Illinois Railway Museum Blog

I have been delinquent in posting current news but trust me, there has been a LOT going on in the Freight Car Department with every day this week seeing work done, as we try to make the most of an unexpected late fall spell of good weather.  For our B&O wagon top boxcar project, some significant milestones were reached.

Blast It

We began by hiring a contractor to sandblast the roof areas to white metal, to remove all the rust and remaining traces of old deteriorated paint.

Blasting

Finishing Up

BLASTED

John Faulhaber looks over the results on the roof.  By spending money here we avoided  an entire summer's worth of volunteers sweating it out on top, and got a completely clean surface.

A Clean Sweep

The contractor was finishing up, touching a few more spots, and blowing off all traces of the blast media.

Spraying Primer

John Faulhaber and Buzz Morisette were able to change their schedules on short notice and come out to help on a Monday.  The new primer is being sprayed on the roof.

Windshield

A bit of a breeze came up in the afternoon and the paint crew coped with that by using a sort of shield to minimize blow away.  Behind them is the painted roof area.

Patching

On Wednesday Rod Turner and John Faulhaber were fitting and welding new steel onto one of the rusted out ribs on the corner of the car.  In previous weeks we had fabricated some of these tricky pieces of sheet metal, and now the results came to hand.

Done

Looks Good

John Faulhaber checks the work before prime painting.  This will complete repairs this season on half of the right hand side of the car.

Within the scope of the world debt crisis, this did not cost a lot of money - we got a good price, and struck while the weather was good.  But we REALLY need your help and support to pay the bill.  OR - perish the thought - I will have to dig into my meager billfold to cover the costs.  Any donation, large or small, to restricted fund R 374065 will assure that restorations like this will continue to proceed.  THANKS!