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Friday, August 12. 2016Back in service: The RI 2602
The coach department has again met its goal!! We have completed the interior restoration of the 2602 and it will again be used for the Thomas event. Paul and I would like to thank all of you who participated in its upgrade! Here are the last few pictures taken before it was added to the Thomas train this last Thursday. We now have five reliable Rock Island coaches, all interiors repainted and in service. Just to refresh everyone's memory the numbers are: 2555,2571,2582,2602 and 2612. RI 2524 is now being restored and might possibly be ready for next years Thomas train. Be sure to follow the upcoming blogs on this our last R I restoration.
 This picture was taken just after we completed the painting of the ceiling  Jeff is priming the last of the seat pedestals. Yes, we cleaned all the rust from each frame and primed them.  We also paid attention to many details in the coaches. Here Buzz is applying decal numbers on the bulkhead of the 2582 coach. Yes thats me looking on.  It turned out to be real hot the last couple of weeks but we continued working in spite of the heat. Thats the new fan we purchased to kool the crew!  Bob Olsen finishes the painting of the seat frames. Each one is now painted and properly working.  Seat frames are now painted. What a difference.  The weekday crew Jane Sandy and Jeff. Not in this picture is Scott our in-house artist.  Another view Thats Jane in the foreground and Sandy in the background  The seats cushions are all installed and Bob Albertson is cleaning the dust and grime off the wall.  Its ready for the Day Out With Thomas.  I hope the public will enjoy the new interior. It was well worth all our hard work! Friday, August 12. 20162602 Before the restoration
This is small memory refresher for all of you! This is the RI 2602 two years ago before we decided to actively restore the interior. You must remember that the coach department was still restoring the 2612 at this time! The coaches interior was in horrible condition. We only had about three weeks, last year, to repainted the walls of the 2602 before the Thomas event. Here are some 2014 pictures. Like me, you will be amazed at the before and after pictures. What a contrast.
 These pictures were taken April 21, 2014  A very dark and uninviting interior.  What a mess! Would you as a customer want to ride in a car like this? Monday, August 1. 2016RI 2602 It will be ready!
I want to show everyone our latest project rushing to completion for Thomas. We have a small crew that has been feverishly working on restoring the interior of our last operating Rock Island coach 2602. Paul Cronin and I are very proud of the quality of work that we all have accomplished this season. We are just like Metra upgrading the interiors of our equipment. Here is the latest report, then, on the Rock coach.
 The four person team has completed the painting on one side of the ceiling and now our attention focuses to the last side  Jeff has finished chipping and sanding areas above both doors. Next step is to clean with xylene and prime.  Another focus on the coach was to remove any ugly peeling paint on the exterior. Again Jeff needle chipped this stairs and now Sandy has begun priming it.  Jane AKA Steam Dept Jane has been working with us on the weekdays all summer. Here she is continuing her priming job on the second half of the ceiling .  Its water break time for her. We frequently do that to prevent any illnesses from the heat. As you can imagine its hot up there next to the ceiling.  This shows the vast space to be primed and painted. Jane is walking to retrieve another ladder  Sandy is priming the last section on the ceiling while in the back ground Jane has already begun to finish coat the primed areas The new ladders and scaffold are in use is this picture. This makes the painting of the ceiling a lot easier and safer. It also saves time. |
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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...