Summer is here... Yay!!
Jon Habegger started the day on Sunday by improving the appearance of his arrival departure display. The October 1955 departure and arrival times of intercity trains from six Chicago stations have been reformatted on sturdy display boards which are tacked to the wall with adhesive strips. It really looks great and gives us a sense of the prevalence of rail travel in the 1950's.
Kevin Kriebs continued removing adhesive from the 1st Exhibit Car. He had completed the entire lower portion of the car by lunchtime and then moved a scaffold in place to start on the top half of the car after lunch. It's a huge job but he is getting it done!
By midmorning, Michael Baksic was talking with with John McKelvey about the need for reupholstering coach seats. Shelly Vanderschaegen joined them and the topic changed to rubber flooring for the Birmingham diner, the Santa Fe lounge car, and the Dover Strait.
Chuck and Pauline Trabert made their first appearance at IRM for 2014. Chuck spent his time searching the Milwaukee Road Dynamometer roof to find and stop new leaks which had cropped up since last year's effort to plug all the holes. He pulled off some old patches and replaced them and found one new hole not previously discovered. Late in the day Curator Michael Baksic asked Chuck to remove a triangular metal frame which jutted out on the back of the car before it caused any damage to other cars while hooking up. Shelly climbed up to help remove the fasteners and they got it down in just a few minutes time.
While she was in the area, Shelly took a couple of pictures of two cars outside Barn 3.
Mark Hoffmann continued work in the Pullman Car John McGloughlin, needle chipping and priming more surfaces in the Ladies Lounge. Then he showed Shelly his work in progress in the Delaware Lackawanna & Western 556 coach. He has needle chipped and primed portions of that car too.
Michael McCraren crafted replica magazines from the 1940's which he put in the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad 1534 lounge car magazine rack. He also replicated a Santa Fe menu which is behind the bar in the lounge car. On the back of it is a list of the times alcohol can be served in the states and even certain counties the train passed through.
Pauline Trabert worked with Shelly finishing the cleaning in the Northern Pacific 325 Slumbercoach Loch Sloy. She cleaned mirrors and surfaces which hadn't yet been done this year while Shelly vacuumed the entire carpeted coach. Next Pauline washed windows, table tops, and seats in the Atlantic Coast Line Birmingham Lightweight Diner while Shelly vacuumed the carpeting in the dining room.
John McKelvey was finishing reupholstering the last two seats from the DM&IR 84 coach seats in the woodshop. Thanks!! Welcome back, John - we know it's spring/summer when this snowbird arrives.
Lunch was in the Birmingham as usual. Guest Kevin Brown brought cookies to share - treats are always appreciated! Thanks! We also enjoy what he adds to the conversations - not that we're schmoozing him.... but we do want more cookies! John McKelvey, Mike McCraren, Jon Habegger, Kevin Kriebs, Pauline, Shelly and Michael B. our fearless leader, were also enjoying the cookies and discussions.
After lunch, Michael McCraren took a picture of the coach train being pulled by Silver Pilot and BN-1.
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 [...]