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?
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!
Tom and Jim Windmeier were back in the shop making jigs and fixtures to tweak the parts for their replica step stool project.
Jim Windmeier is assembling the prototype, ver 4.0. These guys have raised the bar and are showing what can be done as to fit and finish of fairly complicated angles and pieces not rectangular. I am sure you can all contribute by way of a donation to the step stool project and any help here would be greatly appreciated.
Our friend Steve Holding was back for his annual pilgrimage to IRM and he immediately was put to work on the CA&E steel car window project. Here he is 'piloting' a wood chisel inspecting and cleaning up the rabbets on the stock already machined.
The mortises have been measured and laid out on the stiles. As soon as they have been plunged Steve cleans out the slots and inspects them.
At the end of the day here are eight new windows - at least the parts for them. Eight bottom rails, eight top rails, cut to length and ready for tenoning. And sixteen stiles complete - with 32 mortises plunged and cleaned out today!
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 [...]