Illinois Railway Museum Blog

The sawdust and sparks were really flying yesterday and we would like to thank the many new volunteers helping on project work.  As with anything it is important to establish hierarchy and assign meaningful (?) job titles right from the beginning.  Do not take me too seriously, no one else does!

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The Cleveland PCC saw new volunteer Dave Rogan (APPRENTICE) return to help install interior panels with Simon Harrison ( newly promoted to APPRENTICE MANAGER).  ASSISTANT INTERIM WEEKDAY PROJECT MANAGER Lorne Tweed oversaw the assignments

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Al Reinschmidt returned again and 'volunteered' to resume restoration of the window tracks.  Lorne looks quite delighted to have a new volunt- - -  (victim) while Al is seriously considering his prospects.

On Track

For once not WINDOW tracks, but instead new decking for two of our four wheeled track carts.  Dick Cubbage and Victor Humphreys are cutting long planks to size.

Stacked

Victor surveys the planks stacked on one of our shop carts.  A seemingly simple process but one that occupied two guys for a few hours.  There are a LOT of pieces.

A Door

Buzz Morisette was working on repairs to an interior door for what I was told is for Illinois Terminal 233.  The bottom rail was mostly rotted away and a new piece of mahogany will be made.

LSE 810

George Clark continues to prepare, prime, and paint new siding for Lake Shore Electric 810.  Weather just a little warmer will see a crew working in the barn to install these.

Resistance

Pete Galayda met no resistance as he continued to ready a headlight resistance box to install in the Charles City Western 300 locomotive.

Truck Work

Gerry Dettloff is fitting a keeper rod behind the head of a new hardened pin in this truck.  The truck is from TM 972, part of the work for our TMS Project.  Sadly, the next image in this sequence is not posted.  The acetylene tank was empty and I migrated to other tasks, before the cylinder was replaced.

It really is amazing to witness the work on this project.  It is significant on so many fronts - engineering, machining, metallurgy, and the massive amount of less than ordinary GRUNT WORK.

Assembly

Jeff Brady is dry fitting and assembling some of the completed levers and rigging in the truck.  That is correct - enough of the new bushings and pins have been fabricated and heat treated to see how it goes back together.  He is inserting the new pin into a lever nicknamed a 'dog bone' due to its resemblance to such doggie snack treats.

The Dog Bones

Here is a closer look at the dog bones and how they fit into the truck.  There are two of these in each quadrant to next receive the brake head castings, which in turn hold the brake shoes.

Boring

Each of the many parts in this truck receives attention.  This once bent brake lever has been heated and straightened, as seen by the gray discoloration on the casting.  The old deteriorated bushings have been removed with a hydraulic press.  Here the lever is on the drill press table and about to get its holes reamed to receive the new bushings.  As I said above it is truly amazing, doing this on a wish and prayer with old tools and a lot of hard work and commitment from the volunteers.