Great Northern John McLoughlin

         The news of the week regarding the Great Northern sleeper was the long anticipated arrival of newly manufactured parts for the women's wash room.    They consist of one thin steel wall panel about 82' high and 24' wide,  4 interior 82" long supporting brackets and  one modesty wall panel.   These items will be installed before any painting of the area begins.  Its taken a long time but we are are finally seeing some movement  towards our goal of restoring the women's washroom.       Also last Wednesay Bob Olsen continued his work on the roof.  Hopefully, this coming Wed should see the last of the painting on the roof for the season.  

We have some progress to finally report on the ongoing restoration of the 8-1-2 sleeper. Mark Hofmann has been wire wheeling and needle chipping the women's bathroom and connecting hallway for the past two months. He was at it again this last Sunday, Oct 27. He worked on grinding off the excess paint on the ceiling where he had previously chipped. This is a very difficult job. First, working overhead with an electric grinding is very painfully. Very quickly your muscles fatigue from the overhead work. Second, the temperature near the ceiling is always hotter at the top. Don't try this in warm weather! It's another reason for fatigue. The heat can be unbearable. That's the reason we accomplish these tasks in either early Fall or Spring. He also finished priming the hallway where months ago he had needle chipped and sanded the area. If you don't prime the area it will soon start rusting. Here are the results of his efforts.

We are also getting some estimates for making a missing wall panel from R&B Welding of Woodstock, Ill.   Please consider a donation to help defray the costs of manufacturing.    Thank you.      Roger and Mark

EXTRA!!!! EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steam Locomotive,  Frisco 1630,  our 2-10-0  was test fired for the first time today!  It also moved under its own power!!   Thanks to the men and women  of the steam dept!  A job well done!

A special Thank You to Tom Schneider.

Last mentioned in June of this year, Mark Hoffman and I have made some fine progress in repainting this car. Bottomline, the vestibule which was primed in June is now painted a lovely PULLMAN GREEN!! All parts that were taken off more than a year ago are also now reattached. The Winter phase is upon us. That is surface prepping parts of the roof for painting next Spring. Please stop buy barn 3 to view the progress. Donations? .....yes, the "John" could use a few dollars. Thanks in advance for your donation directed to fund RMCLOU.

The next really big job is to locate a buffer stored outside in the material yard. Interested in lending a helping hand? See Mark or myself for an exciting afternoon of FUN at the ole train yard. Thanks..... Roger Kramer.