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Thursday, January 30. 2014January 25th - Another Cold and Snowy Yet Productive DayWork continued on the second exhibit car. Kevin Kriebs sanded all day in the vestibule between the two exhibit cars to take off the high spots. Later Mike Baksic primed all the bare metal exposed by Kevin's work so that the area is ready to paint.  Kevin Kriebs in the vestibule  Kevin removing the high spots in the vestibule In the second exhibit car entryway a storage closet door which was not properly seated was taken down and metal pieces were removed in preparation for shaving off about 3/8" from edges of the door so that it will fit better. Work on this will continue next weekend.  Mike and Kevin removing metal from door Mark Gellman removed a cabinet (which wasn't needed) from the furnace room of the second exhibit car. While Mark was doing this, Mike Baksic measured and cut holes on each side of the furnace for air vents to allow better airflow.  The former cabinet to the left of the furnace  Mark Gellman removing cabinet legs  Cabinet without legs  Mark removing the remainder of the cabinet  Mike Baksic measuring for a vent opening  Mike cutting one of the vent openings  Vent opening cut as seen from inside the furnace nook  Mike and Shelly apply a vent cover to the new opening Jon Habegger took pictures in the second exhibit car and the Ely to show progress, then he helped Shelly Vanderschaegen finish up odds and ends in the second exhibit car.  Shelly Vanderschaegen continues baseboard cleanup  Our department photographer, Jon Habegger Mike McCraren continued working in the Pacific Peak. He was sanding in the morning and priming in the afternoon. Buzz Morisette has continued work on the Ely dining room ceiling. One really cool thing he has done is to leave notes on the tops of the boards he has installed so that when the roof is rebuilt in the future the crew will be able to read what needs to be added to the carline where the ceiling is now shimmed. Buzz also noted when bringing up the carline that the roof is coming away from the walls. There are obvious cracks and separation indicating a new roof is badly needed. Buzz has epoxied the areas for more strength but this is a temporary solution. Donations specified for the Ely restoration fund will help make a new roof possible.  Notes on Ely ceiling boards left by Buzz Morisette  Looking toward the berths  Original metal strips every 12 in the Ely  Hip sanded, ready to be primed and painted  Buzz Morisette looking up at his work  Roof separation areas epoxied for strength Thursday, January 30. 2014Continuing window mfg in woodshopIt has been soooo cold at Irm this winter that many of you Blog readers probably figured activity was at a minimum. Well, your pretty close to being right! BUT, where there's heat there's progress. Even when it's 5-10 degrees outside it's almost "toasty" in our heated facilities. The car shop, office, exhibit cars and woodshop along with the Steam shop are locations where work continues even in the coldest of conditions. Randy Hicks in his blog site has documented his progress on the CA&E wood equipment using the woodshop as a work area. I have been out a couple of times in January and here's a few pictures of those visits.  Buzz using a wood file to custom fit the pieces  This shows the mahogany pieces all made up and some fitted into the frame configuration  All 18 frames fitted ready to be glued. Thanks to Bob, Vic, Rich, John, and Paul for their expertise When completed there will be 18 exterior, custom made, window frames mfg and assembled this winter seaon. Depending on time, I have purchased enough wood to cover the mfg of 8 more frames. The Pullman sleeper needs 32 so we are 6 short. The wood costs for each frame is about $50.00. If you would like to help us cover the additional costs of 6 frames please send you donations to Restricted Fund... Villa Falls. Thank you  Paul and Roger using the table saw to trim a section of ash for the mfg of new window sills for the RI 2612  Another angle Tim Peters took this shot  At the end of last Saturday Tim, Buzz, and Bill are enjoying some fruitful conversion Yes, Bill and Buzz had just come in from the colddd outside Will It ever warm up??????????????? We all hope so. I 'm sure you do too so you can again visit Irm. Remember the new display barns in your donations. It will happen!!! It just takes time. This year ol' 1630 steam will be running. Watch for the dates. Thanks Roger Kramer Tuesday, January 21. 2014January 18th Exhibit Car Progress - Is It Spring Yet?The rear of exhibit car is looking very good. Mike, Kevin, Mark, and Shelly worked on tasks to complete the car's interior. Kevin Kriebs used a wire wheel to start on the west vestibule of 2nd Exhibit Car. Shelly Vanderschaegen and Jon Habegger cleaned main room of the car. Curator Mike Baksic and Mark Gellman worked on east end of the car. They installed 4 new air vents for the air conditioning system, and wall molding on north exhibit wall. It was another snow day  Kevin Kriebs removing loose paint  Mike Baksic working on the door  2nd Exhibit car - looking forward  2nd Exhibit car - looking to the rear exit Ely update Jan 2014 from Buzz Morisette: Emergency roof repairs done sometime in the 80’s(?) made the roof watertight but were not quite a restoration. The dining room ceiling has now been properly repaired and re-framed to match the original curve of the roof. Wood backings to mount the original light fixtures, removed during roof repairs, are also back in place. Next step is to replace the conduit and wiring to those light fixtures. Shelly is starting to strip the fixtures for restoration. The Baltic Birch plywood purchased last year is primed and ready. Looking for warmer inside work I refinished the Mahogany corner bead that will go in last. Not all of it was there with ceiling work done over the years so new trim needed to be milled. Victor Humphres of the Freight shop located some Honduran Mahogany stock for us and I ran off about 30’ of the replacement trim. The picture below shows front to back new, refinished, and original finish trim.  Front to back: new, refinished, and original finish trim |
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Comments
Thu, 03-06-2025 16:28
Yes, there is a wye. Those two have been MU'ed on diesel days a year or two ago.
Wed, 03-05-2025 14:04
7009 number boards look good. Is there a way to turn a locomotive around at IRM? In case you ever had a mind to connect 7009 and 6847?
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 [...]