We welcomed the return of Bruce Plaxton to the shop and put him to work removing hardware and glass from some of the CA&E windows.
We have a wonderful tool, an 80 plus year old gluing table manufactured by Greenlee in nearby Rockford. Optimistically, we hoped to be able to glue up a few of the new windows by days end, and Steve Holding and John Faulhaber have just set up the rails and dogs to work on the dimensions of these windows.
Bit first we went to our mortising machine and did 16 slots for an additional four CA&E windows slated for the 409.
Next, Rich Witt, John Faulhaber, and Steve Holding began cutting the tenons on the window rails.
At the end of a long day three new frames had been fit and glued, in the press. Rich Witt, Steve Holding, and Victor Humprheys are checking the squareness and seeing that the frames are held tight and true. WOW!
Randy Hicks and Mike Alterio stopped in to exhange info and parts for new hardware that Mike will fabricate for the cars in the Trolleyville collection. Is it just me, or do they look out of place in a room dedicated to making sawdust?
Pete Galayda is working to rebuild the badly deteriorated roof mounted fuse box for this locomotive.
He is also working with John Nelligan to re-create the electrical engineering to fill in missing blanks on the documentation we have, and what changes will be needed to consider revising this engine for operation on 600 volts. Pete is now in the process of re-conditiong the 280 electrical grids using an electrolysis process and wire brushing. Some new insulators and other parts will be needed to place the seven grid boxes into working order.
Thursday, April 8. 2010
Rebecca Tulloch was in the wood shop meeting with Henry Vincent. Who knows what evil plans they are hatching, but look for some exciting enhancements and additions to the WW II re-enactments which will occur throughout the Memorial Day weekend.
I would have guessed the better category for this was more properly "News and Publicity" but as of now I do not have access to that, and they were meeting on our Shop!
Comments
Thu, 03-06-2025 16:28
Yes, there is a wye. Those two have been MU'ed on diesel days a year or two ago.
Wed, 03-05-2025 14:04
7009 number boards look good. Is there a way to turn a locomotive around at IRM? In case you ever had a mind to connect 7009 and 6847?
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 [...]