Friday, August 7. 2020
More Fun at Barn 10 in Late June Posted by Roger Kramer
in Passenger Car Department at
13:13
Comments (2) More Fun at Barn 10 in Late JuneOur fun has continued focusing on the exterior restoration of the Mt Harvard. When you view these following pictures, please realize there is a common thread here. The majority contain the pictures of people volunteering and contributing to the various projects. Please remember, without our volunteers, the museum is just a group of old machines. Thanks to all of you in barn 10 as well as the other departments that have assisted us. Anyway, both entrance doors, tops and bottom, are now completed with one side hung and in place. Both traps are also in place and functioning quite well. Here are more pictures of those events in progress. There is much sanding entering the pictures. Adding to our barn 10 crew are the Special Projects folks, Ed, Paul and Lee. They will be joining us; bring their much appreciated energy and talents to help us. More about them coming in future blogs. Now to the other major project. The John McLaughlin, as seen in the previous blog, has the interior sections completely repainted. The next far reaching project in this sleeper is the upholstering of the many torn and damaged seats and backs. June has been a busy month in spite of the pandemic taking hold of our country. The museum will be open to the general public starting the weekend of July 25. New guideline will be issued to each visitor as they enter the museum. Some displays will be open to the public within the constants set by the governor. All in all you still will enjoy your visit to the Illinois Railway Museum. Thanks, Roger. Wednesday, June 17. 2020
Very Active First Week of June Posted by Roger Kramer
in Passenger Car Department at
17:27
Comments (3) Very Active First Week of JuneThis first week of June in barn 10 was very productive even with volunteers keeping the prescribed distancing. The four ongoing projects were the Mt Harvard, Milwaukee Road 649, John Mc Laughlin, and the Pawnee. The following is a summary of the four projects in pictorial form. First, the Milwaukee Road coach, 649. For the last seven months the bulk of our restoration efforts in the coach department have been devoted to the John McLaughlin. I am proud to say that we have accomplished our goal of repainting the entire eight sections of the sleeper. Here are pictures of the last areas being repainted. The Pawnee has received a drumhead sign. The last project is the Mt Harvard. I am committed to repainting the sleeper this year. We are focusing all our attention on the exterior. Getting it prepped is a labor intensive job. If you would like to see more progress in these four projects please consider make a donation to any or all of them. Tuesday, April 28. 2020Long awaited progress report on the Mt HarvardThe Mt Harvard has changed its appearance since my last report on the sleeper. We have continued working on it through the winter and have made great strides on our goal of operating the Pullman. The change, has been amazing! I will explain as well as letting the pictures do the talking. You will remember we had our first xmas party in the Mt Harvard lounge last December. At that time party goers were impressed when shown our progress on the sleeper. We are making more progress concentrating now on the vestibule. Renewing and repairing that area is now our goal. Along with that is the prepping of both exterior sides for future painting. In April 2019 I contracted with Harmony Metal of Gilberts, Illinois to manufacture 6 duplicate stairs at a cost of $1200 ea. One stair was installed in August, 2019 on the Mt Harvard. Now the second stair has been installed. An additional four stairs were made for the John McLoughlin's future installation.
The last project we started on before the shutdown was the rebuilding of the two traps for the vestibule. Parts have been made for the rebuild but we ran out of time to reassemble them. We have also been working on the exterior.
I am so very proud of all the volunteers and employees that have contributed to this project! Many hours of work still lay ahead of us but we are all working together to get the job done. The Virus has complicated our time frame to return the Mt Harvard to limited service. Hopefully, we still might see the project get finished by the end of this year. The Mt Harvard restoration is being solely funded by your donations to the restricted fund. Please consider a donation to help with the restoration of the Mt Harvard project! https://www.irm.org/donations/category/passenger-car-department/ |
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Comments
Fri, 03-29-2024 21:26
We're slackers and spend more time working on the equipment in the shop than keeping all you readers updated. We'll work on it, but I'm sure updates [...]
Thu, 03-14-2024 08:02
What happened to the Department Blog? It's been over 2 years and I still regularly check for updates, but nothing comes...
Mon, 12-27-2021 16:28
Happy New Year to all the Departments at the Illinois railway Museum! Thanks for all the good work you do in railroad preservation. Ted Miles, [...]
Wed, 10-13-2021 13:33
Was the CB&Q 1309 every transported to IRM?I’ve been reading old issues of Rail&Wire and the car was mentioned several times.
Mon, 06-07-2021 22:40
I was wondering if in the model layout display what scale would you guys be using and would you be displaying model train history as well? Just [...]
Wed, 06-02-2021 17:27
Nice to see 428's cab back on. Looking forward to when it is operable!
Tue, 06-01-2021 16:47
I hope the work will continue on the UP #428. Now that they are the museum's connection to the national railroad network; she would be very [...]
Sat, 04-17-2021 23:07
What is the status of 126, the Milwaukee Buffet car that is in S. Dakota? Any guess on when or if it will get to IRM?
Wed, 04-14-2021 21:09
Perhaps it is time to scrap the remains of the c, B & Q 7128 to make room for the Villa Real. Ted miles, IRM member
Wed, 04-14-2021 15:26
Hi IRM my name is Jason and I was wonder If you guys would be willing to save a CN Dash8-40cm they are currently being retired by CN and being [...]
Fri, 04-09-2021 19:56
Bear in mind that the Nebraska Zephyr is an articulated train set, so cars cannot be inserted at will. Although cars and/or a second engine could be [...]
Wed, 03-31-2021 11:37
I believe Silver Pony is currently on the back burner, and has been put into storage in one of the barns. The car needs a lot of work done to it's [...]