There has been a lot of hot news this summer concerning the ME 28. Mainly because this summer has been so hot. Working on the roof of the car in a hot car barn has slowed our progress somewhat. The good news this week is that we are about to fasten down the last roof panel. It could have been completed this Sunday, but after fastening one curved panel Norm Krentel and Ray Schmid were feeling the effects from the heat. Even using a fan didn’t seem to help as the temperature in the car barn reaches 100+ degrees on the ME 28’s roof. So by mid-afternoon it was time for Norm and Ray to go into the woodshop to cool down. The remaining center panel was cut to fit and just needs to be screwed down next Sunday to officially finish the roof panel installation.
Pictured below - Norm (top) and Ray working to finish the roof panels.


Next is the fabrication and installation of the basswood strips to create the curved end portions of the front and rear roof ends. Two layers of wood strips cut and nailed to fit will replicate what was created by St. Louis Car Company when the car was built in 1913. Jeff Brady has been working to prepare the carlines to properly contour the basswood strips as they are bent over the ends. Next week the process to ready the strips for installation will begin. We are all planning to have the roof ends completed and ready for canvas before winter.
Pictured below - Jeff shapes the end carlines.

Comments
Mon, 09-08-2025 08:22
Good job on the Burlington Nortern 9976. OK.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:56
No new news that I have heard of thus far.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:53
I'll also be doing another update on it soon. Keep en eye out for that.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:47
A little work was done to it for Diesel Days this year. You'll see photos floating around for the temporary short term job that was done to make it [...]
Wed, 08-06-2025 13:01
Is steam car CN 15444 going to be coming to museum several times it was to be moved to muesum
Sat, 07-19-2025 18:56
Yeah, sadly it's still there as of 7/19/2025
Thu, 06-12-2025 19:14
Its been 14 years guys, where is the unit? Like really? Did you guys misplace it? Or are repairs taking that long? At this point be might we will have [...]
Wed, 04-09-2025 17:40
Jamie Thanks for the update. She's gonna shine like every thing else you guys do! Smeds
Thu, 03-06-2025 16:28
Yes, there is a wye. Those two have been MU'ed on diesel days a year or two ago.
Wed, 03-05-2025 14:04
7009 number boards look good. Is there a way to turn a locomotive around at IRM? In case you ever had a mind to connect 7009 and 6847?
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...