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Thursday, February 7. 2013Wood Shop Update - February 6, 2013This was another busy Wednesday in the shops in Barn 4. One of the volunteers said to me "Wow, there are 17 people here today!" I counted 18, so another weekday record for attendance - and PROGRESS.  Milestone Event The lead photo today has to be Mike Alterio and Frank Sirinek alongside Chicago & West Towns 141. Work has been ongoing to fabricate new parts and linkages and yesterday the brake rigging under the car was COMPLETE! The trolley pole went to the wire, the air compressor charged the brake system, and the brakes were applied from the control stand inside the car. THEY WORKED! This was very much a team effort with many contributing to the success. The tests pointed to some adjustments still needed but the brake cylinder, rods, bars, pins, bushings, new clevises, the many parts salvaged and made new performed as designed.  Fitting Dick Cubbage and Jim Leonard are trimming tenons on the bandsaw for a rail on the new doors for Chicago Great Western X 38. It is a fitting job and quite fitting that volunteers new to the work are doing and learning the skill sets.  Trial Assembly Each mortise and tenon joint is custom fitted one at a time. As we go along it is too tempting to resist assembling what is ready so far. Jim Leonard, John Faulhaber, and Dave Rogan seem pleased.  Sanding Jim is using the disc sander to take off just a 'whisker' to make the joint nearly perfect. The smart folks do this carefully and only a little bit at a time. Slower perhaps, but little risk of taking too much and ruining a piece.  Shaving Dave and John are using a tenon jig on the table saw to just shave a bit off the thickness on one side of the tenon.  Results Results are what count. Near the end of the day Dave, Jim, and John have the entire door assembled for the first time. They look very proud and OUGHT TO BE!  Door Repairs Henry Vincent has been working at repairing an end train door for Chicago Aurora & Elgin 36. He has moved on to the fussy work of plunging mortises (seen here) and trimming tenons for the final fit before the gluing stage.  New Ceiling Buzz Morisette is already at work on new lumber for creating tongue and groove ceiling boards for the MILW X 5000 dynamometer car. Our volunteers yesterday got what I estimate to be over $1000 of new hardwood lumber and hauled it to our site in our truck. It barely had a chance to get warm, and the work was on. Yes the raw materials alone can be costly (donate now to MILW X 5000, CRT 1024, or ME 28) but the value of the fabricated work we do is easily five times that. And we have the opportunity to pass on the skill sets every week to the volunteers.  Windows What would a BLOG entry be without mentioning windows? Volunteer Dave Diaz has returned to the fold to help out, and he and Simon Harrison are working on the metal sash windows for Cleveland Transit System 4223. This PCC car had a lot of window work done last winter in the shops, and now it is time to finish off remaining items to make them ready to install on the carbody. Thursday, February 7. 2013FILL THE FAREBOXYou who read along regularly know that as a Collection Curator I try to bring your attention to worthy projects. Lately that has been Barn 14 funding and I cannot emphasize that too strongly.  Executive Director Nick Kallas Here is our smiling Executive Director, Nick Kallas, with a new to us Johnson farebox destined for the Sand Springs 68. Why is he smiling? Through Nick's efforts it seems one of our cars has received an 11th hour reprieve from de-accessioning and scrapping. It appears funds are now sufficient to place Chicago & Western Indiana 1185 wood gondola in the select group that will be housed in Barn 14 when it is built. The message is clear - IT CAN BE DONE! In this entry I would also like to call attention to the need for funding for many of our recently acquired Electric Cars. The typical trolley is a fragile thing, often with a canvas roof, and many with wood parts that are particularly susceptible to wind and weather. Some of these cars yet remain outdoors, some under tarps which is a temporary stop gap measure at best. Of course, if you have a favorite you may donate to the restricted fund for that car number. If you are not that familiar with the details of the collection there is another way. Please send a donation to RISWEC (on line or by mail) or to RTRKEC. Those two fund balances are managed by that department head and thus can be apportioned to do the most good. The first fund is for Indoor Storage of Electric Cars and the second for Track Space for Electric Cars. Why the notice to support the track space fund? The simple answer is that our system of acquisitions is that each new arrival is assessed a charge to help offset the cost of the track it sits upon. Some of the recent electric cars still have not cleared those charges and those MUST be cleared for the car to be eligible for permanent space in a Barn. Both funds urgently need donations. WON'T YOU HELP FILL THE FAREBOX?
Illinois Railway Museum Box 427 Union, IL 60180 Tuesday, February 5. 2013Woodshop Peoples
The meeting for lunch then the days discussions. [aka B.S There is a lot of that!!]
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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 [...]