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Tuesday, June 17. 2014Saturday June 14th Passenger Car UpdateA glorious day at the Illinois Railway Museum. It was beautiful all day - a bit warm but we'll take it. Mitch O'Brien, Ray Mormann, and Kevin Kriebs each had a screwdiver and removed most of the hardware from two doors purchased to use in the Birmingham diner. Once most of the hardware was removed, Kevin started stripping paint from one of the doors.  Kevin setup for stripping a door - Photo by Michael McCraren  Kevin stripping paint from a door to be used in the Birmingham - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen  Kevin had to strip many layers of paint from one door - Photo by Jon Habegger  There is much work required to repair the rust damage at the bottom of this door - Photo by Jon Habegger While Kevin was stripping paint from one door, Michael Baksic, Ray Mormann, and Mark Gellman worked on positioning a second interior door on the kitchen end. Because the kitchen wall is at an angle, installing a door there, mounting it to the car, will be a challenge.  Michael Baksic and Ray Mormann work on the kitchen end door - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen  Mark G. and Michael B. kneeling down to work on the kitchen end door - Photo by Michael McCraren  Michael Baksic looks through the Birmingham kitchen door as it is being installed - Photo by Michael McCraren  Because of the wall angle, installing a door at the kitchen end will be challenging - Photo by Jon Habegger From Michael McCraren: All sleeping car and coaches of a long distance passenger train had a number assigned to them in the consist. For example, on "The City of Los Angeles" the first sleeping car would be assigned the number 1031 meaning train #103 (westbound COLA), first sleeping car. This way the passenger would know which car they were in. On the Union Pacific "Peak" series, the number board was located below the porter's room window on one side and below the bathroom window on the other. During the Pacific Peak's time with Amtrak, the number boards were plated over. On Saturday, Mark Gellman, Jon Habegger, and myself removed the plating and exposed the original number boards. They were cleaned, primed and painted black. Glass will be placed over the number boards to complete the work.  Mark Gellman drilling out pop rivets - Photo by Michael McCraren  Mark prying off the plate - Photo by Michael McCraren  Pacific Peak original number board uncovered after some 40 years - Photo by Michael McCraren  After some clean up and priming the board is painted black - Photo by Jon Habegger  The number board taken from the inside the Pacific Peak - Photo by Jon Habegger Shelly was working with John McKelvey in the wood shop all day stripping RI 2612 Henrietta seats down to the frame. Broken metal clips on the springs were replaced, then Shelly epoxied the bottom of the seat frame where the tack strips are located. Meanwhile, John put tarp material over the repaired springs, tacked it down, then applied horsehair padding. A layer of padding was applied over top of the horsehair, then another layer of horsehair was added, then another layer of tarp was applied to cover the layers of padding. Next, the actual upholstery material can be applied. There is a great deal of work involved in reupholstering these old coach seats and this is why we ask passengers to treat them with care.  John McKelvey sewing upholstery padding pieces together - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen  John working on layers of seat material for a Henrietta coach seat - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen Lunch was in the Birmingham as usual with a small celebration of Michael Baksic's birthday. Elegant Farmer apple pie and whipped cream were enjoyed by the crew. Everyone returned to their respective work for the day after this all too brief intermission.  Kevin Kriebs and Mitch OBrien at lunch - Photo by Michael McCraren  Shelly Vanderschaegen and Michael Baksic with birthday apple pie - Photo by Michael McCraren  Michael B., Buzz Morisette, and Ray Mormann finishing up lunch - Photo by Michael McCraren Monday, June 16. 2014RI 2612 exterior restorationA couple of friends from the L&N diner era dropped by the Friday, May 23rd, the Memorial day weekend, and started needle chipping the south side of the coach. Howard and Mary Geier took up the" chippers" and really "went to town" knocking off the old paint. Paint chips were flying all over the place!  Mary has never used a needle chipper  She told me she enjoyed chipping  At the end of the day the husband and wife team almost got it all chipped  Mary workin away on Saturday. Now, she is concentrating on the belt rail  Clean as a whistle  Howard is applying a coat of primer  Its half primed. Howard in the back ground and thats Gary in the foreground  At the end of the day. I would like you to meet another new young member to the restoration team. This is Austin Harvey, a new graduate from the Crystal Lake High School system. Welcome to the team, Austin! As you will see in upcoming blogs, Austin really likes volunteering at Irm. Since Memorial Day Austin has been working with us on an average of three or four times a week. I appreciate his loyalty as well as his work ethic. Thank you very much, Austin. Your volunteering has made a big different in our progress!  Austin, his first day photo  Austin chippin away and Dave sanding inside  Tuesday, May 27, Austin came back and started chipping above the windows Please stop by and visit with us. We would sure like to show you the latest coach progress! Thanks..... Roger Friday, June 13. 2014Passenger Car Department Report for 6/1/14 Through 6/8/14We 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.  John McKelvey stripped DMIR 84 coach smoking section seats - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen  A look inside the 84 coach seats - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen  John McKelvey with an 84 coach seat he reupholstered - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen 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.  Mark Gellman cleaning in the Chicago Burlington &  Mark made the tail sign for the 1923 RPO car - Photo by Jon Habegger 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.  Ray Mormann and Michael Baksic applied caulk - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen 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!  Monarch Landing Retirement Community group tour - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen 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.  RPO catch sequence pulled by 1630 - Photo by Jon Habegger  The bag hook approaches - Photo by Jon Habegger  The mail bag is caught - Photo by Jon Habegger  The mail bag is pulled inside - Photo by Jon Habegger In another run-by our own Mark Gellman made a catch and dropped a mail bag like a pro.  Mark Gellman prepares for the mail bag catch and drop - Photo courtesy of Mark Gellman  Mark made it look easy as he dropped one bag and hooked the other - Photo courtesy of Mark Gellman 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.  John McKelvey installing a walkover seat back in the DMIR 84 - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen 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.  Chuck Trabert repairing pipe in the Dynamometer - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen  Pipe repair in the Dynamometer - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen  This rusted door panel was removed from the X-5000 - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen Curator Michael Baksic met with Gerry Boguse in the Louisville & Nashville diner 2726 Galt House to discuss needed floor repairs.  Gerry Boguse and Michael Baksic in the Galt House - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen |
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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 [...]