Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Today's function was to ensure smooth operation of the Santa trains. I arrived around 9am, to a balmy -3 degrees, Adam around 11. I started with putting a charger on the car battery Adam used for the Depot street switch stand light. I then went about checking the crossings for snow and ice buildup. Central ave, and Depot street were not bad, and were easily cleaned out with a broom. Karstens crossing was another story. The ice along the south rail was really packed and frozen in. Once Adam arrived, we fired up the air compressor, and broke out the air lance that Adam had made. We still had quite a job at Karstens, but we got it cleaned up. We returned to the property and proceeded to blow out 50th ave, and the Electric switch. East switch, East Wye, and Carline wye switches were also checked and cleared.

smudge pots at the south wye switch

Item number next was to light the 6 smudge pots Adam had set up, and light the switch stands at Carline Wye, and Depot street. We then went back to the material yard and dug up 4 more smudge pots with good wicks, and put them out at Depot street. The 6 Adam set up yesterday have Kerosene in them, the 4 from today are filled with Diesel. The Kerosene seems to do a better job of heating the rail and clearing the switch. The diesel did the job, but might need more pots to cover some longer switches. We were informed at the end of the day by the train crew that there were no track related issues on tonights runs.

After we had everything in order for the train runs, we attempted to start the 50. NO DICE, at 11 degrees, she wasn't even going to turn over. SO off to barn 2 we went. We made good progress organizing the shelves, and organizing our parts and tools. A lot of garbage was collected and moved up to the front for hauling to the dumpster. The walkways are much clearer now. Still a lot of clutter to be cleaned up but good progress was made.

About an hour before the last train of the day, Adam and I broke out the cameras and tripods and did some night shots around the property. I've posted a few in the IRM members section under Tom Hunter's group. It was quite a sight out there.