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Monday, October 25. 2010Wood Shop and Other News - October 24, 2010 Painting Jim Windmeier was back on the job yesterday, sanding, priming, and doing other finish work on his project to produce replica stepboxes. This is really high class workmanship.  More Nosing Eric Lorenz was out another day, and was continuing to prepare and trim new rubber nosing for the new doors on CTS 4223, our Cleveland PCC car.  Nice Job Later in the day, Eric had applied that new nosing to the four rear doors on the car. It really makes a visual difference and prepares another area of the car to receive more finished paint.  Repairs Part of the Museum work is to maintain and repair any and all of the cars in our operating fleet. Dan Mulvihill was working on electrical contacts and arc shoots (used to contain and direct arcs created when the contacts open or close). This was on the Illinois Terminal 415, one of our most used trolleys, and which sorely needs a rest for more in depth renewal. In the previous BLOG entry by James Kolanowski he managed to get and post an image of the CNS&M 354. The car was a city car which saw service in the Waukegan area, and some duty on city streets in Milwaukee. I would guess it has been 15 years or more since seeing operation at IRM. A substantial restoration was completed by Jeff Brady decades ago, but the purpose here was to get the car running again, to evaluate any defects or problems, and to thoroughly inspect the car. There are some issues, and some will require some money to correct, but this is a very imporrtant first step to hopefully add another car to the regular operating fleet. Sunday, October 24. 2010Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway Company 354
The C&ME 354 operated today on the carline for some testing. Here we see 354 on track 41 west after changing ends. I think this is the first time I've seen this car operate at IRM, although it has been used some time in the past.
Sunday, October 24. 2010Wood Shop and Other News - October 23, 2010 Careful Fitting Tim Peters is fitting some replacement wood blocks and pieces to CRT 1797. This is a powered wood L car from Chicago that is occupying most of Tim's time.  Nosing Around Eric Lorenz is trimming some new rubber nosing sections that are destined for the new doors on CTS 4223.  Chapter Two Again, Victor Humphreys pitched in to help me along with the electrical work on the Sand Springs 68. Faithful readers of these entries will remember last Wednesday that we got the first of the interior lighting circuits operational for the first time in 55 years. By noon Saturday, the second circuit worked and is shown here from the car exterior, brightly lit.  WOW In the afternoon, we tackled the third and final circuit. It needed a little fiddling, but in the end all the lighting now works on 600 volts DC feed, as god has intended it. Joel Arendt came into the car to check on our work.  Rats Nest Those that have ridden the 68 since it first ran five years ago, may recall seeing a collection of temporary wires and jumpers running in the car. Their purpose was to feed ordinary 120 volt AC into some of the lighting circuits, with them isolated from the rest of the car, and thus they could be plugged in when the car was stationary to provide working lights. All of that is now a thing of the past, the car interior much more orderly. This image shows SOME of the old and temporary wiring that has been removed. |
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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 [...]