the mud ring for the firebox patch. Good progress was made on this. The metal has now been made good around all the rivet holes from the outside. Once the last of the holes is re-drilled accurately from the inside the metal can be made good on the inside. (One side must be done at a time so that there is always a pilot hole to ensure that the finished rivet holes are accurately aligned).
Now that the sand blasting and associated dust are finished several other jobs could be progressed. · Collin and Jeff C thoroughly needle chipped and wire brushed the back head so that is now ready for inspection and ultrasonic testing;
· Eric and Jason cleared and checked the tell tale hole in the stays on the engineer's side. This is a dirty and tedious but essential task as we must prove that these holes, which would leak water and provide an indication should the stay break, are all clear to the required depth;
· Matt finished removing the blasting medium from the firebox crown and Bob cleared it from the sides of the firebox so it is now clear in most areas; · We continued the detail measurement of the super heater flues and should soon be ready to start preparing the material for safe ending; · Jason and Eric moved on to cleaning up the inside of the tube sheet for final inspection and preparation to refit the tubes. The sheet must be closely examined for any cracking between the tube holes then the edges of each hole must be made good where necessary and smoothed to ensure a snug fit when we use the rollers to expand the new tubes into place.
We are now scheduling the long awaited ultrasound testing that will provide the basis for the critical form 4 calculations in support of the new certification. Work continued in a number of other areas progressed in previous weeks such as the planer and the boxes for 428. In addition, Rick and Ed cast the firebrick for the riveting furnace that we need to complete 428's cab. That is an important mid-term objective as refitting the cab to 428 would free up a very useful area of the shop for other fabrication work. Jeff worked on lubrication of the Brown Hoist crane in preparation to pull 1630 out. We will do this as soon as weather and other jobs, such as the welding and the ultrasound testing, permit. We also managed to largely clear the area between the shop approach and barn 9. B & G are planning to grade this once it is clear, reducing the risk of flooding and hopefully providing a more stable surface. This area is a long standing problem as parts of it are no more than fine sand or dust not far removed from quicksand. It proved its capability again yesterday when the forklift became bogged and we spent an hour extracting it!!.
Nigel Friday, April 13. 2012S. P. C.... Making Good Progress- April 14, 2012 Dover Lounge Before Shades Were Installed The Passenger Car Dept is progressing on a number of projects, albeit slowly. Jack Biesterfeld has returned from an interesting vacation and is again concentrating on the B&M 1094 wood cafe-diner. With the help of Mike and his crew they removed the non-historic sink and cabinets in the kitchen. Whew, was it ever a HEAVY cast-iron sink. It just made it out the door! Last week, Mike and Ray repaired the damage to the CNW 7700 combine, caused by a train crew. A new angle cock and air brake line were installed replacing the bent one. The new angle valve cost about $200. It took most of the day to repair the damage. Hopefully, the crew is more careful next time. Nancy Ring was out cleaning exterior and interior windows on the ATSF 2544. Boy, did they need it! Bob Opal and crew were cleaning some of our service coaches. More exterior windows were cleaned! Mark Hoffman was prepping more wall area in the Lack car for future priming. He also needlechipped a wall area in the JOHN MCLOUGHLIN women's bathroom. Roger also primed a small area on the roof and installed 2 painted metal strips for the diaphragm. Bob Hunter again was working on the Dover in stalling shades. Phil was also working on the Dover towards the future conversion of the electric system from historic DC to common AC. Earlier in the day, Shelly and Phil cleaned the Ely then in turn cleaned, repaired and installed new bulbs in all 3 drumhead signs at the west end of barn 3. Their lighting really creates an atmosphere. The coach dept is looking for another drumhead. Would anyone like to donate one? We need one for display. It looks like you're walking into the train shed at Union Station in 1943! Lastly, Mark Gellman and crew were working on the display cars over in yard 5. Nice work Mark! More Progress to come in the following weeks. LAKE CITY is really coming! In May? Yes, I hope. Please.....send your donations for this rare beauty!! Thanks for reading. Roger Kramer |
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Comments
Thu, 05-16-2013 21:52
Looking good Bob! I hope to come out soon once I'm done with school.
Wed, 05-15-2013 21:28
I was not around at the time. General discussion suggests that it was "pretty marginal" in a number of areas. Nigel
Mon, 05-13-2013 11:08
"THUMBS UP!"
Fri, 05-10-2013 02:15
No, it will not be necessary to hold any of the work waiting for the plow to be turned, end for end. Weather will be the major factor, but there will [...]
Thu, 05-09-2013 19:54
The CGW X-38 plow is really coming to life. Bob Kutella and Vic and crew need to be very proud of your collective efforts. I am very appreciative of [...]
Thu, 05-09-2013 15:20
The snowplow looks great! Are you going to apply the door and upper windows befor it is turned to continue work?
Thu, 05-09-2013 09:09
Max, Is there any progress to report yet, in regards to the installation of the poles and overhead wires? Have a good day, sir.
Wed, 05-08-2013 18:40
Thanks for the update! I still don't understand why Commonwealth #5 was removed from service. Do you know why?
Tue, 05-07-2013 09:28
Mr. Kolanowski.....I was just wondering if the Spaulding webcam will be up and running soon for us stay-at-homes. Thanks!2FP
Mon, 05-06-2013 23:04
Max, Has work begun yet on the construction phase of erecting the poles and putting up the wire? Wish I could be there to watch it happen.
Mon, 05-06-2013 23:02
Keep up the good work, Bob. Wish I could be there to help!!!!!!!
Sun, 05-05-2013 18:53
Ah yes, I have made such Jibs myself. If it were me, I would add in each corner an angled piece from the base to the Jib to act as sway bracing. [...]