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Sunday, October 11. 2015Trolley Bus/Motor Bus Department Update 10/11/2015
Since our last update, we
sucessfully ended our operating season. Our
final operations for the year were Labor Day Saturday and Member's Day/ATTRM
Convention on Saturday, September 19. The
19th was a 12 hour operating day with service starting at about 10:00am and
ending at around 10:00pm. Bob Bourne,
Richard Schauer and I operated the Chicago Marmon 9553 and the Seattle MAN
artic 4020. That same weekend, we
operated "The Bus Stop Shop" for the first time. This fundraising effort consisted of selling
surplus items in the Museum's collection.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of Julie Piesciuk, we raised over $2,000
throughout the weekend.
The ultimate goal is to build an additional bus garage, as we currently have more buses than can fit inside the current buildings - with more on the way.
To that end, over the past few weekends, we have started a huge switch move in both bus departments. Richard Schauer has calculated the layout of both the Andersen Garage and the Hoffman Garage to maximize the number of coaches we will be able to fit indoors in order to protect as many as possible from the harsh winter weather. The planning and preparation took place over the past few weekends and Saturday the switching began.
With help from Nick Espevik, Thomas (sorry I don't remember your last name), Fred McGullam, John LeBeau, Vince Allen and others, we worked the entire day Saturday, moving all but two buses in the Andersen Garage, and putting four in their final locations. This will continue for the next few weeks until they are all where they need to be.
After a multi year absence, Trolley Bus service WILL be on the calendar for 2016. We will operate on the Saturday of major holiday weekends as well as during the Trolley Pageant, Member's Day and during a new event for 2016, "Bus Day"!!! Bus Day will be on Saturday, October 01, 2016 and will of course feature trolley bus service. We will also open as many of the motor buses and trolley buses as we possibly can for your inspection. Finally, the Bus Stop Shop will return, once again giving you the opportunity to acquire rare, historic or just plain fun artifacts, which are duplications in the museum's collection. At the same time you will help support the continuing efforts of the Trolley Bus and Motor Bus Departments.
Finally, I'd like to thank everyone who has shown their support over the past several years as we have struggled through some difficult times. At this point, the future could not look brighter. We have raised about 60% of what is needed to build a new garage, we will have regular trolley bus service again in 2016, and the ranks of volunteers and those interested in volunteering in our two departments has never been greater. So once again, I can't stress this enough, we TRULY appreciate all the support and words of encouragement (and of course donations) from everyone - it really helps!!!
Sunday, October 11. 2015Progress on the o/s ATSF 2544 combine
Since mid-June our team has been slowly working on the goal of placing the ATSF combine back into service. We first painted the floor and then installed the ATSF seat frames. Finally, after almost two months of upholstering, preformed by the team of John McKelvey and Jane Blackburn; all the newly upholstered seats cushions and backs were fitted into their seat frames. This gives your museum another 46 seat coach and the opportunity to use it in next years revenue service.
 The wooden floor before it was painted  Loraine Bixler painting the floor  The floor finally painted Now I can start to install the seat frames  The seat frames are all installed and now also four newly upholstered seat backs  Loraine Bixler and Dave Cook use their hands at polishing the car side  The two people that were instrumental in upholstering all the backs and cushions for the combine. The team of John,the expert, and Jane, his apprentice  All upholstery is complete.  Another view  It is our hope to use this car in limited service next year |
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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 [...]