Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Panels

Victor Humphreys measures carefully for the panels that will be made for the new station door.  They have been glued up and fabricated in recent weeks, and now is the time to make sure they will fit.  By end of day, all four were cut and planed, ready for the next step.

Roof Boards

When is a rainy day a good thing?  Answer: on a Wednesday, preventing Tim Peters from maintaining outdoor plantings and lawn at his home - and chasing him into our wood shop.  Today, Tim was custom making tongue and groove stock to repair rotted roof boards on CRT 1797.

Design

You have seen photos here of Rich Witt serving in the capacity of engineer in our design department.  He continues ably in that purpose, here on new windows for the Glen Springs.  And he caught some details previously missed, including the fact that the left side and right side window lifts are not symmetrical to the centerline of the sash.  Who would have thunk?

He Has Brass

Before Simon Harrison could continue restoring brass window latches for the Sand Springs 68, Henry Vincent helped repair some problems with the 1934 DELTA drill press we were using.  Once back in service, Simon continued the task of removing old lacquer and decades of oxidation and tarnish.

Our century plus old 16 inch jointer required some maintenance and it is running much better now, thanks to Rod Turner and Tim Peters.

Dave Diamond and the B&G crew continued on the Depot Street repaving and are digging and installing power conduits and manhole vaults.  It just keeps getting better and better.  Inspections continued on the electric cars with our father and son team from the Hicks family doing their thing on one of their favorite CA&E wood cars, the 319.  And the crew working on the NP 230 baggage car continues to make progress with a lot of gray primer applied to the north side when it quit raining and dried off later in the afternoon.

Many readers here, and even many of our members may not realize what TRACK SPACE is.  When a new acquisition is approved by the Board at IRM, part of that agreement is for supporters of the car to help pay for the track it will sit upon.  That is part of the cost to acquire any new piece of equipment.

The sponsor agrees to help raise those funds, often at least in part from his own pocket.  New acquisitions often become available on short notice and there is the excitement of getting a NEW car or locomotive.  But as time goes on, the blush fades - after all the car is here isn't it?

The reality is that the assessment for track space does not cover the entire cost of the infrastructure, and the museum subsidizes this expense.  As I said the car is here, and it is sitting on the track, so what is the problem?  The problem is that we account for every foot of occupied track and since it has to be built, it is.  But that money might be 'borrowed' from other museum funds on hand and it places us in a SHORT position of available cash to continue operations and to invest in the site.

Here are three such cars in the Freight Department that are UNDER FUNDED, and for which we need donations.  All are unique pieces of railway history which have disappeared from normal everyday service, and which are key parts of our collection goal to represent American Railroad History.

MILW 97155

This is Milwaukee Road 97155, an airslide covered hopper, the only covered hopper in our collection.  In addition to representing a Midwest Fallen Flag road, it represents a design revolution, a milestone in covered hopper technology as developed by General American. Fund R97155

GATX 33519

Here is GATX 33519, a six dome tank car.  Yes a SIX dome car! In this case it largely transported several different varieties of wine in one carload quantity.  Many models of such cars exist, but how many of the real thing?  Our collection represents a primary resource of tank car technology spanning several decades of the 20th century, and this demonstrates many design features unique to the tank car saga.  Fund R33519

UP 37022

Here is an open hopper, of which similar cars once numbered in the tens of thousands and was an iconic symbol of American freight railroading.  The reporting marks in the photo are temporary ones, used to accomplish the move to Union.  Are there any UP fans out there willing to help?  Fund R37022

The cost is nominal, now at a very reasonable $75 per foot.  Can you help us by donating the cost of one foot?  More would be welcome, and none are too small to be refused.  All donations are considered 'restricted' to the purpose and are deductible to the extent allowed by IRS regulations. Without clearing these expenses, future acquisitions will be handcuffed or limited, and we will not be able to proceed with preservation and restoration of this equipment which is already on hand.

That is the reality of life in a Museum.  There are several other pieces of rare and endangered equipment that have been moved to IRM and are in need of your help.  How about it?

Roof Eave

We will start this entry with Tim Peters making what I would call the upper roof eave or edge for CRT 1797.  This started out a week ago or so as some of the century old timber we salvaged from the Huntley Feed mill.

Planing

Yes, all you readers here will have seen pictures of our planer making wood chips.  But here is one for a new project.  Lorne Tweed ran 16 pieces through multiple passes to exactly 'nail' the thickness for new window frames for the GLEN SPRINGS.

More Brass

Victor Humphreys continued to help out on polishing brass parts for the Sand Springs 68.  In his hands are one 'before' and one 'after'.

A Closer Look

Drat, a fuzzy image!  But maybe you can still appreciate the mirror-like finish after some tedious work with compound and a buffing wheel.  He completed five window lifts, and we coated them with clear lacquer.  For the benefit of the 68, you should all hope for continued cold and rainy weather - it makes a good shop project.

The next step for the station door involved machining and gluing up stock for the last two panels for this new door.  We managed that, and some shop maintenance work as well.