Here is a short review and tour of one of our tank cars, restored perhaps over 20 years ago.
Tank car? I don't see any tank car. Yet this often the first step in any work at IRM. US Army 8537 is lugging a string of cars out of Yard 14 so that the subject car can be pulled to a better location. A great example of how IRM works and how it preserves so many aspects of railroad history. This could have been a period photo from decades ago, in countless locations.
The left side of the tank shows the DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE lettering on the silver tank car body with black trim. The car was used to haul heating oil and possibly other petroleum based cargoes to air bases and defense silos during the height of the cold war era. I will guess this would have carried heavy oil products, since the car is equipped with interior piping and heating coils to thin and liquify a heavy product.
There is lettering on the right side of the tank defining an AAR warning.
Here is the dome with it long string of lettering. You can see that decades of outdoor storage has resulted in the upper areas of the dome and tank suffering mightily from sun and weather.
The right side of the tank has much lettering and info, most of it mandated by RULE for cars in interchange service.
The end had the standard array of lettering containing the reporting marks, capacity, and other data.
For this era, of the restoration, a set of consolidated lube stencils were used.
As shown above the car has suffered from being stored outdoors, setting us up to doing another restoration of what was once COMPLETE. The car is on our short list to repaint and I expect it may yet see some significant 'wear and tear' in the coming weeks. If we are to repaint and letter it yet again, should not we work to store it indoors so the work will last? Yes this is the commercial asking for donations to fund R12661. Thanks in advance.
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 [...]