Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Rebuilt Door

Here is a Kirk Warner pic showing one of the four rebuilt doors back in the CRT 1268 rapid transit car.  Each door was substantially rotted and required a LOT of work by Tim Peters to make them whole.  With the help of several volunteers they are all four installed in the car, again!

In the Shop

And work on this project (1268) advances in the shop.  A few weeks ago we showed several new windows in the process, now here is a stack painted and glazed about ready to be installed in the car.  On the bench you will also see a few short lengths of new window sill to make much needed repairs on the car.

New Siding

We have always reported on the Lake Shore Electric 810 trolley freight trailer project in the Woodshop blogs but perhaps it deserves its own category.  Let us know what you prefer.  In this picture you see an extensive spread of all new car siding completely installed on the north side of the car.

Door Area Work

Here you see Gerry Detloff, and George Clark in the background, working to fit up a steel plate below the side door, and clamping a fabricated sort of bumper to stand off that plate and protect the car.

American Saw

Victor Humphreys is shown finishing touch up paint on this large 20 inch table saw.  Many 'inhabitants' of the woodshop have contributed to this progress over the winter months.

Number 10 Model 3

A close up of the main saw casting showing the manufacturer and model.  This dates from circa 1920.

Smith Tenoner

Here is the progress on our 'new to us' H. B. Smith tenoner.  This is one of the ex Illinois Traction shop machines from Decatur IL that we acquired last fall.  We believe it dates from 1907 and have posted a picture of the Decatur Shops in 1910 showing it in use.

Guard Cage

Victor Humphreys is working on painting the guard cage for the tenoner that is being fabricated by Wayne Baksic.  There are no existing plans for this and probably the machine was operated for 80-90 years without the benefit of any protection for an operator.