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Tuesday, September 9. 2014Rail construction: yards 13, 14 & 15
Here are some more pictures of the continuing rail project on the south end of our property. In anticipation of building barns 13 and 14 rail and ties must be laid and ballasted before any construction can begin. Randy Hicks and I have shown you the progress so far.
 Continuing work on yard 15 lead  Yard 15 facing west  In the process of ballasting  panels laid out for yard 13  Schmidts cut-off already ballasted  South switch connected and ballasted Ready for a switch move  Leading into the cut-off by Steam service facility  Site cleared. Starting to lay rail and ties  finishing one track in yard 13 Steam tender from KCS in foreground  Same rail but facing West  Last section to be assembled in yard 13  Using panel track to complete this part of the project  Leaving the museum on Olsen road. This is how the yard looks to the driving visitor. Thursday, September 4. 2014We did it again! RI 2602 repainted and in the Thomas TrainI am sure some of you visited Irm during DOWT. You probably viewed the RI 2602 as well as he RI 2612 in the Thomas Train.  Mark and Brian prepping areas to be primed  A large crew, August 6: Jane, Loraine, Ray, and Dave  A new member, Chase Renwick, was on the job masking of the windows. He did a great job. Please keep in mind that he had never done anything like that before.  After this last area was prepped we masked off areas to be primed and painted. Just remember this was Saturday one week before Thomas. Here is Brian priming the wall  August 12 I am painting the finish coat  The progression of painting the finish color  I finished painting this entire side in one day. Three coats are applied.  More green is added  Thursday Carlos, an employee, started loading the seats into the 2602  Friday,August 15, the car is ready just one day before the Thomas event. Talk about cutting it close  2602 in service w/ Thomas and making our customer enjoy their visit just a little bit more with a repainted interior. You, the reader of these blogs, now can help us by sending a donation the Indoor Storage RI 2612 fund. We would like to place this coach in one of two new storage buildings being built this upcoming Spring. Thanks Roger Kramer Wednesday, September 3. 2014Labor Day Weekend - Coach Department UpdateOn Saturday Ray Mormann and Barn 3 Curator Michael Baksic changed the oil on the genaerators under silver cars and checked to be sure they were full of gasoline as they started getting ready for Terror on the Railroad Haunted Event.  Michael Baksic and Ray Mormann work on a generator - Photo by Jon Habegger John McKelvey continued the seemingly endless task of stripping, repairing and reupholstering the Henrietta seats. Also on Saturday, Mark Gellman, Michael McCraren and Shelly Vanderschaegen prepared the Birmingham for the Band Organ Rally breakfast to be held on Sunday morning. Kevin Kriebs, Mark and Shelly cleaned the tables and put on table cloths in between regular Saturday visitors to Yard 5. Shelly cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed the dining area.  Mark Gellman practices his waiter skills on Kevin Kriebs - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen Jon Habegger and Ken Kosan were talking with visitors in the 1st Exhibit Car.  Ken Kosan talks with visitor in the 1st Exhibit Car - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen On Sunday, Mark Gellman, Michael McCraren and Shelly served up the Band Organ Rally breakfast. Michael M. was the chef, Mark was the waiter. Shelly washed dishes, took care of garbage, and tried serving coffee. Menus had been created and fresh flowers were in vases on each table. They served sausages, eggs, grits, country ham, orange juice, milk, and coffee to a group of volunteers and some of the band organ people. Donations were accepted. Jeff Calendine helped serve and bus tables. Big thanks to the crew for a job well done.  Mark Gellman waits on the first customer of the day - Photo by Jeff Calendine  Soon it was a packed house with more people waiting - Photo by Jeff Calendine  The breakfast crew - Michael McCraren, Shelly Vanderschaegen, and Mark Gellman - Photo by Jeff Calendine  Limonaire Freaes Band Organ, one of many - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen  The eye-catching Dutch Canadian Band Organ - Photo by Shelly Vanderschaegen Brian LaKemper reported that the Coach Department did something different and ran the five operable CRIP commuter cars and combine 7700. Late on Sunday, Brian noticed a mechanical problem with RI 2555 as a loud noise from the end of the car was reported. Mark Gellman inspected the coach and found a defect so the car was removed from the train for buffer repairs. According to Brian, the purpose for running the CRIP cars was to identify any defects so that repairs can be made ahead of next season. All defects were duly noted and reported to Michael Baksic along with a plan of action to resolve the pressing concerns. Brian spent the weekend on the coach train as a trainman/conductor trainee/mechanical rider. With work on CRIP 2602's interior wrapping up for now, a group is applying lessons learned on the DLW 556 coach in Barn 3. On Monday night, Brian P. and Brian LaKemper returned the car's missing interior brake beam to its rightful place. It awaits attachment to the car's brake rigging and final adjustment. Once it is installed, the car's brake valve will be cleaned, tested, and installed, completing the mechanical work needed to bring the car to operational status. It still needs interior repainting and volunteers are encouraged to show up. Someone should be around Wednesday through Sunday of this week. Chuck Trabert continued working on the side doors of the Milwaukee Road Dynamometer car. He has replaced the rusted metal and has primed the doors.  Chuck Trabert painting a refurbished Dynamometer door - 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 [...]