Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Entries from Sunday, March 21. 2010

Sunday, March 21. 2010

Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 update Posted by James Kolanowski in Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 at 21:06

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Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 update

polished window frames

A lot of work has been happening on the 451 over the past few days. Some of the windows have been removed and are being cleaned and the brass polished. The original scheme for this car did not have paint on the window frames. The outside doors are beginning to be cleaned and prepped, bondo applied and soon to be primed.

repaired corner posts

A lot of cleanup work was done on the east end with the door corner posts and the roll sign box. All the rotted steel was removed and new steel was cold rolled and welded in place. The most difficult part at this point is still coming up with the correct color of gray. The samples we have received to date have all been matched exactly, however, the color on parts of the car do not match those samples. We will be matching two more shades of gray, which will likely be the colors used for the gray on the original 451 scheme, and the second being the gray on the 319.

Additional photos have been added to the CA&E 451 Restoration Gallery. To continue this aggressive restoration project into the Priming and Painting stage, additional monies and donations are still needed. To help with this project, please consider a donation to the Electric Car Department Car Painting Fund, your support will be appreciated.

Sunday, March 21. 2010

Wood Shop Update - March 20, 2010 Posted by Robert Kutella in Wood Shop at 06:05

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Wood Shop Update - March 20, 2010

It was a very busy day with a large volunteer crew in the wood shop, as well as many hands on deck in the Electric Car Department. I took some time out to unlimber the camera a few times. We started out making arrangements for an upcoming tour for the Woodstock Woodworkers club and shifted into high gear making sawdust.

The Shop Cart

Henry Vincent has been working earlier this week to add new wheels to one of our shop carts, and new timber to act as sides/push arms. Before he could complete the job we were already stacking parts on it.

The Feeder

Henry switched over to the shaper crew for testing the final setup on the shaper being used to mill new battens for the depot. The fifty some pieces of stock had been planed to thickness by this time. We are using a power feeder on the machine, but here Henry was in training to start each piece of stock and keep it on track.

Getting in Shape

Buzz Morisette was doing more trim and fitting on the new windwos for the MILW 01984 caboose while the shaping was in full swing. The batten crew included (l to r) Dan Fenlaciki, Henry VIncent, and Rich Witt. Victor Humphreys was not in this pic but was invaluable as usual.

Rabbets

Buzz needed to make several small rabbets and grooves for tracking the sliding bay windows and here he is making use of a custom jig that has served us well for such work.

Wow

By the end of the day Rich Witt was stacking off several hundred feet of finshed depot battens, I think five layers deep in this pic. Lots more to go, come on out.

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Comments

James Kolanowski about Milwaukee Road 33C update
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 [...]

AJ about Milwaukee Road 33C update
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...

Ted Miles about Progress update of the Multi Purpose Building
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, [...]

J Blustein about The Old Bag and the Silver Beaver
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.

Jason E about Progress update of the Multi Purpose Building
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 [...]

Thomas about It Happened One Saturday at IRM
Wed, 06-02-2021 17:27
Nice to see 428's cab back on. Looking forward to when it is operable!

Ted Miles about It Happened One Saturday at IRM
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 [...]

bob miller about Dover Strait Progress Part Three
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?

Ted Miles about John McLoughlin Progress - Part Two
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

Jason Erkenswick about Diesel Shop update 1/29/2021
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 [...]

Alex Schneider about Dover Strait Progress Part Three
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 [...]

Matthew Maloy about Dover Strait Progress Part Three
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 [...]