Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Lots of news, lots of pics, lots of work, despite rain for at least the first half of the day.  Here we go:

Seat Frame

Bill Peterson volunteered to attack the old paint and rust on one of the seat frames for the Chicago Great Western X 38 snowplow.  There were not a lot of guys waiting in line to do this job, so we all have to thank Bill for the good job.  Looking closely you will say "No that is a passenger seat".  The railroad recycled some old passenger car seats and married them to a fabricated angle iron frame.

Interior Siding

Victor Humphreys installed a lot more interior siding on the left side of the plow.

Prime Condition

With the old scud cleaned off, Bill moved on to priming the bare metal.

More Priming

We fabricated another framing timber for the plow with help from Lorne Tweed and then made eight filler blocks needed before we can consider adding ceiling boards.  Victor attacked them with primer at once.

Lights

Lighting for the 50th avenue station platform is being re-done and here, Fred Zimmerman is working on some of the porcelain glazed light shades.

Sockets

Meanwhile, Bill Wulfert was cleaning and reassembling some of the sockets for the new lights.

Boxes

Rich Witt continues work on the CA&E replica first aid boxes.  I think there are ten different parts for each box and all have to fit very exact.

Getting Legs

The Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car project is really getting legs.  No so much for Ray Pollice who is working on wainscotting panels.  Actually, the temporary plywood flooring was removed to let Ray stand upright on the ground beneath the car.  But at first glance - - -

Front End

Eric Lorenz installed the new special rubber gasket material in the two front windows.  Such a simple thing, such a big impact.

More Windows

Lorne Tweed and Eric continued on the window work on the left side of the car.  Eric has just installed one of the missing standee windows at the front of the left side.

New Wood

Tim Peters has completed a lot of work on the southwest corner of Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.  Previously we showed new framing and sill work; now the side filler panels are all in, as is the corner post work complete.  Tim is checking how new siding will match up.

Easy Sitting

We took the CGW seat frame away for cleaning and painting and so John McKelvey is now busy with a passenger car lounge seat.  It really looks good and very comfortable.  But I bet John will not let us try it out with our grimy work duds on.

Yet more rain to start the day.  The deluge ranged from 3-8 inches in our area, most coming down just ahead of morning drive time.  Needless to say it was a slow trip to IRM, and some did not make it, as they were engaged with wet basements and property.

Showy

John McKelvey is doing work to make the Chicago Great Western X 38 snow plow cab the envy of the industry.  Old passenger car seats had been recycled to this duty, and here John shows off an upholstered panel for the first seat he is working on.

Prime Work

Of course we were chased back inside the shop when the rain continued.  Jim Leonard is priming the many boards we cut for the interior lining for the plow.

More Prime

Jim is priming an interior frame post for the plow while Victor Humphreys assumes the duty of quality inspector.  That is fair since Victor helped make the timber.

Cab Cupola

Buzz Morissete kept the disk sander busy making ever more parts to go into the plow cab/cupola in our effort to have all new windows up there.

Hoser

Not in the derogatory sense, but here is a control hose that Randall Hicks repaired.  It was needed to test the prospect of operating a four car wood CA&E train as one unit.  Success.

Retriever

John Nelligan, Henry Vincent, and Pete Galayda are taking the short course in trolley rope retrievers.  Here they are making up a new rope for the Charles City Western 300 locomotive.

Tenons

Rich Witt is cutting stub tenons for doors on the six CA&E replica first aid boxes he is constructing.

Welding a Platform

Gerry Dettloff is welding a new steel deck plate on the west end of Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.  The old one was pretty much a lace doily as far as strength and integrity.  Wait a minute, the doily would probably have won if there was a contest.

Bending in Action

Tim Peters and John Faulhaber are bending a new piece of tack molding for Lake Shore Electric 810.  This piece was custom milled from new stock and has been in a soaking tube for about three weeks.  They are wrapping it around the end platform with guide blocks to hold the proper curves.

Bent

Gerry D is helping secure and adjust the above piece of molding.  They prepared and successfully bent two pieces, one for each end.  Now all we need is drier weather for three weeks to get the water back out and have the wood take a set.

Roof Is Ready

While the wood has been soaking John and Gerry have made all the necessary repairs to the 810 roof and it looks to be ready for new canvas - once the bent tack molding is installed on the ends.

And as usual, other work continued even if I was not there to take a pic.  Henry Vincent worked on the table saw restoration, Al Reinschmidt did some more work on CA&E parts restoration with Randall Hicks, and the CTS 4223 team was sweating out the humidity inside Barn 4.  They were clearing out stored material from beneath the car.  That is always a handy place to stow things you know you will need any minute.  But in a week or so there are plans to move the car and roll it outdoors for display as part of our 60th anniversary special Trolley Pageant on July 6.