Illinois Railway Museum Blog

We will have a lot of news and pics to report in this entry and the one following.  Part of that was the on and off rain all day driving projects inside to the shop areas, and freeing me up somewhat to grab some pics.

Panels Above Windows

Lorne Tweed and Eric Lorenz started the day by installing the panels above the passenger windows on the left side of the car interior on Cleveland Transit System 4223.  Weeks of prep work have been involved and all of sudden they almost flew into place.  Even that may be a simplification since there are adjustments to be made and many holes to be drilled and tapped, screws to be driven.

Window Tracks

Dick Cubbage was on hand and he promptly went to work cleaning more window tracks for the 4223, so that the left side windows may go in.

PM Progress

By the afternoon Lorne and Eric had many of the earlier panels in pic one set and anchored and then they moved to a sort of fabricated zee section rail which mounts above the standee windows.  This view from the front of the car shows almost all of those in place!  Compare the pics in this entry.  I have been told these blog entries are the greatest collection of backside photos for Lorne and Eric, but it is their own fault for always working when I come by.

Grid Boxes

For many months the crew working on Charles City Western 300 have been rebuilding the seven grid boxes.  I bet it seemed like it would ever end to them, and so also to many of us watching on the sidelines.  Here you see them all in place mounted on the running board along one side of the engine hood.  John Faulhaber helped Pete Galayda and John Nelligan who are proudly smiling at this accomplishment.

Jointing

Rich Witt plows along almost unaided in his work to construct replica First Aid Boxes for our fleet of Chicago Aurora & Elgin cars.  The stock was jointed and planed today.

Steel

Major progress was seen on the northwest platform knee on Chicago Rapid Transit 1024 rapid transit car.  After much fussing, engineering, and fitting the revised new support steel has been welded in place.

The Torpedo

Gerry Dettloff and John Faulhaber are working to fabricate what looks like an undersea torpedo.  At least that is what we thought after considering John's years of service in the Navy.  It is actually a chamber to immerse new tack molding for the end of the car in a soaking solution to make it possible to bend it around the car end.

Sanding

It will take some time for the results of the soaking to bear results but Gerry is up on the scaffold and sanding the roof, both the new wood repairs and smoothing and sculpting the boards that are to remain.