Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451

Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Sunday, March 21. 2010

Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 update Posted by James Kolanowski in Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 at 21:06

Comment (1)

Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 update

polished window frames

A lot of work has been happening on the 451 over the past few days. Some of the windows have been removed and are being cleaned and the brass polished. The original scheme for this car did not have paint on the window frames. The outside doors are beginning to be cleaned and prepped, bondo applied and soon to be primed.

repaired corner posts

A lot of cleanup work was done on the east end with the door corner posts and the roll sign box. All the rotted steel was removed and new steel was cold rolled and welded in place. The most difficult part at this point is still coming up with the correct color of gray. The samples we have received to date have all been matched exactly, however, the color on parts of the car do not match those samples. We will be matching two more shades of gray, which will likely be the colors used for the gray on the original 451 scheme, and the second being the gray on the 319.

Additional photos have been added to the CA&E 451 Restoration Gallery. To continue this aggressive restoration project into the Priming and Painting stage, additional monies and donations are still needed. To help with this project, please consider a donation to the Electric Car Department Car Painting Fund, your support will be appreciated.

Sunday, February 21. 2010

Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 update Posted by James Kolanowski in Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 at 22:20

Comments (0)

Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 update

Roof Prep and Repairs

Over the last two weeks the CA&E 451 has seen a lot of activity on its roof and exterior with over a dozen people working on it. The entire roof has been stripped of two layers of canvas, down to bare wood. A large amount of an epoxy like wood filler has been used to seal, strengthen and fill in various portions of the wood roof so that new canvas can soon be applied.

Chipping the last side

Almost all of the sides and ends have been needle chipped, including window posts, and the letter boards. One side has been DA sanded after the needle chipping. Prep work continues on the window frames and jambs. Some steel work will be started soon on the end doors near the floor along with some small areas above the anticlimbers.

Some mechanical work has been started as well, the bad order air compressor has been removed for some work. The batteries have been services and charged. Traction motor leads have been reconnected. Additional work will continue as time and space permits between all the body prep work.

Additional photos have been added to the CA&E 451 Restoration Gallery. To continue this aggressive restoration project into the Priming and Painting stage, additional monies and donations are still needed. To help with this project, please consider a donation to the Electric Car Department Car Painting Fund, your support will be appreciated.

Sunday, February 14. 2010

Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 ... Posted by James Kolanowski in Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 at 15:31

Comments (3)

Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 Restoration

On Saturday, February 6th, the CA&E 451 was moved into the Diesel Shop to begin its restoration. Over the past year or two, the diesel department and electric car department has been working together to trade heated shop space for storage barn space for various projects. In this case, the 451 is among the highest priority projects in the Electric Car Department, with the goal of having most of the restoration aspects completed by early April. The goal is to have the roof re-canvased after some roof repairs are completed, and have the car repainted after some minor repairs are made to the carbody.

CAE 451 progress

A photo album was created in the Electric Car Department Photo Gallery to photo document the progress of the CA&E 451's restoration. This album will most certainly be updated more often than the blog and its contributors will do their best to add cations/descriptions to the photos. The most recent photos will show up first.

To continue this aggressive restoration schedule, additional monies and donations will be needed. The entire restoration project for this car is estimated to cost about $12,000. To help with this project, please consider a donation to the Electric Car Department Car Painting Fund, your support will be appreciated.

« previous page (Page 1 of 1, totaling 3 entries) next page »
Frontpage

Blog Administration

Open login screen

Find us on Facebook

Category Tree

Calendar

Quicksearch

Comments

Philip Cwikowski about Steam Department Update 5-19-2012
Sun, 05-20-2012 17:31
I would like to make a note of a couple of things. The sandblasting process involves taking the sand like material, called blackblast, and smashing it [...]

lucien o. about B&O Boxcar Update - May 9, 2012
Fri, 05-18-2012 22:48
This is one interesting freight car. I've been browsing images on-line of these B&O wagon-top cars lately, and noticed a variety of lettering and [...]

James Kolanowski about Diesel Days, July 16th and 17th, 2011
Fri, 05-18-2012 12:03
Mark, Its hard to say if 760 will be running in early July. It will be for Diesel Days, but I can't answer yet if we'll have it ready sooner than [...]

Mark Johnson about Diesel Days, July 16th and 17th, 2011
Thu, 05-17-2012 13:13
Im going to drive from California to the Chicago area in early July and staying for about 3 weeks. Im a big fan of FM units. Any chance the MILW 760 [...]

Norman about Model Railroad Public Display - April 28 , 2012
Sun, 05-13-2012 11:44
Line sidewalks and steets with rail ties and fill with small pea gravel. Similar to construction near Lincoln Home in Springfield, IL.

Roger Kramer about CNW or CGW 285 Which is it? Work continues
Fri, 05-11-2012 10:45
Thank you. If you are send pics to Irm in mail,Please make it attention Roger Kramer. Thanks..

Don Vaughn about CNW or CGW 285 Which is it? Work continues
Thu, 05-10-2012 17:08
I will be sending some color photos of the CGW 285 shortly after rebuilding by the CGW. And yes, they had chrome grabs and the end gate. I had been [...]

anon about CNW or CGW 285 Which is it? Work continues
Thu, 05-10-2012 12:58
Yes there are some chrome plated partsespecially on the sissors gate. Unfortunately, they were recently taken off, and left in the gravel. I have [...]

Lucien O. about CNW or CGW 285 Which is it? Work continues
Thu, 05-10-2012 00:46
The book "Chicago Great Western Color Guide" (Morning Sun) has some interesting notes about these CGW combines: [BEGIN QUOTE] "In 1954 the CGW bought [...]

Wally Unglaub about Steam Department Update 5-5-2012
Sun, 05-06-2012 21:42
Nigel, What you just told me is great news. YOU clarified things for me.

Nigel Bennett about Steam Department Update 5-5-2012
Sun, 05-06-2012 20:34
Wally, I must say that I am puzzled by this comment. The whole driver for the current work is the major FRA mandated inspection (15 year 1472 [...]

Wally Unglaub about Steam Department Update 5-5-2012
Sun, 05-06-2012 16:39
I am just afraid that by the time 1630 is up and ready to run, it will have to be dismantled again to do the Federally mandated inspection. I am [...]