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Monday, September 30. 2013DODX 12661 Review - September 29, 2013Here is a short review and tour of one of our tank cars, restored perhaps over 20 years ago.  Switch Move Tank car? I don't see any tank car. Yet this often the first step in any work at IRM. US Army 8537 is lugging a string of cars out of Yard 14 so that the subject car can be pulled to a better location. A great example of how IRM works and how it preserves so many aspects of railroad history. This could have been a period photo from decades ago, in countless locations.  Left Side The left side of the tank shows the DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE lettering on the silver tank car body with black trim. The car was used to haul heating oil and possibly other petroleum based cargoes to air bases and defense silos during the height of the cold war era. I will guess this would have carried heavy oil products, since the car is equipped with interior piping and heating coils to thin and liquify a heavy product.  Warning There is lettering on the right side of the tank defining an AAR warning.  Dome Here is the dome with it long string of lettering. You can see that decades of outdoor storage has resulted in the upper areas of the dome and tank suffering mightily from sun and weather.  Right Side The right side of the tank has much lettering and info, most of it mandated by RULE for cars in interchange service.  Tank End The end had the standard array of lettering containing the reporting marks, capacity, and other data.  COTS For this era, of the restoration, a set of consolidated lube stencils were used. As shown above the car has suffered from being stored outdoors, setting us up to doing another restoration of what was once COMPLETE. The car is on our short list to repaint and I expect it may yet see some significant 'wear and tear' in the coming weeks. If we are to repaint and letter it yet again, should not we work to store it indoors so the work will last? Yes this is the commercial asking for donations to fund R12661. Thanks in advance. Monday, September 30. 2013Tour of the Lake City - September 29, 2013Here is a short tour of the LAKE CITY, a new IRM acquisition in 2012. Ace reporter and upholsterer, John McKelvey volunteered to show us what he has accomplished inside this last season. He trundled over to take the pics and his work speaks for itself.  Rear Platform Unlike most IRM acquisitions the Lake City had seen decades of restoration work by a single individual in southern Wisconsin who made it his life passion. Here is the rear observation platform.  Observation End Interior The interior of this car is nothing short of stunning with rich wood paneling and inlay. Imagine yourself sitting in this area with the other captains of industry, enjoying the views. John has re-done several of the chairs, and it is an ongoing project.  Pullman Sleeping It harkens to the era that this car was built, as it has a Pullman open section sleeping! This is how it looks in the daytime, arranged for seating.  Mens Lounge There is Men's Lounge and smoking area. This new bench seat is wide enough for three men to share, side by side. The rear cushion back for this seat is not yet done and in this picture.  Womens Lounge Each of the lavatories had a lounge area with seating. This is the women's, with seating only wide enough for two of the ladies, side by side.  Next The next chair is in the shop as John is applying more new upholstery. I said this was an ongoing process, and John shows no sign of letting up. Sunday, September 29. 2013Its working...SPC Sandblaster
I and a few other members of the coach dept have been using the car department's sandblaster for about three years. Thank you, Rod, for letting us use the car dept's blaster. The question was always asked.... WHEN is the coach department getting their own to use? That happened early last year [2012] when we received a good used cabinet blaster. But it was never installed and made operational. This year with the help of new coach volunteers, Brian Gary and Kyle and the old timer, myself, we assembled it, adjusted it, attached it to the small air compressor and plugged it in to house electric power. AND.... It now works. It's amazing what a little effort and motivation will produce.
 Here is Brian testing the sandblaster You will see more pictures for him in the future . He likes sandblasting  Gary repairing our vise  Kyle with his new project  Before and after of polished seat handles  Brian and Kyle repairing a seat frame floor support bracket  After repair its all primed Saturday, September 28. 2013Tuesday, September 24. 2013New Beginnings for RI 2612
Hello to all of you. I"M BACK!!!! It sure has been an interesting August! My entries in this Blog have almost been nonexistent until now. Let me explain. First, my 1/1/2 year old computer bite the dust. Why? Don't ask me? I turned it off then turned it back on and BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Well, that's not good!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sure some of you can relate. The Motherboard or processor died!!! Well, after visiting Best Buy about 6 times, calling Verizon about the same amount of time and visiting the Park Ridge library. I can finally say I am back on line. It sure was a struggle. My reception still is not to good. Between the airplanes flying by and all the interference in my house [hot water pipes for heating] and neighbors online, it sure is very difficult to get connected. THEN on top it. The most tragic event finally happened. My 95 year old dear mother passed away Aug 26, 2013. Margaret died at home in her kitchen where she spent much of her life, cooking, baking, washing dishes by hand, and chatting to friends and relatives as they came into our home. I am sure many of you can relate w/ this. Mom had Alzheimer's and I was her caregiver. Many thanks to IRM for sending flowers and Thanks for all the kind thoughts and words that many of you have expressed to me at the museum!!!! My life now is changing! Anyway...... to catch up. The Day Out W? Thomas was very successful this year with beautiful weather. No major incidents, to my knowledge, and we met our goal of placing the RI 2612 in service on the coach time. Like Mark Hoffmann said... " It sure was nice to have the 80 extra seats on the coach train. We needed them"! Here are a few pictures of the car in service.
 Remember....This is what the interior looked like just six months ago. Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped with the project to date  Two days before Thomas and ready for customers  Picture from the opposite end  Last minute painting of window sills by Gary Sherman  In service with newly painted trucks  Real paying customers  A few more customers at the end of the first day  At the end of the train Monday, September 23. 2013ME 28 Update - September 22, 2013I will try to post something here this morning although it will be necessarily short as I am about to get back on site at Union to work with a contractor today. I noticed Randy Hicks gave us a plug for the woodworkers convention. We had the biggest attendance ever and this time cracked the international barrier with two attending form Belgium. That would be the Belgium in Europe, not the Belgium two hundred miles north in Wisconsin.  A Bundle of Canvas Jeff Brady and Bill Peterson have managed to extract the canvas from storage and with great effort have it hoisted up on the roof of the car. This is just the start of the process as the next step is to unroll all of that.  The Big Rag This is a big rag, probably over 1100 square feet of canvas. I do not think IRM has had to recanvas a roof on a car this long to this moment in time. So, as with everything, there is some new learning along the way. There is a trim allowance on all the dimensions but it only makes sense to try to slide and push it around to center it on the roof. Easier said than done.  The Clamps We made ( I do not include me in that) a dozen new clamps of our own design to clamp to the edges of the canvas, and they were mounted, starting at the ends of the car; shown here as Jeff and Bill demonstrate.  Rolled out The large white thing stretching into the distance is the canvas all rolled out. If it seems a long way away, it is, and more so if you consider the work left, which includes setting about 1500 tacks. For now we have stretched and pulled the canvas to begin the process of removing all the wrinkles and get it to lay down flat on the roof. |
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Comments
Thu, 05-03-2018 12:57
Folks, Over in the news section, I see the C&NW 8728 heavyweight baggage car has been retired from retail duty. I see that the car is not [...]
Sun, 04-29-2018 15:22
The PRR caboose is looking good. Thanks Mr. Humphreys, Rogan and Peterson. Are donations still needed for ATSF caboose #1400? And is this Santa [...]
Sat, 04-21-2018 01:25
with the Schroeder store now open for business, Will the 3 baggage cars become part of the regular coach fleet again?
Wed, 04-11-2018 11:28
You mention in the header that you would like to have the Electroliner operational by its birthday. Was it?
Sun, 04-08-2018 20:03
As a child, IRM was always my favorite place to visit. Well, other than grandma's house next to the Geneva Sub. It's been many years since I now [...]
Wed, 04-04-2018 16:01
Those temporary walls could be constructed in a way that allows their reuse after the phase is done to close off the new phases.
Tue, 03-27-2018 03:08
Why did the smoke box cover on the shay need to be replace Do?
Mon, 03-26-2018 16:29
It never ceases to amaze me of the diligence and passion of the current mix of volunteers associated with IRM in 2018. Back when I was a active [...]
Mon, 03-26-2018 11:10
Awesome paint job Jamie!!! I never would of thought with the Rock Island history this locomotive in this scheme would of been preserved. Thanks for [...]
Sun, 03-25-2018 23:56
The Hick's blog lists it as Fruit Grower's Express FGEX #55407. Arrived in Union June 2016.
Sun, 03-25-2018 20:51
Good job on the diesel update 2018. Sincere, Ethan A.
Sun, 03-25-2018 20:45
Good job on the steam update 2018. Sincere, Ethan A.