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Friday, June 13. 2014Passenger Car Department Report for 6/1/14 Through 6/8/14We have had some beautiful June weather at IRM! Sunday, June 1st: Kevin Kriebs continued his adhesive removal project on the exterior of the 1st Exhibit Car. Jon Habegger was at his post inside the 1st Exhibit Car greeting visitors. Jim Windmeier brought printouts of a Milwaukee Road dining car table set up, to demonstrate how they set the table as each railroad dining table was set differently. He talked to Michael Baksic, Jon Habegger, and Shelly Vanderschaegen about creating a display featuring railroad dining in the 1st Exhibit Car to use various railroad dishes from the Museum collection. John McKelvey stripped several DM&IR 84 coach smoking section seats in his continuing effort to reupholster that section of the coach.  John McKelvey stripped DMIR 84 coach smoking section seats - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen  A look inside the 84 coach seats - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen  John McKelvey with an 84 coach seat he reupholstered - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen Mike McCraren was conductor on the passenger coach train. Mark Gellman helped Michael Baksic complete three air brake tests on the available passenger cars and then assisted Jon Habegger in last minute interior repairs, cleaning and preparation of the Chicago Burlington & Quincy 1923 Steel RPO/Baggage car for the upcoming Railway Post Office Weekend.  Mark Gellman cleaning in the Chicago Burlington &  Mark made the tail sign for the 1923 RPO car - Photo by Jon Habegger Shelly Vanderschaegen continued waxing and buffing the Honduran Mahogany woodwork in the Ely dining room then discussed reupholstery of coach seats with John McKelvey. Michael Baksic and Ray Mormann spent the day caulking seams and windows on the streamliner cars in Yard 5.  Ray Mormann and Michael Baksic applied caulk - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen Friday, June 6th: A group from Monarch Landing Retirement Community in Naperville, IL visited IRM. Thanks to Ray Bellock for showing them around our wonderful railway museum. They rode the Illinois Terminal 415 with motorman Bob Opal and then were pleased to have a boxed lunch in the Birmingham dining car in Yard 5 with Shelly Vanderschaegen as hostess. We hope they come back again!  Monarch Landing Retirement Community group tour - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen Sunday, June 8th: Mark Gellman and Jon Habegger worked on the RPO Days catch program. The Chicago Burlington & Quincy 1923 RPO was pulled by the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad 1630. Six retired postal clerks were in attendance and everyone had a good time.  RPO catch sequence pulled by 1630 - Photo by Jon Habegger  The bag hook approaches - Photo by Jon Habegger  The mail bag is caught - Photo by Jon Habegger  The mail bag is pulled inside - Photo by Jon Habegger In another run-by our own Mark Gellman made a catch and dropped a mail bag like a pro.  Mark Gellman prepares for the mail bag catch and drop - Photo courtesy of Mark Gellman  Mark made it look easy as he dropped one bag and hooked the other - Photo courtesy of Mark Gellman John McKelvey continued reupholstering the DM&IR 84 coach smoking section seats. Two of the seats have walkover backs without the same "triple hump" padding as the stationary seat backs. John put in extra effort to make the walkover seat backs match the stationary backs. In the image below where John is installing a newly covered walkover seat back you can see the results.  John McKelvey installing a walkover seat back in the DMIR 84 - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen Work continued on the Dynamometer car. Warren Newhauser, Brian LaKemper and Chuck Trabert were on hand in the X-5000. After operations had completed, Mark Gellman assisted in replacing the brake pads on the Dyno.  Chuck Trabert repairing pipe in the Dynamometer - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen  Pipe repair in the Dynamometer - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen  This rusted door panel was removed from the X-5000 - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen Curator Michael Baksic met with Gerry Boguse in the Louisville & Nashville diner 2726 Galt House to discuss needed floor repairs.  Gerry Boguse and Michael Baksic in the Galt House - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen |
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Comments
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 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 [...]
Sat, 07-19-2014 21:02
Great show today; 100% improved from last year. Ran at a faster pace which kept it interesting. Also, the brief synopsis of each loco made it very [...]
Sat, 07-19-2014 19:39
Missed the push me pull you this year. If you guys do a high noch engine pulling dynamic breaking load the X-5000 should go in the middle. Chuck said [...]
Sat, 07-19-2014 16:42
Roger, Is IRM going to pursue acquisition of RI commuter coach 2702 -- the one for sale for $11,000? It's an important link in the development of [...]
Sat, 07-19-2014 14:59
Nigel, thanks for all your continued work on the blogs! I'm a member living in NJ so it's always good to hear what's going on back home. Anyways, [...]
Sat, 07-19-2014 12:19
Nigel is there any possibility of using rainwater in the boiler to lessen the amount of treatment that needs to be done to it?