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Thursday, July 25. 2013
CGW X38 Update - July 24, 2013 Posted by Robert Kutella
in Chicago Great Western X 38 Russell Snow Plow at
10:49
Comment (1) CGW X38 Update - July 24, 2013This will be another short report since I was busy on the work and meeting with two potential contractors for an upcoming possible project. Things were also complicated since we operated our CGW 601 caboose in train service the last weekend, and on Sunday a window got broken in the cupola. That needed immediate repair since it will also be in train service this coming Saturday. Thanks to Buzz Morisette, Victor Humphreys, and Henry Vincent for cleaning up and making emergency repairs on Sunday, and then reglazing and reinstalling the window yesterday. The Wednesday Special Project group, led by Joe Luciani, is making good progress on restoration of the interior of our ICG steel caboose, but sorry, no pics. So, on to the Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow. A lot has been done in the last few days due to an immense amount of needle chipping on the north side by Kirk Warner and some extra time spent by Jim Leonard on Tuesday. Here, Victor Humphreys is completing the priming of much of the flat side panels near the rear of the plow. Simon Harrison had completed a lot of his day's project work and dropped by outdoors to say hello. WELL - we put him to work well and truly, wire brushing a triangular shaped side area underneath the curved plow wings. And then priming some hard to reach areas. THANK YOU Simon, come back and visit often!! Dave Rogan chipped a lot of areas on the underside of the front plow roof., never a comfortable position to work. Look closely here and you will see one corner of the two new front windows that Buzz installed. And Jim Leonard completed some more chipping on the front roof top, and we got that primed before leaving. Work is always interesting. It fascinates me, I could watch it all day. Victor is standing by to apply primer, Simon and Paul Cronin are busily cleaning more area, and John McKelvey and Henry Vincent came by to look, and discuss their work. Thanks to Henry who constructed a bridge ramp today to allow safer access to the Pullman car John McLoughlin this coming weekend. Sunday, July 21. 2013
CGW X38 Update - July 20, 2013 Posted by Robert Kutella
in Chicago Great Western X 38 Russell Snow Plow at
16:43
Comment (1) CGW X38 Update - July 20, 2013We spent most of the day yesterday on our Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow. WOW! Two workdays in a row with good weather. So this entry will show you some of that work, not so many pics since I spent more time on the business end of a needlechipper rather than behind the camera lens. When I arrived about 8:30 I was greeted by long time member Kirk Warner who now lives in Florida. As always he was eager to get started and is a very hard worker. Out comes the needle chipper and here he is 'enjoying' the removal of a substantial amount of old paint on the right side of the plow. We finished a lot of small and some not so small touches on the left side of the plow in recent weeks and now that side is essentially DONE. The new door is glazed and installed (not without more drama as befitting that task), grab irons re-installed, truck and flanger blade primed and painted, and you have already seen the new windows on that side in previous entries. In addition to all the paint removed by Kirk Warner we also continued chipping and cleaning the front left ramp on the plow. Victor Humphreys is priming that. Earlier, Bill Peterson worked on the front roof area, and another section is done. Reaching all these areas to clean them is is a stretch. No less as Victor continues to prime what are hard to reach areas. It was not all work on the plow for the entire Museum and many were occupied as the crews for Diesel Days. On one of my cooling breaks (it only got to about 90F in the shade but there was no shade), I noticed Bill Wulfert has many of the restored 50th Avenue platform light ready to install. I know this is not plow news but hope you will forgive me - we grow with diversity. Thursday, June 13. 2013
CGW X38 Update - June 12, 2013 Posted by Robert Kutella
in Chicago Great Western X 38 Russell Snow Plow at
14:57
Comments (0) CGW X38 Update - June 12, 2013This was certainly an odd weather day. The forecasters were unified in the prediction it would rain all day, until mid afternoon when it it be REALLY BAD weather. Some volunteers may have been scared off and some events in Chicago were postponed. Two of the volunteers had concerned wives who called the shop to tell them to clear out before 2 PM to beat the predicted storms. We figured we could get an hour or two of work in on the plow, so began with that right away in the morning. And worked along for almost six hours without rain! We got a lot done. Shop work was the first task for Buzz Morisette as he worked to fabricate another new window sill for the cab cupola. This one is destined for the rear window area, if I am not mistaken. Why, it is Dave Rogan of course. Here he is leaning out the cupola window area, and wire brushing the metalwork. Earlier he and I had two needle chippers going at once scaling layers of old paint. You see what those areas look like to your right of Dave, in this picture. Then Dave was using a power wire wheel to clean down to bare metal, seen in the posts to your left left. And below the roof line a hint of the old yellow paint is visible. Always with an eye to the sky, Victor Humphreys came topside and applied primer to all those areas that had been prepped. We had also started on the very long job of restoring the roof. Only a small area to be sure and a bit scary perching way up on the left front corner, knowing there is only the gaping maw of the plow below you. But here is the first primer going on the roof. We were very grateful to have some new and unexpected help from Joe Luciani - here cleaning the truck frame on the left side - and Lee Regione. They were sweating in the sun on the ground while we were sweating up on the roof. Victor had completed the painting up on the roof while the ground work continued. Just in time. Victor attacked those cleaned areas with fresh primer. Here he is doing a triangular flanger support, and then he moved on the prime the truck frame. Inside the cupola Buzz toiled away fitting new wood and also fitting the slider window for the left side. The fixed window looks good installed and the surrounding area painted in the deep maroon. Using the needle chipper is a funny task. It is loud and some vibration is involved. But it can be very satisfying to see the years of use and abuse peel away. You just do not want to put it down. As the painting was going on on the opposite corner, Dave started cleaning layers of paint from the left front corner and roof. |
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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 [...]