Great Northern John McLoughlin

The warmer weather is here although you wouldn't think with 8 inches of snow April 13th and 27th here in Huntley where I live. With a few volunteers we have been scheduling work on the John McLoughlin. This year we are beginning to tackle a large job of repairing the worst of the two vestibules and adjoining steel support structures. The sleeper sat outside for many years in Hamilton, Illinois and the weather took its toll on the exterior steel. Both stairs and all joining structures must be replaced. Here are some pictures of that beginning.

We are also resuming the interior restoration. Mark Hoffmann and Matt Holtz have already removed more old paint in the hallway near the men's bathroom. Three weeks ago Mark primed the area after Howard Geier had repaired a number of imperfections on that wall.

The next report will detail the application of the finished coat of paint in these areas. Please consider a donation to the John Mcloughlin project.   Thanks, Roger

Not to be out done the John Mcloughlin also has seen its share of new progress.    For this we have to thank Mark Hoffmann, Howard and Mary Gierer, and Bob Olson for all their efforts.  Work is now focusing  on the hallway and the men's bathroom.  This type of paint restoration is very tedious and takes a while to remove the old paint, sand and then prime.  With a few more volunteers we could get the entire area primed and painted by this fall. Regardless, you will read about  our progress.   This is a brief summary of the John McLoughlin project to date.  We have a variety of activities related to this sleeper that require various skills and talents such as painting, carpentry, metal work and sandblasting of parts.   All can be accomplished by you the volunteers.   Please come out and visit us in  the coach and freight car shop of barn 10.     Thanks   Roger  Kramer   

We have been very busy this early fall.  All the volunteers that work in barn 10 have been recruited into the fall the painting crew.  As you now know various painting projects have taken priority this year.  We are trying to get all these projects completed before winter starts.  By now you have seen my blog progress on the IC 3345.   That is not the only department car being reworked. We have also been slowly restoring and repainting the roof of the, John Mcloughlin, our 8-1-2 Pullman sleeper.  The painting of  black is the culmination of our hard efforts.   Please take a look!  It might not look like much but some of our volunteers have spent over 8 months working for this moment.  In addition,  Howard Gierer and crew have repainted five roofs on our Rock Island fleet.    .   Please consider sending in a donation the help support more  restoration improvements on this heavy weight sleeper.   The John Mcloughlin  project needs your support.          Thanks            Roger

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.  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 

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.    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   

         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.