Not a fitting end but fitting progress. Lorne Tweed continues to custom fit stiles and rails for new IC 3996 windows. There is a lot of fussy work involved for eleven new frames.
Lorne makes the final checks and adjustments on two more frames assembled and glued, now clamped in the press. Four new frames glued, seven to go, for those of you at home keeping score.
Roger Kramer is making a close check on some tricky cuts at the bottom of the new windows for the Villa Falls, to accommodate the weatherstipping and rub strips. Behind him, Rich Witt sets up the router for another cut on these frames.
One new frame was ready to go home for finish work but the second one requires another step or two to make it nearly perfect. Roger and Rich discuss the work. Roger is holding one of the badly rotted and deteriorated original bottom rails to demonstrate where and how the brass finger lifts will be installed.
We have been asked to produce a number of new wood armrests for a passenger car. Roger is examining a provided sample as we puzzle out the best way to make these, and the materials needed. Looks simple - right? Maybe not so simple as you might think.
Saving the best till last? Max Tyms is making good progress with the electrical work needed to complete the new shop space. Here you see one of the rows of new flourescent lights energized!
Here are some images we obtained yesterday afternoon, for a peek at some of the work in the Passenger Car Department - ongoing throughout the winter months.
Two passenger car trucks have seen work to ready them for the upcoming arrival of the OLYMPUS in coming months.
These will be placed under the OLYMPUS and the OLYMPUS trucks placed under the SILVER PONY, with the assistance of large cranes and (cheering crowds?). As I understand it, this is a 'temporary' arrangement to allow both cars to be placed on wheels and to be able to return the flat car used to ship the SILVER PONY.
One of the Rock Island coaches used during the Thomas Event and occasionally on our other passenger trains is getting ceiling work and other interior finish improvements.
I probably should have tried to make some digital image corrections on these last two, but you get the idea - a lot of effort expended and a huge improvement!
Other Passenger Department work continued in the Wood Shop. See that BLOG ENTRY for more images and details.
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 [...]