Twas the five nights before Christmas and nothing was happening at the Illinois Railway Museum...but... then their arose such a clatter in the office... it was the sound of letters of donations being opened by Jan, the head office elf. Across the hallway working in his "headquarters" was Ole, shinny cheeks, St. Nick himself, working on transportation for his new "charges." The gingerbread smell was missing this year, too much to accomplish, too little time before the big events next year. Ms. Carol was busy at her conductors desk working on waybills for the raindeer! A number of HOHOHOHO...Bo's were working their magic in the barns. On Gerry, On Paul, Dave, John, Pete, Buzz, Henry, Rich, and Roger; they were all prancing around trying to complete the last presents for the boys and girls aka X38, Ely, 2524, and 300. One of the elves was not in the woodshop barn today, I hope Bob is feeling better. As the lunch pails appeared the christmas cookies started to disappear. Created by Paul's Elfette they were a tasty treat for us hard working souls! As the day wore down to night I heard Santa exclaim........."Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night." Seriously, to all who have donated to IRM's various projects this year a big hearty THANK YOU!!!! The funds for the barn 14 building project are slowly arriving. The response has been very gratifying. To all the Big Children who love trains, thanks again for being so generous. Keep those cards and letters coming! All the "Elves" say THANK YOU!..... Roger... one of the elves....
Friday, I installed the connector to 84 track trolley frog and removed some old span wire in yard 8.
A rainy Saturday: BOD meeting, Cleaned up my area in the B&G building.
Sunday brought better weather. Two poles were pulled and one installed. One pole was removed on the North side of the connector track now that new spans were installed on the new pole and trolley wire transferred to them. At the Central Ave. crossing at yards 6,7,8, one old pole was pulled on the Northeast corner and a new 30 ft class 4 pole was set on the Southeast corner. The new pole is replacing an old rotten one and will help support the crossing.
Max Tyms
After working on reinstalling the vestibule parts I took a break in the fall of 2011. When the weather turned to the cold side I began working on the roof of the John Mcloughlin. Since the vestibule looked so nice the peeling, dusty silver gray roof certainly did not compliment the " new look" for display. Here then are some results of my efforts to improve the sleeper's appearance
My attention will now be turning to the interior women's bathroom. My next blog will feature the before pictures of the bathroom and a sample of the finished product. When considering your next donation to IRM please include the Barn 14 Inside Storage Fund. You'll be glad you did!!! Roger
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 [...]