Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Smoke On the Prairie

After the stunning accomplishments of the steam department, I got up early yesterday to spread the good news that the decapod, FRISCO 1630, is alive and well.  No scoop there as there were already two BLOGS here mentioning it, and news spreading on the web.  Here is a shot at about noon, with a lazy plume of smoke and vapor drifting up.  By the time I left it looked and sounded more like a live locomotive with all the sights and sounds of the air pump thumping away, wisps of steam drifting away, and those memorable smells of coal smoke, hot oil, and steam filling the air.  GOOD WORK!!!

Paint

We got a break in the weather to some degree and Jim Leonard, Victor Humphreys, and Dave Rogan made good use of it, by applying finish black paint over much of the front plow roof, ramps, and remaining primer areas.  Of course I am talking about our Chicago Great Western X 38 Russell snow plow.

Looking Good

Victor and Dave are hand painting the many surfaces in and around the front coupler on the plow.  Sharp eyed readers will also note the return of the train line air pipe dropping down form the roof.  Dave and Paul Cronin re-installed that following great efforts by the Steam Department to return a Barco ball joint re-built for use on the plow.  Thanks to TOM SCHNEIDER and crew!!!

Chiseler

Among other shop work, Rich Witt is working on some razor sharp wood chisels which were re-sharpened to perfection by Paul Cronin at home during the week.  Thanks Paul.

Fussy Work

Buzz Morisette is finishing up some new molding for the private car, ELY.  I would have scratched my head for a while to figure this job out, but it did not seem to phase Buzz at all.

Heiroglyphics

Are these some remnant of ancient languages on our Great Northern X 1390 tank car??  Some of the outlines seem almost like the language we are used to.  But those mystery areas??

Mystery Solved

The taped outlines are one of the steps I rely on to apply new lettering to any restored car in the collection.  Here it is, decoded as DIESEL.  Yet this is clearly a railroad tank car and not a new member of our Internal Combustion Department.  Stay tuned as this late breaking story develops.

Tin Knocking

Any tradesman working in sheet metal used to be known as a TIN KNOCKER, for obvious reasons.  Here is Lorne Tweed making quite a din as he pounds out some dimples in sheet metal panels to be used on our Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car.  They are the curved metal panels to go above the standee windows on the inside and are designed to hold ad cards to occupy the riding public.