Entries by Roger Kramer

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 

Our team has been working hard to finish the painting and then the installation of shelving, windows and sinks in the women's bathroom. Here then are some of our latest efforts. Sandi has painted the room while I have been reinstalling the shelving and taking the pictures etc.

Painting the wall and trim by the mirrors.

Wall above the sinks.

The wall is finished.

The next pictures shows the before and after of the wall next to the commode door.

All sanded and prepped for primer.

Yes, she is priming the wooden door.

That door is for the excess to the drinking water container.

The other side now receives the primer and top coat.

Here Sandi is applying the top coat to this area.

April 5th shows most walls painted and the comb and brush shelves are reinstalled.  

The area next to the entrance door.

Coat hooks and drinking cup holder are also installed.

Now for the hardest  phase of this project; working on the ceiling. We have removed most of the old ceiling paint by scraping it by hand and using the electric sander. This is no easy task working over head! If you wish to help us, please consider a donation to the Mt. Harvard fund.       Thanks     Roger   

We began working on the women's bathroom in late January of this year. We first began removing the items on the walls, slowly at first. As we finished up on painting the hallway our activity in the increased in the bathroom. Here is some our progress to date in late February.

Tim Fennell, another new volunteer, is working on removing old paint from the womens bathroom ceiling. Not the easy  job!

February 23 the husband and wife team of Darek and Kathy Mitura continue removing old paint next to the mirrors.  

These last two Saturdays in February we had five people volunteering on three different locations in the sleeper.

Early March finds Kathy sanding the back of the entrance door to the commode.

Darek again sanding on the ceiling panels.

March 6 Sandi began priming the walls of the bathroom.

This area will get primed next.

 Here she is priming underneath the mirrors.

The next blog continues with more priming and then comes the finished top coat.   Thanks  Roger

Here is another update on the Mt Harvard restoration. Events are happening so fast that I can't always blog about them in a timely manner. A five member team volunteering on the last three Saturdays gets the job done quite fast. Here are two new developments. First pictures are of the lounge area. Sandi cleaned then sanded the seat frames of the small buffet. She then applied two coats of stain followed by three coats of Spar gloss polyurethane. While she was working on that I focused my efforts on a couple of areas including replacing the two large windows that were once Lexan plastic with 3/16 plate Glasson either side of the entrance door. Next, I then began reproducing and installing missing Mahogany window sills on either side of the lounge. While I was working on the sills she begin sanding and staining the large desk window sills located on either side of the lounge entrance door.

The buffet end seats now stained and freshly covered with polyurethane.

Mahogany windows sills installed.

Small arm tables receiving sanding, stain and clear polyurethane.

Our five person Saturday crew has divided their attention into the men and women bathrooms.

We are just beginning to strip old paint off the ceiling and wall.

This is Bill Sr. working in late February.

Bill Sr. again but this time in early March. His son is also in the picture. That is his  back in the blue sweatshirt.

Please consider donating to this project. Replacing the old rusted steel will be expensive. More on the exterior later.     Thanks   Roger

This winter we have been replacing rusted steel panels on the 2524. Welding in new sections of steel on one vestibule end of our last remaining unrestored Rock Island coach.  This has been accomplished in the unheated barn 10. Very cold but our work continues in spite of the harsh environment. Paul Cronin, in the fall of 2018, began this part of the project by removing all the old rusty steel and insulation from the area in these following pictures.

December15, 2018, here is a view of the vestibule wall with all badly deteriorated areas removed.

Our welder, Jarred, measuring for new steel replacements.

He just finished weldingthe new support pieces.

This piece was just fabricated and installed on the other side.

February 16, found Jarred again measuring for new steel parts.

March 2 Gregg Wolfersheim assisted Jarred in welding more new steel pieces.

March 9 of this year, the end panel is completed with a coat of primer.

We in the coach department hope to continue on this project of replacing the rusted plates on both ends of the coach. Stay tuned for more updates.   Thanks  Roger