Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Here are a few items I have been holding a few days.  I just seem to be elsewhere when a lot of the action takes place.  The work IS going on.

Measuring

George Clark has been able to resume work on Lake Shore Electric 810.  Here he is preparing new siding for the north side of the car.

Time for Paint

And here, it has been primed and no doubt will be finish painted and on the car soon.

More Painting

Roger Kramer has joined others working in our shops, as colder weather chases many of us indoors.  This a passenger gate for the John Mc Loughlin, cleaned and primed, finish paint being applied.

Making Sawdust

Tim Peters is preparing a wood corner block for the Michigan Electric 28.  It is almost more of a 'sculpture' rather than a straightforward woodworking task.

Small Window

Rich Witt started out with one of the small side windows for this car, working by hand to remove dirt, crud, and corrosion.  We are still experimenting to try to make better use of power tools for this job.

Large Window

By Saturday Rich has completed some of the small ones and attacked the first of the larger sash.  This car has two sash for each side window, something that may seem foreign to Chicago natives.  The smaller one fits in the bottom of the window opening and is fixed in place to prevent arms and elbows from hanging outside the car.  The larger one rests on top of that and can be raised and lowered.

Other work continued on the project with drawings prepared and orders let for new sheet metal fabrications needed to complete the side window work and interior trim.  It all goes together like a puzzle, with the bottom wainscotting the first piece to be installed.  Lorne Tweed also did some painting in the front dash area and worked to make jigs and fixtures for installing the first piece of interior headlining.