Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Really Smooth

The weather was not very conducive to doing outdoor work or painting so we proceeded on finishing work for the new station door, which is being made for our depot.  Kirk Warner, Victor Humphreys, and Lorne Tweed are at the ready as the door is passed through our large Berlin sander.  This is a heavy door and it made several passes for each side, requiring some work by these three to pass it back to the infeed end.  We generally take a very conservative approach in the set up for this work, preferring to run it a few more easy passes rather than risk any unintended consequence to the work or to the machine.

Done

The door sanding was completed without incident and Lorne, Victor, and Bob Kutella have it set down for final inspection and touch up.  Nearest to the camera you are looking at the top end of the door.

Careful Work

Dave Fullarton is working on the Cleveland PCC, CTS 4223.  He is carefully sanding and preparing the dash lights, and other hardware for finish painting prior to being mounted on the car.

Steam Work

We get to see and do a lot of different projects, each with their own challenges.  Lorne has a mockup of a custom made refractory firebrick needed in the steam shop.  There are also some loose pieces for us making a negative form box so that the brick mixture can be poured, in and then removed once set.  Also we made up splices for a special leather drive belt for one of the machines in the steam shop.

In the Freight Car Department we need to thank all the volunteers who helped with the inspections and repairs needed for clearing five cabooses for operations.  Especially key to rapidly completing the work was substantial help from the fellows in the Electric Car Department.  A missing piece of the air brake system was installed today on RI 19135, and it joins CGW 601, CB&Q 13572, UP 3786, and MILW 01984 as 'on the ready track' for public operations this season.

Here are some pictures of current work ongoing with our passenger cars.  Most think of our volunteers coming out to help on one of the two weekend days, but almost any day of the week you will see a few hardy souls 'sneaking' in a day on their favorite project.  Thanks to Roger Kramer for the report.

IC 3345

Illinois Central 3345 is a lightweight grill coach built by American Car and Foundry in 1948.  It arrived at IRM in 1999 and has seen regular restoration efforts and improvements.  Roger Kramer is inside the car, in front of the last LARGE glass window to be replaced.

LAST Window

Andy Townsend, project leader, and Roger are outside the very last window needing to be replaced.  When this one is in, all windows on the car will have been reinstalled.  This is a round porthole style which will receive prism glass as a privacy feature for the men's lavatory.  But first, sheet metal needs to be repaired on the exterior.

First Cuts

Andy is making do using two sawhorses in the back of Barn 3 to lay out and begin cutting new aluminum.  This is the work area that suffices for now as the Passenger Department Workshop.

Shaping

Then Andy carefully nibbles and grinds the sheet to shape.

L and N Diner

Gerry Boguse was out working inside one of our diners, L&N 2726, the ex GALT HOUSE.  This car is another product from American Car & Foundry, but a heavyweight design built in 1930 and arriving at IRM in 1987.

What are the plans??  That depends a lot on support for these projects.  A large amount of work is accomplished with very little money spent.  But wouldn't the 3345 look good in modern IC chocolate brown and orange if funds for paint and other supplies can be found?  And there are plans and prospects to hopefully return the 2726 to train service and perhaps offer some form of food service while riding the IRM mainline.

So donations are needed and will be very much appreciated for these projects - fund R3345 for the IC car, fund R2726 for the diner.

Wagon Top

We have mentioned that the next Freight Car Project is to be our B&O wagon top boxcar.  Here is a cloudy day image of the car from the "B" end.

A End

It is hard to see with most of the car color closely resembling rust and dirt.  But here on the A end, Lorne Tweed and Victor Humphreys have been cleaning off the old crud, and some of it is really stubborn.  Look closely and you with spy some new primer on those areas.

Q Caboose

Our CB&Q steel caboose has passed its annual inspection, but not without a lot of re-piping and repair of the train line and branch piping.  This car has been previously restored, but years outside in the weather have taken a toll.  We need to thank John McKelvey for providing a leadership role and the labor to re-paint the red banding on the sides, and on one end.  John has the new paint in hand, and Kirk Warner was visiting from Florida when he got 'drafted' into the project.

Masking and Some Red Paint

The caboose was moved inside Barn 4 due to uncertain weather and the ability not to have to work on this in the sun and blistering heat - nearly 100 F.  John is at the far end, the first coat of new red is going on.

Done

Saving the best to last, the new red lettering bands are complete and the caboose is leaving the Barn pulled by U S Army 8537.  Other areas of the paint need attention but this is a big improvement and shows what can be done in a group effort.