The Passenger Car Dept is progressing on a number of projects, albeit slowly.
Jack Biesterfeld has returned from an interesting vacation and is again concentrating on the B&M 1094 wood cafe-diner. With the help of Mike and his crew they removed the non-historic sink and cabinets in the kitchen. Whew, was it ever a HEAVY cast-iron sink. It just made it out the door!
Last week, Mike and Ray repaired the damage to the CNW 7700 combine, caused by a train crew. A new angle cock and air brake line were installed replacing the bent one. The new angle valve cost about $200. It took most of the day to repair the damage. Hopefully, the crew is more careful next time.
Nancy Ring was out cleaning exterior and interior windows on the ATSF 2544. Boy, did they need it! Bob Opal and crew were cleaning some of our service coaches. More exterior windows were cleaned!
Mark Hoffman was prepping more wall area in the Lack car for future priming. He also needlechipped a wall area in the JOHN MCLOUGHLIN women's bathroom. Roger also primed a small area on the roof and installed 2 painted metal strips for the diaphragm.
Bob Hunter again was working on the Dover in stalling shades. Phil was also working on the Dover towards the future conversion of the electric system from historic DC to common AC.
Earlier in the day, Shelly and Phil cleaned the Ely then in turn cleaned, repaired and installed new bulbs in all 3 drumhead signs at the west end of barn 3. Their lighting really creates an atmosphere. The coach dept is looking for another drumhead. Would anyone like to donate one? We need one for display. It looks like you're walking into the train shed at Union Station in 1943!
Lastly, Mark Gellman and crew were working on the display cars over in yard 5. Nice work Mark! More Progress to come in the following weeks.
LAKE CITY is really coming! In May? Yes, I hope. Please.....send your donations for this rare beauty!! Thanks for reading.
Roger Kramer
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 [...]