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Thursday, March 25. 2010Michigan Electric 28 Update - March 21, 2010Here is a fairly long post of progress on the new baggage doors being made for the ME 28. Lots of images, short on text, all from the camera of Ray Schmid, Gwyn Stupar was the photographer.  Berlin Sander We continue to make good use of the massive Berlin Sander obtained from the Milwaukee Cold Springs Car Shops over 35 years ago. Finally exhumed from our IRM storage and restored to use a few years ago, it serves us well. The new doors are almost four feet wide and there was no problem running through the sander. L to r, Bob Kutella, Jim and Tom Windmeier, Norm Krentel, and Ray Schmid run one of the doors into the feed end of the machine.  The Gathering Bob Kutella moves to the outfeed end while Jeff Brady, Norm Krentel, and Ray Schmid gather, ready to receive the door.  The Catchers Norm K, Jeff B, and Ray S are the 'catchers'.  Smooth The top surface seen has already had a few passes through the sander. You must remember that the real work is done on what is the bottom surface. We have the drums set to be very conservative, only removing 0.005 inch or less per pass. More passes are needed, but this allows one to carefully monitor and inspect the surface, to decide when 'enough' has been done. OR - we could be more aggressive and run enough passes that it would be thin enough to serve as a window sash.  One More Pass Do we need one more pass? Norm K, Ray S, and Jeff B inspecting the latest side surfaced.  On the Bench Both doors are complete through the Berlin Sander and back on the bench. Ray S is checking the panel smoothness (these are thinner and were not touched by the Berlin). The blue patches are thin layers of filler applied to correct some divots or defects which would essentially 'never' get sanded out. This is not an issue since these doors will be painted both sides.  Resting Easy Ray S resting easy now that the big hurdle is over, having come through the sander with a fine job, no damage, and the machine worked well.  Filling This particular filler is polyester glazing putty and the ME guys were not too familiar with its use. I demonstrated what little I know and was happy to back away after smoothing out the corner.  Smiles All Around Ray S and Jeff B satisfied with a good job well done! Thursday, March 25. 2010Wood Shop Update - March 24, 2010I am hoping for some images to come in shortly, to tell more of this story, but thought I would at least post a quick entry as I take a break from other work this AM.  Battens We had a sizable crew yesterday and proceeded to continue on the new battens for the depot project. By day's end we had sawn and planed 1100 (ELEVEN HUNDRED) more feet of blanks to be milled into battens. The stack of completed strips was piled high! We had the shop set up as a sort of factory production line and here you see Rich Witt, Victor Humphreys, Henry Vincent, and John Faulhaber processing the fourteen foot long pieces. I am behind the camera.  The Line Another view of Victor, Rich, Henry and John ready to go. Pete Galayda and I also pitched in for a crew of six. The extra hands made the work much faster and more productive. Thursday, March 25. 2010Wood Shop Update - March 21, 2010Here are some new images 'hot off the press' from the camera of Ray Schmid. Last Sunday we welcomed some new woodworking volunteers, the father and son team of Jim and Tom Windmeier. Their project is to build many wood replica stepboxes in the style of the old metal ones long disappeared from railroad use. These will improve safety and access for those boarding our trains, young and old alike.  Jigs One of the first steps for Jim and Tom was to design the project, and then to proceed to build the first prototype, serial no. 1. This has a lot of tricky angles and cuts so they designed a number of jigs and fixtures to help.  A Sled One of those useful items is this sled designed to run in concert with our tablesaw. A number of blocks and stops are added so parts can be reproduced with a minimum of fussing and measuring.  Coming Together The pieces are carefully fitted to check angles and conformance to the 'idea'.  The Shape Here the four sides (inverted) are held together and then checked. Now you see what he has been doing, huh?  Off Topic Of course this image has nothing to do with the described project but someone who shall remain nameless caught Tim Peters and myself politely discussing an upcoming task. Sort of a laugh and reward for those that read to the end of this entry. |
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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 [...]