A sure sign of spring - although you would not know it by the weather this week. Dave Rogan and I went out to Chicago Great Western X 38 and removed the winter blank from the window in the rear wall. There ensued many fussy trim cuts, each one punctuated by the windy walk from the wood shop, and back to Track 41. Finally, the window slipped into place, just like it had been made to order. Wait, it WAS made to order.
The window is back in the shop getting any fitting cuts primed and painted but as soon as the weather cooperates, you will see it finished and in place.
With the window set in place, Dave is making a new interior window sill, and will next cut quarter round retainer molding for three sides. That got primed in the morning by Victor Humphreys, along with more station door priming, and one adjustment to the fit of the door lower mid stile.
Henry Vincent continues on the train door restoration for Chicago Aurora & Elgin 36. The code string for this image is "BUM" - I wonder what that says about our crew?
Pete Galayda and John Nelligan are like bulldogs, not letting go of a long and arduous journey to restore electrical control grids for Charles City Western 300, a steeple cab locomotive. Here, Pete is disassembling box number 7, the last one in the series.
Roger Kramer was in the shop, working beside our crew to restore a walnut paneled door for one of the heavyweight passenger cars. It is a beauty with a four way book matched solid walnut panel in the center of the door. In this view, Paul Cronin, Henry Vincent and John Faulhaber are jointing a new piece of walnut.
John also spent some time making a steam bending jig, along with Rich Witt trying to locate the odds and ends to do that task.
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 [...]