Entries by Roger Kramer

Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Friday, September 8. 2017

Coach and Freight Shop Produces Results Posted by Roger Kramer in Passenger Car Department at 08:12

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Coach and Freight Shop Produces Results

Here is a sample of the results that the newly designated coach and freight restoration shop ,barn 10, is now producing. Between the two departments we hope to turn out some quality restoration projects. The future bodes well for us in this new shop. We think between the two departments we can produce one or two new pieces of equipment every year that will appear ready for display and or operation.

Here is the Baltimore and Ohio RR Wagon Top Boxcar recently paint by the Freight car department. Nice Job, Victory, Dave and Bill !

This is the IC 3345 paint job that many of the volunteers in the Coach dept have been working on. Thats Howard Gierer and myself just after we finished painting the orange.

Yes, your help is very important to us here in Barn 10 Restoration Shop. First, we would like to have more volunteers working with us on the various projects. Tuesdays, as well as, Wednesdays, are the main volunteer days. So if you can join us on one of both days, Please Do! Second, as with most projects at Irm the concern with funding is always a consideration! If we can show that your donations are being used and spent well we believe we can earn your trust and, therefore, receive more donations. Make sense, Yes? So.... Please consider supporting the Freight and Passenger car departments with either a donation or with your volunteering. Together, We will make this an exciting area to watch and visit! Thanks Roger

Thursday, September 7. 2017

More focus on the Roof of John ... Posted by Roger Kramer in Great Northern John McLoughlin at 19:45

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More focus on the Roof of John McLoughlin

Here is the latest efforts on the John Mcloughlin roof project. Thru these pictures you will see the summer progress. Not really too impressive but it has taken a lot of hours to prep these areas.

Bob shows what he likes to do best. Tackle a big job and then accomplish it.

Matt Holtz has logged about 35 volunteer hours on the roof.

This is an after picture. Please notice all the primed areas. That is due to all Matts efforts.

Again more of the same shot but this shows more area primed.

Sandi took some time and scraped much of the old paint and rust off of the three ventilators. The next week Matt primed them.

Here Bob has finally reached the of end of the line, so to speak. All major preparation and priming is now complete.

Yes, we finally got the roof priming completed. Now for a second coat of primer on the roof! Next comes a coat of black paint. This year has been a great for painting. Hopefully, the fall will be also. Roger

Saturday, September 2. 2017

The Prepping of the IC 3345 Posted by Roger Kramer in IC 3345 at 10:21

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The Prepping of the IC 3345

The prep work leading up to the final painting seems to be the most important therefore the most labor intensive. As you will see by these next pictures the crew on most work days was at least three or four people. My thanks to all that all volunteering on this project. Here is what happened two weeks ago!

Here I am sanding some imperfections on the first coat.

Dave Cook sanding on the car body

Curt started masking the windows Good start to a difficult job

In order to have the next coat of paint to adhere we need to scuff the surface. Dan is working on this job!

Not to be out done Loraine, Dans wife, is also scuffing the surface.

Jeff is sanding vestibule platform end of the coach near the roof line.

As you can see we are already masking off the next area to paint. That will be the Brown above and below the windows.

Curt still working on masking the windows. That takes an awfully lot of time but its well worth the extra effort. Its a real job to clean each window once it has been hit by overspray.

Well, that takes you up to August 26, of this year. More to come! Roger

Saturday, September 2. 2017

The Exterior Activity on the John ... Posted by Roger Kramer in Great Northern John McLoughlin at 10:16

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The Exterior Activity on the John Mcloughlin

It has been a slow progression but this beatifying project on the roof of our heavy weight sleeper, John Mcloughlin is almost complete! Our goal has been to completely remove all the old rust and paint off of the flat part of the roof and prime it. This job has been undertaken by one of our devoted retired members, Robert Olson of Waukegan, Illinois. He has diligently been working on the roof for more than 7 months and has recently completed his goal. If you come out to the museum on most any Wednesday you will find him working away on this project. The other project related to the roof has been the removal, of again, old paint from the hips of the roof. We have had another four volunteers working on this project. These folks are still among the younger working class so it has taken a little longer to complete. Just recently we have completed the priming of all these areas. These four guys are; Mark Hoffman, Matt Holtz, Dale Steichen, and Andy Townsend.

Bob removing some old paint from the roof.

In this picture Bob is using the DEWALT angle grinder with cup wire wheel to remove any rust from the roof surface.

Mark is dressed for the cold temperatures in April while leaning the roofs hips.

Here Bob is using a putty knife to remove all loose paint. This was taken in April of this year.

Mark took a breather from working on the roof to prepping the vestibule side of our sleeper.

Here is the results of two days of work.

Now he is working on the other side of the vestibule side.

On a another cold day, this time in March, we find Dale scraping more old paint off of the roof.

Thanks to Andy this round end got sanded and primed in one day.

This last photo, taken in June, shows Mark again using the wire wheel grinder on the rounded end of the roof.

It takes a long time and many volunteer hours to complete a project of this magnitude. Just prepping the roof for future painting has taken about 250 volunteer hours to complete. It is just part of the big picture puzzle. Our short term goal is to repair, replace and paint the roof Gloss black. Along with that goal is the ultimate goal of repairing and replacing all areas of badly deteriorated rusty steel for eventual finally painting of the entire exterior. We would like to operate the John Mcloughlin in our demonstration passenger train some day. Like many projects at Irm this too is being privately funded thru your donations. Please consider assisting us in any way possible to continue our exciting progress on this grand sleeper of the past. Thanks Roger

Sunday, August 27. 2017

Working on the Orange and Brown Posted by Roger Kramer in Passenger Car Department at 09:58

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Working on the Orange and Brown

Much of the work on coaches, this year, has been concentrated on our running fleet of Rock Island coaches and the BLE 25. While still repainting roofs on the coaches Howard Gierer has freed up some time to restart another project. This latest painting project is actually an old one! We are now focusing on finish painting one of our IC coaches, #3345. Incidentally, the next Rail and Wire will have an extensive article on this food bar coach. Here are some of the early August efforts being play out in our new shop, barn 10. August 9th was our start date and already we have sprayed one coat of orange and already sanded and prep it for the second coat. Remember this an 85 foot coach so it takes a lot of teamwork to sand and prep each side. Please consider coming out to volunteer and put some time into this project! This will be a very striking accomplishment once we get it completed. Feel free to stop by our new shop and view our interesting assortment of projects.

Howard is just looking over the job.

Here Howard is spraying the first coat of primer

August 12th about half of the first coat is applied.

August 16 had Jerry McGonigle from Arizona assisting us. He sure was a big help!

One of the torsion bars that support and buffer mechanism was bent many years ago. Jerry with my assistance removed it from the coach body. That was a difficult job. This one will be taken to the steam shop to be straighten. It along with the opposite one will then be painted IC brown before installation.

Here jerry is removing the bent bar.

After the bar was removed Jerry continued sanding the upper half of that end.

This last Saturday Dave Cook came out and began sanding the IC orange. Photo

We accomplished quite bit this last Saturday, August 19. Good to see you again Dave.

The prepping is the most important part of any painting project but it takes most of the manpower. We are always seeking new volunteers as well as members that we have not seen for a while. Lots of projects to pick from and a few more coming on line in the not to distance future. If you can't make it out to help please consider donating to a passenger coach dept. Pick a specific project of your choice. How about this one, IC 3345. Thanks Roger

Monday, July 31. 2017

Freight Car Urgent Needs Posted by Roger Kramer in General Blog Entries at 19:04

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Freight Car Urgent Needs

The freight car department is in the need of a few more volunteers. Right now there are only three full time volunteers participating in the department. As one can imagine their efforts are only concentrated on a couple of projects. Right now the Pennsylvania Bobber Caboose and the B & O RR Wagontop boxcar are their main focus. Leading the efforts are the following: Victor Humphreys, Dave Rogan and Bill Peterson. Like all departments, these three active members are looking for more recruits to help in the freight car department. That is the urgency, They would like a few good men and women to help them. If you have any talents such as carpentry, painting, piping or welding they sure could use your efforts. Matter of fact if you don't have any talents they will teach you. See Victor on any Wednesday or Saturday in their new shop, barn 10, for more details. They share the barn with the coach dept. AND don't forget to bring your lunch! That group breaks for lunch around 11:30. Contrary to some rumors, we at Irm are not all work. We as well, do our share of socializing!

Its cold when this was taken Vic and Dave are drilling holes in a new piece of wood for the Bobber Caboose

Vic is removing some old paint from a section of wood from the interior

The next three pictures are from June of this year

Please notice the brand new siding installed

Dave abd Vic up in the world with more installations

Bob Albertson from the coach department helps Dave install more siding

Talking to Victor a couple of weeks ago another project underway is the scraping and painting of the trucks under the Wagon top boxcar. He has hired a painting contractor to repaint the entire car and then it will be stored inside for viewing, possible in barn 11 More on that project later. Remember to send in a few dollars to the freight car dept. These three volunteer members certainly deserve your support! Thanks Roger

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Comments

Nigel Bennett about Steam Department April 2017
Sun, 10-08-2017 13:04
#938 is now being painted so she will look a great deal better on display. Great work by Phil and the team. Work done is a cosmetic restoration. At [...]

James Becker about Painting the Yellow Stripe on the 3345
Thu, 10-05-2017 18:36
Classy and excellent work on the Illinois Central car. You all have done some excellent work.

Matt Maloy about A Colorfull IC 3345
Wed, 10-04-2017 12:12
You guys have done a fantastic job. I think you all deserve a break so you can step back and admire your work, because this car looks great. Now I do [...]

Jason Kliewer about Tank Car Restoration Progress - September - October 2013
Sun, 10-01-2017 00:05
I'm trying to build a model of this ACF tank car but don't have any information about how the brake wheel stand attaches to the frame of the car. Is [...]

Roger Kramer about Painting the Orange on IC 3345
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:51
Hello Kurt DID you ever paint with a pot? It takes longer to clean the system then its worth.

Roger Kramer about Working on the Orange and Brown
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:50
Thanks Bob Thanks for your input. We are all volunteers and not a paid rr staff. We do what we can.

Roger Kramer about The Painted Lady
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:48
Hello Matt I did mention your name on the next blog. Thanks for your help see you soon.

Roger Kramer about Painting the Orange on IC 3345
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:47
Hello Kirk You should see it now. We have painted the other side

Roger Kramer about Painting the Yellow Stripe on the 3345
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:46
Hello Gary Thanks you should see it in person!

Roger Kramer about Painting the Yellow Stripe on the 3345
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:45
Thanks Ted SO am I They both need a lot of donations to place them back in service!

Roger Kramer about Working on the Orange and Brown
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:44
Hello Bob Thanks for the compliment. please consider helping with a donation!

Roger Kramer about A Colorfull IC 3345
Sat, 09-30-2017 21:42
Hello John Thanks Yes it looks real good!