Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Black Wings

We had a plan to try to avert punishment in the predicted mid nineties heat (I think it made it to 95 or 96).  Start early with the painting and assemble the crew to work through it efficiently and quickly.  The volunteers responded!  Dave Rogan, Jim Leonard, and Victor Humphreys are about an hour into the process and well along.

Tight Quarters

Dave and Jim are on the ground doing the brush work while Victor is on the scaffold doing the larger flat areas.

Cleaning

It was all elbows when Dick Cubbage joined us and he quickly set up to do more wire brushing on the side, to get more ready for primer, to get more ready for PAINT.

Hose Job

It was REALLY HOT but Jim Leonard continued on the project, here installing a new 250 psi rated air hose.  There are eight such flexible air connections to the cylinders which move the plow wings in and out.  They are all very old and hardened, and one had already cracked and broken.  As the wing is extended or retracted the entire actuating piston rotates slightly so the flex hose is an absolute need.  First one is done!

Cab Cupola

Buzz Morisette has been working to close up the cupola.  He has now completed that task using some of the original sash and some plywood boarding up.  This is somewhat of a necessary but temporary measure.  With some funding, the plan is to use the coming winter months (sounds funny saying that now) to purchase hardwood and fabricate eleven new windows and two new doors.

Jim Leonard had picked up his pipe wrenches and was heading home.  Good that the cupola is relatively more weatherproof but it did not make it any cooler working inside the plow body.