Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Entries from Monday, August 31. 2015

Monday, August 31. 2015

Unsual activities in the Coach Dept Posted by Roger Kramer in Passenger Car Department at 20:33

Comments (4)

Unsual activities in the Coach Dept

Yes, we have begun a ritual that has never taken place before in the coach dept. These unusual activities consist of washing and then polishing the car sides of a number of our painted equipment. This has never happened before partly because of the lack of man power and partly because no one was interested and motivated in doing the work.

Dave Cook and Loraine Bixler waxing the ATSF 2544 combine

Meanwhile Bob Olsen is continuing the polishing job on the 2544.This is taken from the other side on the combine.

Dale Steichen, our newest volunteer, is washing the roof of the 2726 Diner

That attitude has changed and we are now bring back that beautiful luster these coaches once had. The past dull surfaces are now more colorful and shinny in appearance. Here is some of the work that has been done and hopefully you see the results this coming Labor day Weekend when a number of the coaches are being operated again. Its really amazing the difference. Be sure to bring your sunglasses for they will shine in the sunlight!! Would you like to help? Please stop by any Wed or Saturday and we will supply the polish and buffing rags! Thanks Roger

Monday, August 31. 2015

Cleaning the professional way Posted by Roger Kramer in Passenger Car Department at 19:45

Comments (4)

Cleaning the professional way

Here is another new function preformed for the coach dept. Two weeks ago Paul Cronin hired, for the first time, professional carpet and upholstery cleaners. Along with my assistance we cleaned the carpets in the ATSF 1534 and the L&N 2726 diner. The Stanley Carpet Cleaning Company actually did all the work!

The chairs are strewn every which way in the ATSF lounge

The next week they came out again and cleaned all the hallway carpets in the silver cars located in yard five. From what Paul told me those carpets were equally as dirty! No pictures are available for I was not at the museum on that Thursday.

The carpets are next to be cleaned

You can just imagine after all these years how dirty the carpet was! The cleaning and rinse water was almost as thick as mud!

Cleaning the carpets in the diner

It does not take long for these carpets to attract dirt with the high numbers of visitors walking thru these displays. We were very happy with the results and will in the future clean these two cars again along with a number of others. Want to help defray the costs of the cleaning? Just send a donation and mark it Passenger Coach Dept! Thanks Roger

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Comments

Ethan Armitage about A brief history of 9976
Mon, 09-08-2025 08:22
Good job on the Burlington Nortern 9976. OK.

Jamie Kolanowski about New Acquisation: What is CN 15444?
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:56
No new news that I have heard of thus far.

Jamie Kolanowski about Burlington Northern 9908 body work
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:53
I'll also be doing another update on it soon. Keep en eye out for that.

Jamie Kolanowski about Burlington Northern 9908 body work
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:47
A little work was done to it for Diesel Days this year. You'll see photos floating around for the temporary short term job that was done to make it [...]

Johncrpenter about New Acquisation: What is CN 15444?
Wed, 08-06-2025 13:01
Is steam car CN 15444 going to be coming to museum several times it was to be moved to muesum

Lincoln Strickland about New Acquisation: What is CN 15444?
Sat, 07-19-2025 18:56
Yeah, sadly it's still there as of 7/19/2025

Nick about Burlington Northern 9908 body work
Thu, 06-12-2025 19:14
Its been 14 years guys, where is the unit? Like really? Did you guys misplace it? Or are repairs taking that long? At this point be might we will have [...]

Steve Smedley about Milwaukee Road 33C update 3/23/2020
Wed, 04-09-2025 17:40
Jamie Thanks for the update. She's gonna shine like every thing else you guys do! Smeds

James Kolanowski about Diesel Shop update 3/5/2025
Thu, 03-06-2025 16:28
Yes, there is a wye. Those two have been MU'ed on diesel days a year or two ago.

Joe S about Diesel Shop update 3/5/2025
Wed, 03-05-2025 14:04
7009 number boards look good. Is there a way to turn a locomotive around at IRM? In case you ever had a mind to connect 7009 and 6847?

James Kolanowski about Milwaukee Road 33C update
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 [...]

AJ about Milwaukee Road 33C update
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...