Illinois Railway Museum Blog

I suppose ti is thoroughly off topic to begin a wood shop report this way, but yesterday IRM was going HOLLYWOOD.  There had to be over 20 semis and trucks parked everywhere, tents set up, and I am sure over 100 carpenters, technicians and players on site shooting scenes for an upcoming production.

New Station

Is seems there is a new station platform and canopy just north of the main line.  It is early in the morning of the shooting day and paint is still being applied.  "Don't lean against that post."

Actors Ready

The famous actor I am referring to is our own Nebraska Zephyr train, of course.  Just a bit after 9 AM and the trainset is already just west of the station waiting for the director to give instructions.  From reports I heard the activity lasted all day, way past the time I had to leave, and there was additional filming inside our C&NW bilevels.

The Jig

Back to reality.  Here is a very clever piece of engineering!  It is a custom designed fixture to take rough castings (of resistance grids for our trolleys) and face and surface the two bosses on both sides.  I have done well over 100, maybe 200, the old fashioned way and trust me, I wish this was there when my task was active.  And yes the design and construction lies entirely within the IRM Electric Car Department leadership.

Windows

Paul Cronin and Rich Witt are doing the final adjustments to fit the mortise and tenon joints for the two new round top windows we are making for Boston & Maine 1094.

Done

And then the special two part adhesive was mixed and slathered over all the joints for both windows.  It takes a lot of hands to do this quickly.  Paul Cronin, Victor Humphreys, and Rich Witt seem to have things under control, both windows squared up and in the press for the glue to cure.

Wired

A lot was accomplished on Cleveland Transit System 4223.  Eric Lorenz laid out some of the needed new wiring and is making a sort of harness arrangement.  He bundles the wire runs and inserts them into cable loom.  These are then strung through the car framing since we are ever closer to installing more of the car interior and the wiring must be in place before certain areas are covered up.

Paint Removal

Bill Peterson spent most of the afternoon with a power wire brush cleaning steel panels for the 4223 interior.  These are the curved panels which ultimately will hold the advertising cards.

Puzzling

Paul and Eric are into a real headscratcher.  There are many of the above mentioned panels and seemingly only one unique way to arrange them in the car.  While some were positively located, it is a puzzle worthy of some thought to figure out the rest of them.  And no, they were not marked or documented when removed from the car some 20 odd years ago.

Of course much other work went on, including Ray Pollice cleaning up the new to us old table saw to ready it for primer; and Paul and Bill assembling and gluing up the last door panel for the new station door.  Victor finished the bottom door panels for our CGW X 38 doors and the molding in in and complete.

Another sure sign of spring - a few hardy souls are accomplishing some work outdoors during the warmer hours of each sunny day.

Truck Work

Gerry Dettloff was helped by Paul Cronin as they worked to disassemble this arch bar truck  The springs are out and replacements will be used for the broken ones.  The truck and its mate will eventually find their way beneath Lake Shore Electric 810.

Out for Some Air

The first car acquired by IRM 60 years ago got some exercise as it was run over to track 41 for some attention.  I bet Jon Fenlaciki walked two miles he made so many trips in and out of the car, never having been more than 200 from it.

Door No. 1

Just like the quiz show - - -  Victor Humphreys had the finish gray enamel out for the new doors we made for Chicago Great Western X 38.

Door No. 2

And Victor made sure door number two got its finsihed gray enamel applied.

Brian Patterson Photo

We are working on a new machine base for the table saw we are restoring.  Jim Foraker drew it all up in 3D on his computer and Bob Kutella and Paul Cronin are giving it the once over.

Prime Time

Jonathan Soucek is priming the old motor for the above table saw project now that bearing issues have been resolved - AGAIN - and the motor has been reassembled.

Sanding and Scraping

There were still a few minutes left at the end of the day and Brian Patterson, John Faulhaber and Jim Foraker worked to remove flaking and peeling old paint from the saw.

The Mortise

Dave Rogan is trimming out a bottom rail tenon for the Boston & Maine 1094 windows we are making.  Fussy fitting that is all in a day's work.

There

There - the fit is almost perfect as Dave sights down the stile.

Brian Patterson Photo

John Faulhaber is sanding out and touching up any rough spots he can find for the new station door.  We have one of the panel inserts glued up and dry, the second can be seen in the background in the clamps.

Air Brakes

As the saying goes - "In spring a young man's fancy turns to -  -   -  AIR BRAKES".  While it hovered barely above freezing, the sun was out. Kirk Warner and Victor Humphreys moved to the frozen tundra for more work on our wagon top boxcar, B&O 374065.  Perhaps in proactive mode, the existing service portion and emergency portion of the air brake control valve were removed and brought into the shop.  Here they are with the heavy brake parts in a box - I was too slow on the trigger to catch an image of them outdoors under the car.  Both portions were replaced under the car with spares we had on hand.   They also began checking the other air piping and replaced a missing union on the line to the retainer valve.

Interior Trim

Not a good pic but the work is EXCITING.  Eric Lorenz is inside Cleveland Transit System 4223 and most of the new window post caps are located and in place.  Eric is holding up one of the next features to be installed, a horizontal piece that goes above the standee windows and ties to each of the post caps.  Maybe you had to be there but each advance they make presents a big impact and visible progress.

Finished Door

This door for Chicago Great Western X 38 is nearly finished as demonstrated by Kirk Warner applying the maroon paint.

Second Door

The second door for the X 38 is following closely on the heels of the first.  Victor and Kirk are doing touch up filling and sanding and later primed it for the second coat.

Door Panels

Paul Cronin and Bill Peterson are drilling dowel holes using a special jig setup on one of the small drill presses.  About 88 holes later (no, really!) one of the panels was assembled, glued and clamped.

Panels

See, they really are ready to glue.  Paul, Bill, and Buzz Morisette are checking to make sure everything is in order and lines up before the glue is slathered on.

Step Boxes

Father and son team, Tom and Jim Windmeier were making many small parts to repair and recondition the custom railroad step box replicas they made last season.  They were well used last year throughout the summer, and now are being tuned up for operations this year.

Round Tops

Rich WItt continues to work on the two new round top windows for Boston & Maine 1094.  Here he is fitting the fussy mortise and tenon joints on each end of the bottom rails.  One done, one to go.