Illinois Railway Museum Blog

We had a great turnout Saturday! Charlie Strong, Stan Wdowikowski, Warren Lloyd, Joel Ahrendt, Roger Smessaert, Rod Turner and "the new guy" Mike Sorenson. All under my supervision Dug out and straightened the seven remaining poles. That completed the worst section that had to be fixed.

We began at eight AM at the car shop. After a job briefing we headed out on the railroad. Once at our work location we held a short safety/work plan meeting, then split up into three groups. Two groups dug by hand the third would help me do the rigging, aligning and back filling.

I did not get a chance to rest. As soon as we get one pole done. I would bring the rigging to the next expecting a bit of a break. But as soon as I got there the diggers were done and We began rigging. When the backfillers completed the last pole, they would come and help me, the diggers would then move to the next pole. This continued until we completed 7 poles.

We did break for lunch when most took the ComEd 4 to town and we met at Clausen's for burgers.

After the poles were done we headed West and completed some minor repairs at Schmidt siding, then to across from the Depot where we cleared up some fouled telephone wires. That was the day.

These guys worked their butts off to keep IRM running smooth. They sure earned "the right" to first dibs on pan equipment! These are usually car dept. & diesel dept. people but today working on DC line jobs demonstrating how we work together when we need to.

I haven't had this much fun in years. All you "old guys" that were bugging me about pan operation owe these guys a big THANK YOU! THEY just made a big leap towards "pantographobility".

Max Tyms
Supt. D/C Line Dept.