Passenger Car Department

                    Its been real cold in the weeks of November but the warmer months of late August, September, and October have produced a number of positives.   Where as other coach dept projects have the luxury of a indoor heated area where you can work in your street clothes ours now is strictly in a often unheated environment.   We have been busy focusing only on a small number of projects.

                     First, our heavy weight sleeper, John McLouglin, has had its long interior hallway completely needle chipped, sanded, and prepped  for priming.  Some of this work has been preformed in the milder weather of September and October.   I have also reinstalled the ceiling light fixture in the women's bathroom.  It was removed in January of this year and brought home to my workshop where it was primed and painted  to the finish ceiling color.  Robert Olsen and Rick Serenda,  two new members to our team have been scraping and priming areas on the steel roof.  When the weather warms we will prime and paint these areas black..  

               Next, we have been working on the interior of the Lackawanna coach 556.   Mark Hoffman, Loraine Bixler and Brian Patterson have been working on removing the old peeling paint from the ceiling, walls and on the baggage racks. We hope to have the interior painted by next year.  Many volunteer hours will be needed to accomplish this task.  We now have a limited heating supply to keep the car at least 50 degrees. Maybe that will bring out a few more volunteers to help with the project.  Interested? Please see me or Paul Cronin on Saturdays or Wednesdays. 

               Jack Biesterfeld has again been working on his favorite project, B&M 1094.  He along with Dan Boguse and myself have removed a protection wall behind the oil fired boiler.   This boiler will be removed at a later date.    In the meantime we have found the old coach wall behind it.    The old wall is in a viable state and can be restored.   Missing is the wooden  window and it's frame.   This will be made in our woodshop when monies become available.   If you would like to contribute to this worthy project please send a donation to the B&M 1094 Fund. 

                Lastly, Gerry Boguse along with his brother,Dan, have been busy winterizing the water system on the L&N 2726 Diner.  They drained all the water out of the system and then filled it with an antifreeze solution used in RV motorhomes.  Gerry also received from R and B Metal the last of the made to order stainless steel flooring.  These six pieces will be installed next spring.  As of yet there is not an interior winter heat source for the diner.    Anticipation grows about operating the diner in limited service on our railroad next year!

   All-in-all, a lot of progress for the fall season.    Please remember the coach department projects when you send your winter donations.    Thanks   Roger

             These pictures were sent to me courtesy of Robert Banke.  They were taken in the late 70's at the Rock Island station.   Today, you can not even get close to many passenger commuter yards to take pictures  like this let alone just to view them.  How times have changed!    Please take note of the surroundings in the following pictures.  You can see the lack of maintenance of both equipment and infrastructure.  Notice there is more grass growing than ties     Sad, how a once great railroad would end up like  this!            Here, then, is a snapshot of what it was like to ride the "ROCK" in the late 70's; the good old days!          

                               My thanks again to Robert Banke for having the foresight to take these informative pictures of the Rock Island commuter service.      If you would like to help Irm portray a similar scene please when sending in your yearend donation please include a contribution to the Restricted RI 2612 coach or the RI 938 steam loco fund.                             Thank You      Roger Kramer