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Monday, April 16. 2012Wood Shop Update - April 14, 2012I will continue on with this BLOG ENTRY under the Wood Shop banner, although, as in the past, there are many projects being worked on and you deserve to know about them.  Sign of Spring The old adage states that the sighting of the first robin is a sure sign of spring, here in the Midwest. At IRM it is the parade of electric cars visiting the pit area in Barn 4 for annual maintenance, lubrication, and inspections. Above we see CTA 4391 getting attention from Frank Sirinek and several others who helped in the tasks. This is a necessary but unsung ritual to maintain the cars and provide reliable transportation every year.  Get A Handle On it In previous posts you have seen a number of volunteers working to finish up surfaces and polish brass hardware for the Sand Springs 68. This marked the installation of the first seat handle, from an IRM pattern and rough foundry castings, and slowly finished over previous months. Victor Humphreys is snugging up the last screw.  The Line Up By the end of the day, Victor and I had installed half of them (nine) and here he is trying out one of them, on a stiff seat back.  Brown Paint Tim Peters applied the first coat of brown paint to Chicago Rapid Transit 1797 on Friday, and here has just finished sanding that down. The second coat went on after this photo.  Up for Grabs In the shop Tim has been preparing, cleaning, and painting the grab irons, soon to be installed by each side door.  Signage In keeping with the Rapid Transit string of photos, Bill Wulfert was working to restore a vintage UNION STATION sign rescued years ago from one of the L platforms.  Passenger Windows Victor Humphreys was removing old layers of paint and varnish from a Boston & Maine 1094 passenger car window. This and another one were in from the SPC department for repair and help as we were able.  At the Saw As fast as Victor handled paint removal, Buzz Morisette was making new wood parts for those items too far gone to salvage.  After Winter Our Great Northern 70104 hopper car rested outdoors over winter, and still looks good. We are working to complete all the lettering on this car.  Rear Bench Seat Lorne Tweed is working on our Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car. He has cleaned out the rear area of the interior and is prepping the sheet metal for paintwork, repairs as needed. Note the first interior trim panel installed to the left of the rear window.  Window Tracks Eric Lorenz is throwing the sparks as he fabricates a special drilling jig to be used for mounting the cleaned window track elements for CTS 4223.  A Side Job Joe Luciani and Jerry Saunders are working on restoration of our two NYCTA R-28 'redbird' cars. The sides do not look too bad, but many of the panels have a LOT of body filler and the car framing behind some of them is almost non-existent, having disappeared from rust and corrosion. Selected areas are being cut out, new steel ordered and on the way. Monday, April 16. 2012TMS Project Update - April 14, 2012This is an active and ongoing project with the goal of restoring two cars to operation - TM 972 and CNS&M 354.  Assembly Jeff Brady is assembling the many components of the truck. This is a complex and intricate process involving many pieces and requires a level of expertise I do not share. There are and have been many players in this project. The recent focus has been to rebuild this truck from the 972. As might be expected in a car which left service in 1958, and then may have been near the end of its useful life, we have uncovered many areas needing attention. These are never known for sure until the disassembly and inspection is well along the way. For example, the pedestal liners were missing in one case, or cracked and worn in bad repair. We managed to get new liners fabricated - cost $2000. Then we were on to the the pins and bushings used to connect the many moving parts in this truck, primarily but not exclusively associated with the braking system. I have reported extensively on that process and progress. Over one hundred specialty bushings were manufactured in our shop and heat treated. In the past we ordered these parts from outside vendors, but in today's world that would have been very costly to meet needed dimensions - none are 'standard' - and a delay of 3-4 months for delivery. By making them ourselves we were able to complete them in about nine weeks at a savings of several thousand dollars. Hardened pins are used in these bushings, and none of these were simple. All of those involved a lot of machining, heat treating, and were made in our shop. Again, savings in time and money. The bottom line is that over $8000 in unanticipated costs were added to make these upgrades and the rebuild. We will have a mechanically reliable and safe car to operate. So, we again thank you all for your support but must again ask for help to continue the work and move forward. The restricted fund is designated RTMS and donations can continue to be sent to Illinois Railway Museum Box 427 Union, IL 60180 We hope you can help on this and we all look forward to seeing this car roll down our line this year. Monday, April 16. 2012ATSF 1400 Wood Caboose - April 15, 2012Here is a short report from Buzz Morisette who has been steadily working on this car.  ATSF 1400 Our roster shows this wood caboose as being built by American Car and Foundry in 1923. It has several unique features and is well worth preservation. Note the rotating arm and signal disc which could be operated from the cupola.  New Flooring New flooring was being installed in the interior during summer 2011.  Old Windows The original or old windows are shown before removal in Spring 2012. I say original with lack of conviction since historical photographs show a different style and arrangement of the sash.  Mortise and Tenon Detail The new sash are constructed with exacting precision using traditional joinery featuring mortise and tenons.  New Windows Installed And the new windows are being installed now, Spring 2012. And the inevitable commercial message. A lot of this work, all of it really, is being funded by donations to the restricted fund for this car, R1400. And as a wood bodied car living outdoors, we greatly hope to raise funding to that same account which will allow us to subscribe to indoor storage space. Can you help?
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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 [...]