Today unofficially marked the beginning of 'the busy season' by inspecting the first portions of the mainline for its return to revenue service in the coming weeks.
Food started off the morning in Marengo with Frank Devries and myself. After arriving to the property we were joined by Bob Olson and began walking track from Seeman Rd working East. The priority was to walk and mark ties to be replaced this year as well as inspect for the usual defects; joint bars, bolts, breaks, culverts and anything else that isn't quite right. We walked a few hours before calling it lunch at Subway. Tom Hunter met us there and we were off for a few more hours of inspection.
We officially walked from Signal 201/202 all the way to the east end of the line. A few hard miles in full winter gear.
Totals from the day include 387 ties marked for renewal between West Switch Johnson to Four Mile Siding (+ a few more not yet marked), one center broken joint bar and two pull aparts. At least another 100 ties will be marked once we clear ballast off the track between Poles 39-46ish. The goal is 700 ties on the mainline this year which we will begin to distribute next weekend. Slow orders and O.O.S. bulletins ARE posted and will stay in place until repaired. We called it a day with dinner at Joe's and wrapped up a lot of loose ends.
Frank will be out tomorrow and next weekend we'll begin loading flat cars with ties for distribution and probably working on repairs as well as continued inspection. Come out and join the fun!
***If you're interested in helping out give me a shout at lzeje657@msn.com or find any one of us on most weekend and we'll get you hooked up!
Adam Robillard
IRM Roadmaster
lzeje657@msn.com
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 [...]