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Monday, November 14. 2011News and Views - November 12-13, 2011 Polishing Randy Hicks, famous for his own IRM news website, was caught at the wire wheel cleaning up a hanger form CA&E 319  Trolley Base Well, you cannot see it in this image but Dave Fullarton is working to bring some trolley bases back to life. The eventual use is to see them mounted on the roof of our CTA 2000 series rapid transit cars.  Re Paint Last year this car, CRT 1268, was debuting its new restoration. Already, Tim Peters cannot leave it alone. Here he is repainting or touching up the inevitable scuffs and bruises.  Roof Work It was uncharacteristically warm yesterday and windy!! But in the shelter of Barn 4 Tim Peters was again working to complete the roof of CRT 1797. Two grab irons have been mounted and here, a copper flashing rain gutter is being added.  New Siding George Clark has been painting new siding for LSE 810 as described in earlier BLOG posts. Here we see the first coat of orange.  New Feeder Despite high winds and overcast skies, Max Tyms was up in the air on the line truck. He installed about 400-500 feet of heavy new feeder eastward from the end of Barn 4.  Get a Jump on Spring Every spring we experience a rush and crush to inspect and maintain our electric cars. It was pretty smart of Joel Ahrendt to begin work now on Illinois Terminal 415.  New Rope Joel, Dan Fenlaciki, and Greg Kepka are installing a new rope on the west end of IT 415.  More Roof Work Jeff Brady is up on the scaffold doing some very complicated woodwork on the Michigan Electric 28. Tricky business to be sure, made more so as the new slats come down the side of the end roof.  Going Going Gone Buzz Morisette sent this recent photo of our wood sided gondola, C&WI 1185. Several years ago I presented a motion to de-accession this car as it was clearly beyond our resources to save. This was resoundingly rejected by the membership saying this was too valuable a piece of history. Apparently not too valuable, since not a single dollar of support came in the form of new donations. Well, it appears mother nature has resolved the issue. The car is in such poor condition I do not think any significant piece is intact enough to use as a pattern, assuming someone has the time and money to build a replica. I say replica, since no one can argue that it can be restored. If we were smart, we should write it off as a lost cause, a case of benign neglect, before someone gets hurt. I think that it will be necessary to dismantle what is left where it sits, doubting that it can be coupled to a locomotive and moved without collapsing. But maybe something good can come of this. FIRST, there remain other wood bodied cars outdoors, rotting away, and needing donations to place them in the next Barn. And SECOND, can we make a case that since this car has paid TRACK SPACE, can we transfer that paid up account to one of our newer acquisitions, like our MILW covered hopper, or six dome tank car?
Monday, November 14. 2011Milwaukee Road X 5000 Report - November 12, 2011
There has been regular work on this dynamometer car, led by Warren Newhauser, and progress has largely stayed beneath the radar on our campus. We might lead this story in with the headline DYNO - MITE!
Buzz Morisette submitted the following images and he used PHOTO SHOP to embed caption info within each pic. So to get the 'rest of the story', click the thumbnails (twice in sequence) to get the full screen images and read the story. This series of images deals with getting the ENGINATOR up and running, an internal combustion engine to generate 32 volts for the car.  Roll Out Rails Buzz and Chuck Trabert doing the work.  Pulling it Out Chuck tugging with Buzz under the engine.  Running Check and Larry Keuhan getting satisfaction.  Engine Temperature  The Reward Sunday, November 13. 2011CTS 4223 Update - November 12, 2011 Cleaning Them Up The window restoration production line was in full swing today, again. Gwyn Stupar, Fred Zimmerman, and Rich Witt made a lot of progress today. Come on out some Saturday - you can help.  Rear Interior Lorne Tweed had the paintbrush out getting everything ready in the rear of the car interior, to soon hang the first piece of the headlining.  WIRE Eric Lorenz began the task of running new wiring in the car ceiling! This is another milestone event, the first new wiring in the carbody. The wire will serve the rear marker lights, the rear stop lights, the backup controller, two ceiling lights, and the roof mounted exhaust fan. So the plan is to run this now, before new headlining makes access here impossible. This is becoming a respectable cable run.  Splitting It Up At the rear of the car the bundle is separated to go to each of its end points. I am sure glad Eric knows all this, as I would have a tough time trying to imagine it all. |
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Comments
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...
Mon, 12-27-2021 16:28
Happy New Year to all the Departments at the Illinois railway Museum! Thanks for all the good work you do in railroad preservation. Ted Miles, [...]
Wed, 10-13-2021 13:33
Was the CB&Q 1309 every transported to IRM?I’ve been reading old issues of Rail&Wire and the car was mentioned several times.
Mon, 06-07-2021 22:40
I was wondering if in the model layout display what scale would you guys be using and would you be displaying model train history as well? Just [...]
Wed, 06-02-2021 17:27
Nice to see 428's cab back on. Looking forward to when it is operable!
Tue, 06-01-2021 16:47
I hope the work will continue on the UP #428. Now that they are the museum's connection to the national railroad network; she would be very [...]
Sat, 04-17-2021 23:07
What is the status of 126, the Milwaukee Buffet car that is in S. Dakota? Any guess on when or if it will get to IRM?
Wed, 04-14-2021 21:09
Perhaps it is time to scrap the remains of the c, B & Q 7128 to make room for the Villa Real. Ted miles, IRM member
Wed, 04-14-2021 15:26
Hi IRM my name is Jason and I was wonder If you guys would be willing to save a CN Dash8-40cm they are currently being retired by CN and being [...]
Fri, 04-09-2021 19:56
Bear in mind that the Nebraska Zephyr is an articulated train set, so cars cannot be inserted at will. Although cars and/or a second engine could be [...]
Wed, 03-31-2021 11:37
I believe Silver Pony is currently on the back burner, and has been put into storage in one of the barns. The car needs a lot of work done to it's [...]