Entries by Roger Kramer

After the bathroom was repainted my energies turned to repainting the walls between the sections. Here is the photo essay on the project.

Tim Fennel, our newest volunteer, is sanding the dividers in preparation for priming. 

He along with Dale Steichen, Bob Olsen, Jessie  Felt and Sandi Harreld made this repaint possible.

Sandi here is priming.

More Sanding

Then I decided to strip and small area where the lower berth lights are installed. Now there is more continuity with all areas repainted.

Early May finds Sandi again doing what she does best, painting with primer.

We also removed more old paint on the wall adjoining  the womens bathroom.

Thanks  Roger

We finally finished the major painting project in the women's bathroom. The ceiling, of course, was the most difficult. Working over head is very time consuming and a bit taxing on one's upper body muscles.

Here I am working away.

Early April and Sandi is touching up a few spots on the wall.

Priming the ceiling.

Two panels are now primed.

The middle panel is scraped and sanded ready for primer.

Primed.

Painted with the top coat.

As of this date I have now installed all the lamp shades and all but one of the sinks. Still to be made is the dressing table below the mirrors. I hope to get at that in the middle of July but before we exercise the sleeper on the main for the Septembers railfan weekend.    Thanks    Roger

The restoration of our last Rock Island coach, 2524, has slowly resumed with new panels of steel begin installed in the vestibule.

Two years ago Paul Cronin removed the old rusted steel stair along with the old damaged panels.

Another look after all the damaged steel was removed by Paul.

December of last year we again began working on this project.  Here we have cleaned out the area so that we can evaluate the condition and begin to weld new pieces to the frame.

Jarred, our welder, is considering which new pieces to install and where.

Frame pieces welded into position.

This new piece is where the stairs will be attached.

Working on more steel refit.

Jarred and Gregg pose for the photograph.

New steel welded in place and now primed to prevent rust.

Now the focus is on the other side where stairs will be attached.

Finished product.

Many thanks to Jarred and Gregg for their time and expertise!

IRM's long awaited Model Railroad and Pullman Archives building has begun construction. Yes, we finally broke ground about three weeks ago and already the contractors are pouring concrete and installing foundation forms for the new building. The size is quite impressive with having a footprint of 100 by 135 or 13,500 square feet of space. I hope to give you more data as the building progresses. As for the Buildings and Grounds Manager, Dave Diamond, he is at the site every day making sure all the details of construction are  followed. Here are the first pictures of the exciting new building.

Our contractor is preparing the ground for construction on a very cloudy day.

The concrete footings are already poured and now the foundation forms are being assembled into place. 

Another view of the buildings large footprint.

More forms installed. Now just waiting for the concrete to pour.

The concrete arrives just in time for the pour.

This is the foundation for the center steel support beams.

Yes, that is Dave Diamond viewing the pouring of the foundation support centers.

All this construction is made possible by your donations to the museums newest building. Please consider supporting this project by donating to the Model RR Building construction!       Thanks  Roger           

The warmer weather is here although you wouldn't think with 8 inches of snow April 13th and 27th here in Huntley where I live. With a few volunteers we have been scheduling work on the John McLoughlin. This year we are beginning to tackle a large job of repairing the worst of the two vestibules and adjoining steel support structures. The sleeper sat outside for many years in Hamilton, Illinois and the weather took its toll on the exterior steel. Both stairs and all joining structures must be replaced. Here are some pictures of that beginning.

We have just started removing the rusty steel.

This is a before picture of the entire area.

The old stairs are removed.

Part of the wall behind the trap is also removed.

We are also resuming the interior restoration. Mark Hoffmann and Matt Holtz have already removed more old paint in the hallway near the men's bathroom. Three weeks ago Mark primed the area after Howard Geier had repaired a number of imperfections on that wall.

Mark is sanding the wall after Matt removed all of the old paint.

The wall after Mark primed it.

Another angle of the wall after priming.

The next report will detail the application of the finished coat of paint in these areas. Please consider a donation to the John Mcloughlin project.   Thanks, Roger

The Milwaukee Road coach project is slow but is receiving some attention recently. We finally measured and cut new steel panels to replace the ones that did not meet our standards for restoration. Our welder installed the new panels this January and February of this year.

8 ft section of steel welded into place.

Our welder, Jarred, beginning to weld.

In January of this year the sparks are flying as the welder installs the second panel. 

This is the results of the welders efforts.

Howard came out to begin the future prepping of the just welded two panels. On a somewhat warm March day he began applying bondo to the panels and sanding them for April priming.

Howard is applying bondo to the newly installed area.

Howard working the second day he was out applying more bondo then sanding the imperfections.

On a rare warm spring day Steve was out applying Spar urethane varnish to the new oak trim made especially for the inside window trim. Another job that was completed last fall was the repair and installation of new florescent lighting tubes in the fixtures. We now have all the lights operating in the 649. Its quite an impressive site.

Here Steve is working on the interior trim.

Before Howard and Steve can finish painting the coach we need to resolve the issue of replacing the old window glass. We need ten sets of glass plus new gasket material to replace the old cracked ones. At a estimated price of $300 ea they are some what expensive. Please consider a donation to cover the cost of at least one set. That would surely help us with placing this coach in service at your museum.       Thanks  Roger