Illinois Railway Museum Blog

The Home Stretch

We are in the home stretch of completing the large window order for new frames for the IC 3996.  Here, Rich Witt is routing the last few pockets in the bottom rails for brass window lifts.

DONE

By day's end they are all done!  Some of the crew who worked on these were, l to r, Lorne Tweed, John Faulhaber, Bob Kutella, Roger Kramer, Rich Witt, and Simon Harrison.  At commercial cabinet shop rates these represent over $2500 in value, not counting the cost of materials.  Good job guys.

Technology

Not everything in the wood shop means you will get covered in sawdust.  Roger Kramer and Lorne Tweed are on a laptop using WiFi.  What is WiFi?

Angel in the Annex

Henry Vincent was continuing to do all the thankless finishing touches in our shop space addition.  Here he is installing base molding along the walls.  The picture caption?  Note the bright HALO hanging over his head as he works.

Side Sill

George Clark was cutting and fitting the last side sill timber for the north side of Lake Shore Electric 810.  Can the finished siding be far away?

Tag Team

Lorne Tweed and Simon Harrison were taking turns using a pneumatic needle scaler to remove heavy mill scale from our newly fabricated table saw base.  That is one of the necessary steps to assure paint and primer can be applied.  In case you are not familiar with a needle scaler, come on out and we can put you on the business end of one!

Brake Shoes

All of our rail equipment uses brake shoes to grip the wheels and cause them to slow and stop.  The vast majority are cast iron and almost every trolley car uses a shoe different from the others.  Different manufacturer of the trucks, different wheel sizes, different decade of construction, etc.  Above is a test shoe we had cast for Chicago Surface Lines 3142.  That is one of our regular operating cars, and is very popular with members and visitors alike.  But the brake shoes are worn to the point where the car's operation may have to be 'rationed' or suspended entirely without new brake shoes.  There just is not a foundry on every corner to make these and we are actively searching for one with experience in this type casting.  So far the costs seem to be substantial, to the point of being prohibitive.  If you like riding or seeing this car run, please consider a restricted donation to R3142 fund.  That fund still carries a negative balance from the emergency motor repairs last year and we need to pay that off and get funds to make new brake shoes --  OR --