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Thursday, September 23. 2010Wood Shop and other Views - September 22, 2010 A Clean Shop John Faulhaber is one of several folks who have worked in the past few weeks to help REALLY clean the wood shop area. As a reminder, the wood shop is closed to restoration work this coming weekend as we are hosting an annual event for us - this time about 100 folks from coast to coast all interested in old woodworking machines. And we have them!  Patching Steel Gerry Dettloff is working to piece in new steel and weld it all up on CRT 1797, the next wood L car restoration being done by Tim Peters. That end plate was pretty much like a lace doily - I suppose you can expect that on a car over a century old!  Another Silver Car Many of you have read of the exploits of our Wednesday Warriors, a group of fellows who volunteer on Special Projects. They are largely invisible since they do not attend IRM on weekends, but their work is certainly NOT invisible. This season they have been laboring on a lightweight smoothside baggage car from the CB&Q. I think I will go with 983 although there has been some confusion with the number 963. In this Photo, Paul Gasiorowski has been applying new silver to the north side of the car. This is a rare photo with the other cars stored in yard five out for last week's showcase operations, leaving us an empty track.  More Paint Wayne Bates is working on one of the sliding doors as Paul continues east with the paint roller.  Corner Repairs Meanwhile, Neal Schwingbeck is welding in new steel to repair some wrinkles sustained to the corner. If any of you saw this car a scant six months ago you would not believe it to be the same piece of equipment now! Monday, September 20. 2010Trolley Bus Dept. Members Day Update
Richard Schauer provided service throughout the day Saturday, bringing out several coaches. We started the day with the Edmonton 181, followed by Chicago Marmon 9553, then Seattle MAN 4020. Once Charlie King arrived, they pulled “his baby”, the CSL 84, out of the garage. They parked it at Central and Depot where it immediately drew a crowd. For about an hour, Charlie greeted the steady stream of visitors and treated them to tours of the coach and stories about the coach in service and ongoing restoration. I spent the day working the Cash & Cary Chicago Sign table to raise money for the restoration of the many signs around the property. It was our best day ever! Thanks to everyone who stopped by and made a purchase/donation. Many of the signs already restored (North Shore, South Shore, CA&E, IC…) were lit up all day and looked fantastic. You can help by visiting the “Signs For Sale” button on the home page and purchasing your very own piece of Chicago history. Overall it was a great day. Kudos to the volunteers in all the departments who made this year’s event a success.
Monday, September 20. 2010Car Work - September 19, 2010I usually post more about work in the wood shop and freight car department, where I work, and to be sure, this weekend saw us in the shop. In this case, many folks participated in our annual spring cleanup. Well, no, I guess spring is past, but next weekend the shop will be closed to Museum work, as we host over 100 woodworkers from around the country in a four day event. So, when I had enough cleaning under my belt, I walked around the barn and caught a few pics, to share here.  Panel Prep Ed Waytula is working on a new panel for the Cleveland PCC 4223. You will have noticed that the car is now in primer, getting ready for finish colors.  Latch Eric Lorenz was installing a lot of odds and ends that should be mounted on the car before the final coats are sprayed on. This is a latch and pocket to hold the off side battery door in the raised position.  Doors In the last few weeks the rush has been on to add all the above mentioned parts and trim. Here, Eric has completed installing and priming the set of new front doors, post trim and gutter. Those and the mid car exit doors were also primed to be ready for color. I hate to look in my crystal ball and jinx the project by making a prediction, but it is looking like the roof and upper body are may see color SOON!  Roof Panels For you guys and gals out there wondering about the Michigan Electric 28, here is the progress on the roof. The guys were on break so I snuck up on the scaffold to give you an idea of the progress. The roof is perhaps over 50% covered with the new custom bent panels, and it makes a big difference in appearance covering up the skeleton of the roof framing. |
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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 [...]