Illinois Railway Museum Blog

HUH?  Those of you looking at the date on this entry will think I am not using this year's calendar.  But one of our volunteers now owns a digital camera and a laptop computer (GASP)!  Here is the first image he has sent as he navigates his way into electronic technology.  There may be a few more added to this as they come in.  So let us welcome Roger Kramer into his new role as cub reporter.

Using the Jointer

Rich Witt and Roger are using our jointer to produce a square and straight edge on new mahogany stock.  This is in the early stages of making new windows for IC 3996.  Any of you prospective volunteers that want to witness all the steps to take rough wood into the finished product are always welcome to come out and watch - or maybe learn a bit about our shop and pitch in.

I managed to make a short visit to IRM yesterday and grabbed some photos of the work going on.

Wheels

I will start out with an image of a wheel and axle set from our Milwaukee Streetcar TM 972.  The car has received a lot of restoration work and we are underway with work on the mechanical systems to get this running again.  Look for the exciting full story in the next issue of Rail & Wire, due to be mailed in a few weeks.

Step Well

Victor Humphreys has been working on the step well end plates for our ATSF 1400 wood caboose.  They require a lot of repair and he is now on step well number three.  Above is one of the renewed end plates ready to be prime painted.

Shop Work

When the shop space was expanded with an addition to Barn 4 some of the existing systems had to be partially dismantled.  Victor Humphreys, John Faulhaber, and Henry Vincent (on the ladder) are 'engineering' how to extend and re-install some parts to our wood chip collector system.

Parts

Just like Tinkertoy parts, Henry and Victor have disassembled and are reassembling pieces for the new duct run.

Jointing

A fair amount of work was invested in continuing the work for new Passenger Car windows for IC 3996.  Eric Lorenz was re-acquainting himself with some woodworking skills, while Bill Moran stands by at left, ready to help.  Running this stock through the jointer can help take out any warp or twist in the wood, before it is planed and finally sized.  After jointing, Victor and Henry helped push some of these 48 pieces through our planer.

Other shop work included Tim Peters back in his window making mode, this current project is CRT 1797.  Three new sash were in the glue press and additional frames were being fit and dry assembled.

Tim and Rod Turner also worked to replace failed bearings on our disk/belt sander, and it seemed in working order, better than ever, as I left the shop.

Frank Sirinek and Mike Stauber were working on seats for the Vera Cruz open car, Bill Wulfert was painting L car parts, and walk through visitors included Randy Hicks, Jim Windmeier, Joe Stupar, Dave Fullarton, and Joel Arendt.