Illinois Railway Museum Blog

This will be a relatively short update.  We did not have a lot of volunteers, and many probably chose to spend the unofficial end of summer, Labor Day Weekend, with family or other pursuits.  But we did get a lot done.

Rear Wall

This is the rear wall, now nearly done.  Saturday we did some blacksmith work and straightened the metal above the rear window.  It had bowed inward about a half inch and there were sledgehammers swinging and some new words invented.  With the wall straight, we fabricated remaining window framing, primed it, and installed it, as seen here.  You can also see some of the bodywork and filler that has been applied to smooth out weld areas, where the missing metal panel was welded in below the window.

North Side

On the north side the goal is to have some finish paint applied very soon.  But needlechipping remained to be done in some fairly inaccessible areas.  Maybe that is why it was saved until last.  Look up under the small roof overhang behind the plow wing, half is cleaned up.  By days end, all had been chipped as well as the short notch wall behind the plow.  Of course that meant we got to charge up the air system and move the wing out, and then back in.  Obviously a railfan effort of fun, but we 'needed' to do it.

Front Anchor

On the front nose of the plow is a massive anchor casting and that is used to mount a front coupler when needed for ferry moves.  There really is no springing or draft gear in the traditional sense, merely a very stout pin to hold the coupler in place.  What you see could interfere with good snow removal and the air pipe and hangers often got damaged or bent in severe situations.  So it was made largely removable for winter operations.  There is also a train air pipe down to the coupler mounts, and when the coupler was removed, that pipe has a universal joint and the drop leg is swung back and over the plow roof, to rest upon it, in front of the cab cupola.  In the background, note the passenger department roof repairs underway on DM&IR 84.

Surely you modelers will want to include this detail on your masterpiece.  Walthers made a model of the Russell Plow in HO scale and while out of stock, they can be found on E bay.  This detail is not included on the model.  A little kitbashing and adding details and you will have a very credible model of the real thing, only found at IRM in Union IL.

Rare Visitor

I will digress strictly from the snow plow report, here, to show a rare visitor to Barn 4.  The Nebraska Zephyr is receiving a detailed inspection and some repairs in preparation for the upcoming excursion trip.

And in the Freight Car Department we completed a two and one half week blitz to repaint our Borden's Milk Car, BFIX 520.  We sanded, primed, and applied two coats of finish enamel to the top half of the car, as well a some washing and cleaning, and a repaint of the black handrails and grab irons.