Illinois Railway Museum Blog

We have been very busy lately with special events, but those are now mostly over (with one very large project remaining) and shop work was returning to normal.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Pete Galayda had this bell from the CCW 300 completely refurbished and sitting on the shop bench when we came in.  Of course, everyone just HAD to ring it.

Installation

Gerry Dettloff and John Faulhaber helped hoist this heavy item up on the hood and then bolted it in.

Head In the Clouds

While it looks like Gerry is about to scuff his scalp on the roof rafters, it is just the photo angle and perspective.  But this is a RARE shot of Gerry without a hat!

Straphangers

Frank Kehoe was out early and painted three racks of straphanger loops and support pipes.  These are removed from CRT 1797 and had been cleaned and ready to paint.  It is amazing how another set of helping hands makes the progress much faster.

Caulking

Speaking of another set of hands, Tim Peters was hit by a car last week, suffering a broken arm and other cuts and bruises.  Nevertheless he was on site caulking window sills on the CRT 1797.  It was his left arm!

Orange Paint

And later on there was orange finish paint going on the belt rail and letterboards.  This really snaps out the months of work and repairs, and replacing the rotted and damaged parts of the wood sides, pillars, and window trim.

Then There Was None

Virtually all the track on track 31 inside Barn 3 has had new panel track laid in.  Now the 200 feet or so or track through the door and outside have been removed.  Dave Diamond is directing Nick Kallas in the bobcat to prepare the grade.

Painting

By now you may realize that a large part of a volunteer life is painting.  Roger Kramer has cleaned and stripped old layers of failed paint from the east end of the Pullman car, John Mc Loughlin, and is seen here spray painting the new primer.