We have had some beautiful June weather at IRM!
Sunday, June 1st:
Kevin Kriebs continued his adhesive removal project on the exterior of the 1st Exhibit Car. Jon Habegger was at his post inside the 1st Exhibit Car greeting visitors. Jim Windmeier brought printouts of a Milwaukee Road dining car table set up, to demonstrate how they set the table as each railroad dining table was set differently. He talked to Michael Baksic, Jon Habegger, and Shelly Vanderschaegen about creating a display featuring railroad dining in the 1st Exhibit Car to use various railroad dishes from the Museum collection.
John McKelvey stripped several DM&IR 84 coach smoking section seats in his continuing effort to reupholster that section of the coach.
Mike McCraren was conductor on the passenger coach train.
Mark Gellman helped Michael Baksic complete three air brake tests on the available passenger cars and then assisted Jon Habegger in last minute interior repairs, cleaning and preparation of the Chicago Burlington & Quincy 1923 Steel RPO/Baggage car for the upcoming Railway Post Office Weekend.
Shelly Vanderschaegen continued waxing and buffing the Honduran Mahogany woodwork in the Ely dining room then discussed reupholstery of coach seats with John McKelvey.
Michael Baksic and Ray Mormann spent the day caulking seams and windows on the streamliner cars in Yard 5.
Friday, June 6th:
A group from Monarch Landing Retirement Community in Naperville, IL visited IRM. Thanks to Ray Bellock for showing them around our wonderful railway museum. They rode the Illinois Terminal 415 with motorman Bob Opal and then were pleased to have a boxed lunch in the Birmingham dining car in Yard 5 with Shelly Vanderschaegen as hostess. We hope they come back again!
Sunday, June 8th:
Mark Gellman and Jon Habegger worked on the RPO Days catch program. The Chicago Burlington & Quincy 1923 RPO was pulled by the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad 1630. Six retired postal clerks were in attendance and everyone had a good time.
In another run-by our own Mark Gellman made a catch and dropped a mail bag like a pro.
John McKelvey continued reupholstering the DM&IR 84 coach smoking section seats. Two of the seats have walkover backs without the same "triple hump" padding as the stationary seat backs. John put in extra effort to make the walkover seat backs match the stationary backs. In the image below where John is installing a newly covered walkover seat back you can see the results.
Work continued on the Dynamometer car. Warren Newhauser, Brian LaKemper and Chuck Trabert were on hand in the X-5000. After operations had completed, Mark Gellman assisted in replacing the brake pads on the Dyno.
Curator Michael Baksic met with Gerry Boguse in the Louisville & Nashville diner 2726 Galt House to discuss needed floor repairs.
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 [...]