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Friday, November 28. 2014Railroad China Display Update from Sunday November 23rdOn Sunday, November 23, 2014, work continued on the railroad china display in the 1st Exhibit Car. Patrice Connelly again joined the crew to advise and help direct the set-up of the exhibit. Last week the team made paper plate "china" which could be taped to the glass of the display case. This week they got down to business placing that "china" on the glass. By the end of the day the first glass shelf and china was placed in the cabinet. This is just the start of the work to mount the china.  Jim Windmeier arranging the paper plate china - Photo by Patrice Connelly  What the Burlington Violets and Daisies display will look like - Photo by Patrice Connelly  Placement of the Santa Fe china - Photo by Mark Gellman Elsewhere in the 1st Exhibit Car, Jon Habegger and Mark Gellman were working on a display for LaSalle Street Station. Lunch was held in the Birmingham even as work has started on it. Mark Gellman has been scrapping the panels above the windows to get the last of the glue off. He has primed the south side of the car. Ray has started to re-wire the car. At lunch were Patrice Connelly, Jon Habegger, Mark Gellman, Kevin Kriebs, Jim Windmeier, Ray Mormann, Nick Kallas, Michael McCraren and Michael Baksic.  Kevin Kriebs and Jon Habegger at lunch - Photo by Michael McCraren  Ray Mormann and Patrice Connelly in the Birmingham diner - Photo by Michael McCraren  Michael Baksic and Mark Gellman at Sunday lunch - Photo by Michael McCraren  Ray, Patrice, Nick Kallas, and Michael B. - Photo by Michael McCraren Wednesday, November 19. 2014Sunday November 16th Coach Department UpdateMichael McCraren arrived before 9:00 AM and captured an image of the first snowfall at IRM.  First snowfall of the year covers IRM - Photo by Michael McCraren Michael Baksic and Shelly Vanderschaegne arrived about 9:30 AM. They spent the morning gathering display items to put into storage for the winter. A crew was at work in the 1st Exhibit Car including Michael McCraren, Mark Gellman, Jon Habegger, Jim Windmeier and guest Patrice Connelly. Patrice has a major in museum studies and design and was asked to come and lend a hand with design elements in the current railroad china display preparation. Mark Gellman and Jon Habegger worked on installing a shelf.  Mark Gellman installing a shelf - Photo by Michael McCraren  Jon Habegger measuring the gap - Photo by Michael McCraren  Jim Windmeier talks over the china exhibit with guest Patrice Connelly - Photo by Michael McCraren  The LaSalle Street Station display had to be moved for the china display - Photo by Michael McCraren  Patrice brought paper plates and cups to make a mock up of the china exhibit - Photo by Michael McCraren John McKelvey came out and Shelly took pictures with him in the Santa Fe Lounge Car. In the photo below, John sits on a completed seat juxtaposed with the obviously soiled appearance of the current seats. The new upholstery material is a close match to the fabric used in the last upholstery work done in the 1534, which was possibly in 1938 when the lounge cars were further remodeled by Santa Fe. At that time, all interior furnishings were removed. Seven Pullman sections complete with upper and lower berths with tables, berth curtains, hangers and etc., were installed. The Pullman berths were used for Dining Car overflow seating, passenger lounging, games, and etc. At night the upper and lower berths were made up and used by the Dining Car crew as a dormitory area to sleep.  John McKelvey sits on a seat he has recently reupholstered - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen Shelly cleaned up the kitchen and eating area in the Birmingham just before the crew came in for lunch. Visitors included Jim West, Buzz Morisette, and Patrice Connelly.  Jim West joined the crew in the Birmingham for lunch - Photo by Michael McCraren  Jim Windmeier, Shelly Vanderschaegen, and Michael Baksic at lunch - Photo by Michael McCraren  Jon Habegger at lunch - Photo by Michael McCraren  Patrice Connelly was a lunch guest - Photo by Michael McCraren  Buzz Morisette and Mark Gellman at Sunday lunch - Photo by Michael McCraren After lunch, items to be used in upcoming displays in the 1st Exhibit Car were collected. And the creation of the paper plate "china" continued. A big Thank You to Patrice Connelly for lending her expertise to the display project underway! Friday, November 14. 2014Fall restoration efforts: RI 2612 and friendsOur restoration crew took a short break between Thomas and the middle of September when our restoration resumed on 2612 after the coach was switched back into yard three. I also requested, during that time, to moved the 2555[which is bad order] and the 2602 back into yard 3. Now we had three cars to work on and finish some more projects.  The team of Lorane and Chase painting the floor in the 2612  Dan Bixler working on the sandblaster. It sure works good!  Loraine Bixler sanding the brass window frame for the reinstallation of the painted and glazed brass window  Austin Harvey also sanding the frame  Loraine painting the standee grabs in the 2602  Dan Boguse installing metal ticket stubs holders back into the wall of the 2602  Dan Bixler cleaning out the metal for future car card installation  Buzz Morisette repainting the faded lettering of the 2582 Thursday, November 13. 2014Mid-November Update for the Coach DepartmentHere's a sneak peek at next year's railroad china display! On Sunday, November 2, 2014, Jim Windmeier sorted and photographed all the china we have so far collected.  Milwaukee Road patterns - Photo by Jim Windmeier  Chicago and Northwestern patterns - Photo by Jim Windmeier  Burlington Route patterns - Photo by Jim Windmeier  Union Pacific patterns - Photo by Jim Windmeier  Illinois Central patterns - Photo by Jim Windmeier On the morning of Sunday, November 2nd, Shelly Vanderschaegen, Michael Baksic, and Michael McCraren 'winterized' the Birmingham. They moved the stairs to the preferred winter door and distributed electric heaters. There was a small turnout on Sunday for lunch but good company.  Nick Kallas, Shelly Vanderschaegen and Michael Baksic at lunch - Photo by Michael McCraren  Jim Windmeier at lunch in the Birmingham - Photo by Michael McCraren  John McKelvey at lunch in the Birmingham - Photo by Michael McCraren After lunch, Michael McCraren and Mark Gellman went to work inside the 1st Exhibit Car. John McKelvey and Shelly worked together on Santa Fe Lounge Car berth seats. They removed five seats from one section of the 1534 and took them to their work area inside the Barn 4 shop for reupholstery. Fabric purchased recently is nearly identical to the original upholstery.  Shelly Vanderschaegen and John McKelvey with a Santa Fe Lounge Car seat - Photo by Michael McCraren  The underside of a Santa Fe Lounge Car bench seat - Photo by Michael McCraren Saturday, November 8, 2014: Ray Mormann and Mark Gellman removed bad steps from the 2nd Exhibit Car and began planning how to secure the trap as they worked.  Ray Mormann standing where the step used to be on the 2nd Exhibit Car - Photo by Michael McCraren  The steps on the pavement in Yard 5 - Photo by Michael McCraren  Ray standing with Mark Gellman on the vestibule platform - Photo by Michael McCraren Michael McCraren stained three boards that would become the lower shelf of the china display in the 1st Exhibit Car.  These stained boards are to be used in the new railroad china display currently under construction - Photo by Michael McCraren Inside the 1st Exhibit Car on Sunday, November 9th, Jon Habegger, Jim Windmeier, Mike McCraren and Mark Gellman installed the bottom shelves for the railroad china display. The LaSalle Street Staion display was restyled. Work began in the Pacific Peak to lay carpet protection for winter removal of more wall carpet leftover from Amtrak service. Brian LaKemper also spent part of his afternoon in the 1st Exhibit Car working on the new railroad china display.  Mark and Jim Windmeier discuss ideas for the china display - Photo by Michael McCraren  Mark installed the lower shelf inside the display case - Photo by Michael McCraren  Michael McCraren and Mark Gellman work on the china display - Photo by Brian LaKemper  The china is laid out in position of where it will be displayed - Photo by Michael McCraren  Starting to recreate the gate board from Union Station in the late 1960s - Photo by Michael McCraren  The display for LaSalle Street - Photo by Michael McCraren John McKelvey continued working on the Santa Fe Lounge Car seats inside the Barn 4 shop.  John McKelvey pinned new material to a previously stripped Santa Fe Lounge Car seat - Photo by Michael McCraren Outside Barn 3 on Sunday, Brian LaKemper and Chuck Trabert worked together on the Milwaukee Road Dynamometer, finishing up winterization, packing away tools, and removing the jammed safety bars for the side doors. The bars had slid up on their hinges, shearing off the tapered pins that hold them which prevented lowering the safety bars. The bars were freed from the hinges and the hinges removed from the carbody. No photos were taken of this process. The Steam Department kindly straightened the safety bar that had been bent at some point, and punched out the broken pins that were supposed to hold the safety bars in place on the hinge. Next time out, Brian's plans include sandblasting the hinges to remove accumulated build-up, and then to prime and remount them to the carbody. Once they are remounted, the latch mechanism for the bars can be removed, as one is damaged and requires repair. A Call For Volunteers: Need something to do this winter and you're itching to work on railroad coaches? The Passenger Car Department at IRM is in need of more volunteers to work in the Silver Cars removing old paint and carpets. Come on out and get involved! Tuesday, November 4. 2014The dream, Believe It!
The future barn construction reality is finally setting in and Randy Hicks and I are keeping you up to date on the progress of the future barn sites. As we have said the work continues at a quick pace.
 The finished product. Here the track is tamped and aligned ready for the next step. Next, maybe a building?  The ballast regulator at work sweeping excess rock from the ties. Quite dusty to say the least  A close look at the tamper at work  The production tamper in the distance showing track work and ballast |
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Comments
Fri, 01-15-2021 10:20
Hello Jason. Your comments are very much appreciated. Yes, there is much hard work that goes into all our restorations and maintenance here at the [...]
Fri, 01-15-2021 10:13
Hello Jack Yes, It will be one of our most impressive cars that we have at IRM when its completed. Thanks for the pat on the back! Roger.
Thu, 01-14-2021 21:05
Those cars look great so far guys! Man I wish I had the time to volunteer and become a member at IRM that looks like so much fun especially with how [...]
Tue, 01-12-2021 16:30
the pawnee is looking great a pat on the back to all involved
Wed, 01-06-2021 10:14
Good job on coach updates January 5, 2021. Sincerely, Ethan A.
Mon, 01-04-2021 12:31
Hello Jack Happy New Year from IRM. To my knowledge there was no damage from the minor ice storm that we had in late December, 2020. Some [...]
Sun, 01-03-2021 20:12
the museum area had lots of ice storms in area did the museum get a lot of damage
Thu, 12-24-2020 13:27
roger, Thank you to all of the Passenger car department volunteers. The #109 is going to be a great car when all done! Ted miles, [...]
Sun, 12-06-2020 08:46
Hello Ted We havenot finished lettering the 975 but we are well on the way. Look for a few blogs from me now that the wearther is colder and the [...]
Sat, 12-05-2020 18:36
i watched crew replace switch by diesel shop on dec 5. its good to see museum have equipment to do job and save money
Fri, 12-04-2020 14:56
It has been a long time with no news; have you finished lettering the Southern Pacific locomotive? Please post a picture. Ted Miles, IRM Member
Thu, 08-27-2020 09:53
I worked seasonally on the Cadillac & Lake City while the B-71 was in Lake City, MI, beginning in 1970. My primary job was steward/waiter/car cleaner [...]