Illinois Railway Museum Blog

On the Move

Chicago Aurora & Elgin 309 was on the move on Track 41 heading into the Barn for the inspection pit.  Father and son team, Randall and Frank Hicks, worked throughout the day and accomplished most of the items on the checklist and inspection report.

Lighting Panel

Rich Witt has completed available work on several recent projects and volunteered to work on removing light fixtures from a ceiling panel for Cleveland Transit System 4223.  They are very stubborn and recalcitrant, the metal screws being truly well rusted into place.  Later in the day we got to see an original First Aid Box from the CA&E cars and Randy Hicks entered a request for six of them to be built.

The Last Box

John Nelligan is grinning broadly next the last of seven resistance boxes to be restored for Charles City Western 300.  And why not?  It seems he may have spent the last several months glued to a stool at the sandblaster cleaning the many parts before assembly work could be done.

In Place

John is beside himself and also beside the locomotive.  The first grid box is in place and mounting porcelain ready to receive the next three.

Toy Boxcar

John Faulhaber and Henry Vincent are just finishing up the children's activity boxcar sponsored by Ray Bellock.  Before the day was over it rolled happily out of the shop doors, another project complete.

Getting Legs

Jim Foraker worked on parts for our new saw base.  Legs and mounting pads were cut to length and prepped for welding.

Steam Department

Norm Krentel is enjoying the pleasant weather as he monitors the steam generator and steaming tube while a length of white oak is warming up inside.  This for another of the curved pieces being made for Michigan Electric 28.

One of the active members and volunteers in the Signal Department is Frank Carraro.  Here are pictures and a report submitted by Frank.  Good work, and thank you, Frank.

New Bungalow

If you haven't noticed the small aluminum building at the corner of the Office building on the Central Ave side, you should.  It is an "instrument hut" or "signal bungalow", and something important happened in it Saturday May 11th.  In particular, the first wire in the actual complex signal wiring was installed. 

Relay Rack

In the photo of the interior of the hut, the structure on the left is a rack of 74 relay plugboards. 

Relay Pugged In

In this photo you see one relay inserted in the board just to show what one looks like when plugged
in. 

First Wire

On the back side of the rack is much much of the wiring needed to make the whole thing work.  The wires are connected to a small metal clip which snaps into place so that the wire connects to the relay when it is plugged in.   In the next photo you see it being inserted into the proper slot.  The first wire that interconnects one relay to another. As you may guess this is very painstaking work.  A mistake can cause trouble the first time the whole thing is powered up, or years down the line when a signal gives an incorrect indication.  

The circuit drawings were created by Member John Wells, who is a professional signal designer.  Each wire is shown and has a name, such as "121HD3".  It has a starting point, such as "121EHDR-F1"   and and ending point such as "112TPPR-H4".   A small plastic wire tag is placed on the wire at each end when the wire is connected to the device.  Then, after double checking that the wire is connected where the tag says it is, the circuit print is marked out to show it's done.

When this hut is done - this fall maybe - it wiill be picked up and moved to the east end of the depot tracks, and after a lot more work, connected to the signals, and the newly installed switch machines it will control and then, by means of our CTC system, to the Dispatcher's control panel in Spaulding tower.

That's how our signal system expands.  One wire at a time.

In Memory

Just one week ago long time member of IRM and officer of the organization succumbed to a long and arduous hard fought battle with cancer.  In his memory the CA&E train, led by car 409, displayed black marker flags and black bunting across the front.  Crew members included Randall Hicks and Jeff Obarek.  We will all miss and remember you, Jim

Light Panels

Dave Diaz returned to our shops and helped John McKelvey on seat repairs and then moved to working on the old lighting ceiling panels for Cleveland Transit System 4223.  He did make some good progress and managed to remove several of the light fixtures which were held in stubbornly by a host of rusty screws.

Bending Wood

Bill Peterson, Jeff Brady, and Norm Krentel were quite successful in steam bending some white oak slats for the new roof on Michigan Electric 28.  They used a home made steam generator and steaming 'chamber' to cook the wood for two hours.

More Bill

We return to the popular feature MORE BILL.  Bill Wulfert has great patience and stick-to-it-ness as he continues the painstaking work of repairing and restoring myriad light fixture sockets.  Don't tell him I said this as his fame will make him hard to live with.

There was other work going on including more progress on the CGW X 38 snowplow, and on Chicago Rapid Transit 1024, and Electric Car Department tasks.

This will be a short report today as I met and escorted two members of the Great Northern Railway Historical Society on a tour and with meetings to schedule a special event for them.  The GNRHS is holding their annual convention in Chicago this year for the first time and they will spend Saturday July 27 at IRM.  If you are already a GNRHS member, remember the date and plan to attend.  If not there is still time to join them.  There are still volunteers needed to act as tour docents and other IRM support tasks.

Another unusually nice weather day saw many volunteers going on and in the Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow.

WOW

WOW - the iconic CGW Corn Belt Route herald was completed today and it really sets off the north side.  Some of the crew for today are seen here, Dave Rogan, John F, Victor H, Jim Leonard, and Bob Kutella.  Thanks go to Rich Witt for volunteering to snap this image, mostly one of us is behind the lens instead of in front of it.

Control Cab

Jim Leonard went up on the roof quickly to take advantage of good weather and he set to work removing rust and paint from the window posts and framework on the north side windows.  Dave Rogan also pitched in here on the 'high wire' work.

Herald

John F pitched in with me on the painting of the CGW herald.  Not done yet in this pic but we were focused on the end zone throughout the day.

Progress

Jim L is working to close up the open windows on the control cab at the end of the day.  You can see some of the roof cleaned and primed, the headlight mounting plate, etc.

In Closing

I just cannot resist another shot of the plow showing the new herald, the two new windows installed and lacking only the new door (already made) to pose this view as 'done'.

Other progress on the plow today included installation of some more of the interior lining, and removal of the two operator's seats up in the cab.  This was done now to get fabric on order for re-upholstery and also to make more room for the window work.