Illinois Railway Museum Blog

This will be another fairly short report.  I am on the horns of a dilemma.  If there is a small crew my hands are full of tools doing work (my preference) so there are few pics.  If there is a large crew, I take time off to take more pics, but then suffer the derision (just kidding) of the folks bearing the brunt of the work.

In the Bucket

The weather was fairly pleasant and Jim Leonard showed up early for an hour or two that developed into ALL DAY.  Thanks Jim.  He immediately set to work in the bucket working on the top edge of the roof above the nose.  There is a steel channel member there for structural support and he wirebrushed all the dreck and paint chips out of there.  It is fairly fussy, slow work with lots of rivets, inside corners to deal with.  He stayed at it and the area received primer by the end of the day.

Interior Lining

John Faulhaber started the day by cutting several boards to fit and serve as the interior lining of the plow.  Then he proceeded to prime them and Jim finished that off after lunch.  There is a sometimes confusing sequence of steps to finish off the interior timber framing inside the plow.  In this case, the finished lining must go on the back wall to be able to finish framing the two side walls and the roof timbers.  Hard to explain - you have to be there.

Installation

Be there?  VIctor Humphreys was there - and here is shown as we install several of the boards for the lining.  Raw lumber stock in the AM, cut to fit, prime painted, and installed that same day!!  Good work.  Victor also worked on final body work on the back wall and under the south door.  I added some maroon paint to the two framed and finished window openings.

Good Weather

A bit off topic but Victor also is working at full speed on our B&O wagon top boxcar.  Here he is on the last panel on the north side and it was primed that day.  Probably by this time next weekend the entire north side will be in finish paint, except for some areas still needing repair.

And as usual a lot of other work going on.  We have a vigorous and active signal department and they changed out a head on signal 116.  Once the railroad is built and working it is done - right?  Not so.  There is a lot of work to maintain it working and in good repair, all the while adding new features and improvements.  The signal guys do this work (thank goodness) in the heat of summer, cold of winter, and today in fairly pleasant conditions.  There was a swarm of volunteers over, under, and all around the Shaker Heights 63 PCC car trying to puzzle out the electrical system and perhaps get this car mobile on its own power soon.