General

I guess I do not have permission to use the category for the signal department.  BUT - member/volunteer Frank Carraro has joined the work in that department and generously shares these pics and a short report.

Frank Carraro Photo

Bob Olson and Mike Alterio are replacing a failed LED light unit on the westbound signal at Johnson siding last Saturday.  LED units are being installed because of the high price of the special lamp bulbs used in signals and the considerable labor in replacing them every year.  We are having trouble with lightning causing the LED's to fail, but we may have the fix for that now.

Frank Carraro Photo

Here we see Bob adjusting and lubricating the eastbound signal at Karstens   These antique mechanisms need careful maintenance.  This one was acting up.

Thanks for the report, Frank.  Just goes to show the extent of trying to keep our railroad running, and the many other volunteers working, in many cases invisibly.

Again, here is a sampling of some of the other work I passed by during the day.

Clear Board

Volunteer Frank Carraro has been working to restore and upgrade communications equipment in our depot office.  Here, you will see a green card behind one of the bay window sash.  This represents an early form of communicating a train order to the crew of a train arriving at the station.  A yellow board and a red board are also built and can be displayed for instructing the crews.

Fuse Box

Our Cleveland PCC needs to have this fuse box restored.  It contains a ribbon fuse and is mounted on the roof just after the voltage and current are delivered from the trolley pole.  Eric Lorenz and Lorne Tweed are fitting together pieces and will be repairing and remaking some of the parts that were too water damaged to be reused.

Trolley Boards

When the rains came, we moved inside the shop and milled four new pieces of Douglas fir to be used for new trolley boards on the CTS 4223.  Lorne and Eric inspect the results.

Wagon Top

Victor Humphreys just quietly goes about the business of restoring our B&O wagon top boxcar.  Here the top panel of the door on the right side has had rust and old paint removed and has been reprimed.  Good choice of primer, huh?  Almost the same color as the rusty metal!

Here is just two short reports today to play catch up for me.

Upholstery Shop

John McKelvey is back in the area for the summer season and has resumed work to reupholster all the seats in North Shore 757.  For me it would be a big job to do one seat!

Where the Elite Meet

Here are some of the crew that were obviously in a high level conference.  Why else would they stop talking as I walked by?  The usual suspects and their projects were Lorne Tweed (Cleveland Transit System 4223), John Nelligan (Charles City Western 300), and Rich Witt (Chicago Great Western  X 38).

It was another hot cloudless day at IRM, 92 F, and a very busy day with perhaps 2500 visitors with IRM hosting UP FAMILY DAY for UP Chicago Service Unit employees and families.  Some very unusual operations were featured at IRM with the Union Pacific Passenger EXTRAS, the LEVIATHAN steam train, a special RPO train with mail grabs, CA&E wood interurban main line runs, the CNW Bilevel train, CSL 3142 and CTA 4391 Green Hornet streetcar service, and our Vera Cruz 19 open car trolley.

Heritage Cabooses

The Freight Department had four restored cabooses on display and open as we had personnel to act as docents.  In the background you will see two of the modern UP specially painted locomotives that UP brought to the party.

Passenger EXTRA

The Union Pacific also brought a passenger train to IRM and it left throughout the day from our station platforms and ran passenger EXTRA trips on their Belvidere Sub.  It operated push pull with locomotives on both ends, the one on the west [EDIT] was the CNW 8701, one of only two remaining locomotives delivered new to the CNW, now on the UP roster.

GN 70104

Our completed restoration project for this hopper was also spotted east of Barn 6 for all to see.

Telegraph/Telephone

Volunteer Frank Carraro continued his fine work on the vintage telegraph and telephone system in our depot office and bay window area.

CTS 4223

Lorne Tweed was up on the roof of our Cleveland PCC working on the installation of the many parts needed to restore a working trolley pole to the car.

CRT 1797

Tim Peters was doing some of the next stage restoration work - the electrical systems for Chicago Rapid Transit 1797.

CGW X 38

Work continued on the CGW Russel Snow Plow in spite of very warm temperatures.  Perhaps half of the north side has been needlechipped and more of the many layers of old paint removed.  Victor Humphreys closed out a very long day by applying primer to more of the areas cleaned down to bare metal.

Here are some random images I caught around the site, varied topics.

Playground

The crew of Gerry Dettlof, Ray Bellock, Dave Diamond and Henry Vincent are going over the morning instructions.  More volunteers came throughout the day to assist.  The playground area is rapidly taking shape with the nearly complete large central feature.  Today several smaller pieces were being moved in, targeted for the younger tots.  This is a terrific example of a grass roots project at IRM with member funding and and volunteers who have the attitude that almost anything can be done.

Dust Shields

Rich Witt was toiling over cleanup of the new dust shields we previously made.

Wagon Top

Victor Humphreys spends some time every clear day, weather permitting, and the progress on this classic boxcar is very apparent.

Caboose Train

After resting on Track 41 for a few days, the line up of inspected cabooses left Saturday afternoon.  It makes quite a sight and we hope the operating department can schedule some runs on this equipment.

Vera Cruz 19

A crew of three were on hand Friday to work on Vera Cruz 19.  Mike Alterio, Frank Sirinek, and Mike Stauber were fabricating and fitting new metal at the base of the front dash.  This is part of the often invisible work done by Frank and his crew for constant but incremental improvements to this car.

Buffy

Also on hand for the above efforts was BUFFY who was acting as sort of a LINE SUPERVISOR or PROJECT MANAGER.

Playground

Dave Diamond has been leading a large volunteer crew assembling components and now constructing the playset.  Kind of wet in the morning, but I bet a dozen or so were working in the afternoon and it is taking shape.

End Floor

One of the steel CTA 4000 L cars has been in the barn 4 shop areas for a number of years.  Today, Rich Block came on a visit and was fabricating and cutting metal to allow re-pouring of lightweight concrete MASTIPAVE for the end vestibules.

Priming

Victor Humphreys continues his almost one man efforts to restore the B&O wagon top boxcar.  Here the first two sections of the south side have had all rust and old paint removed and now have been prime painted.

No pic for this news item, but late in the afternoon, Tim Peters, Rich Block, and Bill Wulfert crawled under the CRT 1797 L car.  You have seen the work done by Tim and others on the carbody and now on to the underbody, mechanical, and electrical systems.  The air compressor was inspected, and they then discovered it could be rotated freely by hand.  Not bad for something that has not operated on its own for half a century.  This was truly a piece of good news.

There was a lot of activity at IRM yesterday and work around the campus stole the show.

Leviathan Arrives

The Leviathan arrived in the morning and here it rests on its specially constructed trailer, ready to be unloaded.

Tender

The tender is transported on its own special truck trailer which includes a 'box' for accessories and special tools.

On the Rails

The locomotive has been carefully unloaded using a cable winch to play out wire rope letting it move forward, and with a truck providing the pull from the front end.  This can be tricky but was accomplished safely and without incident.

Playground

The new Children's Playground area is rapidly taking form and shape.  Dave Diamond is leading this project with a lot of volunteer help on all fronts.  Here is the first structure assembled and set in place.

Another Jig

The shop area was not idle either.  Rich Witt is working to construct a special jig to cut parts for the TMS truck rebuilding.  There was a crew of three working on Chicago Rapid Transit 1797 and some of the usual suspects toiled on for the Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car.

Painting

Frank Kehoe snuck up behind me and captured lettering work on our Great Northern 70104 hopper car.  If only I had a steady hand and could paint a straight line!