First I want to start out talking a bit about the "Wednesday Guys". This group of stalwarts have faithfully been out at Union almost every Wednesday year around, and have accomplished a LOT of restoration work. But since they are present mid-week, they are virtually invisible and many of the regular weekend volunteers are not even aware of them. One of their current projects is a steel Union Pacific caboose - see the separate blog CATEGORY for more detail on that. Over the last few years they are largely responsible for the following restorations, working under the wing of the Freight Car Department, and adding other projects, to support their own work, and the Used Bookstore Operation. THANKS GUYS!!
How about this job on the Illinois Central 9792 caboose?
Don't forget one of their first, the Milwaukee Road 01984 caboose.
And the Belt Railway of Chicago 223 caboose.
Passenger car work included Milwaukee Road 1307 baggage car for use as the Used Book Store.
And the ex-CB&Q 6166 car now restored as BN 968398 MWX. Inside it is used as a shop area and has several small bench level power tools and supplies.
Which brings us to one of the current projects, Norfolk & Western 1459. The car is an 82 foot long storage mail car built by Pullman in 1910.
Here it is in October 2007 with the roof sandblasted and repainted and the car side in primer.
Now it is almost all repainted N&W green.
June 4, 2008
Lee Regione is finishing the green paint on the west end.
Blake Johanson has the dirty job of attacking the grime on the trucks, which soon will sport shiny new paint.
Here, Bill Leider has begun placement of the letterboard NORFOLK AND WESTERN graphic. This is done the hard way, one letter at a time.
Comments
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 [...]