Here is another progress report of the 556. Included are a few scenes from other important restoration projects. We have accomplished so much in the first to weeks of July that I will be giving you a detailed report on the RI 2602 next week. As I have previously mentioned we are upgrading the 556 from top to bottom.Do you recognize this coach? Very possibly not! Its the interior of our CNW combine 7700. We painted the floor June 29th and what a difference it makes. Yes, it now makes a big difference in the appearance of the interior. We have expanded our work schedule to include this upgrading of the combine. By all accounts it surely needed it! First, Sandy sanded, primed and then applied two coat of gloss black to all the window sills while it was stored in barn 3. During the same period Sandy also sanded, primed and coated gloss black to all the wooden arm rests. Lastly, we painted the floor and steam heat pipes all an indian red color! It so dresses up the combine that you will be amazed at the difference! Still much to do including a ceiling repair but that might happen when funds become available in the coming years. In the meantime, it should be kept indoors, when not in operation, to prevent anymore more damage from rain leaking into the ceiling from the roof. These two picture's proudly show the rebuilt motors for the 1024 "L" car that Tim Peters has been restoring for the past 4 years! That's the round up for the first two weeks in July, 2016. As you well know, the last two weeks of July were very, very hot but we kept working as you shall see in the next blog. Thanks Roger
This past week a large group of volunteers continued working on the Erie Lackawanna coach, 556. We are now focusing our attention on the exterior with work being preformed on the trucks and the roof.
We are putting the finishing touches on our Thomas and Percy train for this years Day Out With Thomas event, Please consider coming out to help. We still need to paint two coach floors and clean all 12 coaches. Please stop on by, OR if you cant make it please consider sending a donation to the Passenger Coach fund to help defray the costs of paint and materials. Thanks Roger
Saturday, July 9. 2016
Here's a new and positive development being announced! We now have added a second work session for our volunteers on weekdays! Thursdays have now been added to our summer work schedule to further our production on our coach fleet. So if you can't make Wednesday volunteering in the coach dept please consider the new day of Thursday. The most important part is that we are still having fun and will be accomplishing twice as much. Boy, the improved interiors sure make a difference. That is what we in the coach dept are aiming for to enhance our visitor experience at Irm. Here are some pictures of our latest efforts this last week of June 2016.The Dover bedroom project also at the same time. More upgrades on the Rock Island fleet. Adding an additional volunteer work day certainly helps improve the appearance of our passenger coach fleet. Want to join us and can't make out on Wednesdays? How about a Thursday? Paul and I will be there to help get you started. Thanks Roger
Comments
Mon, 09-08-2025 08:22
Good job on the Burlington Nortern 9976. OK.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:56
No new news that I have heard of thus far.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:53
I'll also be doing another update on it soon. Keep en eye out for that.
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 [...]
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
Sat, 07-19-2025 18:56
Yeah, sadly it's still there as of 7/19/2025
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 [...]
Wed, 04-09-2025 17:40
Jamie Thanks for the update. She's gonna shine like every thing else you guys do! Smeds
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.
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?
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...