Illinois Railway Museum Blog

For several of the last few years, we have had a tradition of a pot luck volunteer Christmas Party.  If has grown from a handful of folks to a larger and larger group every year, many departments attending, and sharing good cheer.  I bet there were over 45 attending this year.  So without further ado

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Setting Up

Just as the party grows larger, so does the work of setting up the wood shop, putting away the projects, and a substantial cleanup.  A big thanks goes out to all the committee members and helpers, especially Pete Galayda (shown here) and his wife Jan.

Line Forms at the Rear

"Go to the dust collector and take a left."  There were ample food dishes and deserts to sample and no one went hungry.  It was set up buffet style and a long line quickly formed.

Windows

But that does not mean no work was done.  Before the serving started, Jim Leonard and Dave Rogan were prime painting the three new windows for our CGW X 38 snowplow.  We finished the woodworking on them last week and they gathered little dust.  After lunch, they were dry enough to flip over and the other side is also prime painted.

New Work

The wood shop serves all and any department and all types of work.  John Faulhaber is leading the way to make a lot of new material for the Lake Shore Electric 810 traction freight trailer.  We selected and purchased the lumber a few weeks ago and here John is doing the layout work on a large plank, destined to become new tack molding.  There is enough stock to also make almost 350 linear feet of specially profiled tongue and groove pieces for the roof.

The Jointer

Dave Rogan and John Faulhaber start the process by creating a straight and true edge on each piece, running them through our jointer.  Jeff Brady is in the background working on new sheet metal window post caps for Michigan Electric 28.

Tack Molding

After jointing and ripping several pieces, the crew here is doing the profile work for a drip lip.  Jim Leonard, Dave Rogan, and john Faulhaber have set up the saw and are guiding the twelve foot long pieces through the process.  That is longer stock than we usually process, but we want to minimize the number of joints on this stock when installed on the car.  We made 96 feet of material, sanded it and Jim got primer on one side before leaving for the day.  Not bad production for an afternoon when everyone had a full belly and wanted a siesta more than anything else!

Saw Work

Henry Vincent is far enough along restoring separate parts for the new table saw, that he was able to apply some shop green finish paint.

Our FIrst Car

Jon Fenlaciki has been working to restore a window for Indiana Railroad 65.  Now in the final stages of glazing, I am confident it will soon resume to its rightful place on the car.