Illinois Railway Museum Blog

I visited the Steam Dept Saturday, on a cold January 14, and was amazed to see so many young men and women working on various projects in the heated steam shop! This is a truly a growing Team of dedicated people.    The volunteers were working on 5 or 6 projects and  were making a difference, accomplishing something.  The goal; To make steam a reality again in 2017!  BTW this is not unusual to have this large a number of people show up on a Saturday.   The large weekly turnout bodes well for the future of operating and preserving steam in the department as well as for the entire museum.  

The following scenes show the installation of the sheet metal wrap around the boiler exterior      Here is a list of people who were volunteering in the steam department.  Tom Schneider, curator, Jacob Venekas, Phil  Cwikowski, Jane Blackburn, Stu Brosh, Liam Dancey, Trevor Palczyrski, Don Panek, Nigel Bennett,    J D Marzec, Gerry Best, Mike Danisevich, Eric Hoyem, Jason Maxwell, Bob Rugg, Ed Kletecka, Tim Marino,  son Nick Marino, and Dan Paulson.    I should also mention that the skills needed to maintain and operate these large machines are being past down from Tom Schneider to these young people.  Through his teachings and guidance these volunteers are being given the information and techniques to continue these restorations!   Yes, I believe the future looks very bright for this group.  If you would like to assist the volunteers in their quest for more operational locomotives, Please send a donation to your favorite project or not having one  but still wanting to help this crew send one to the Restricted Fund, Steam Shop.  Tom then will use the funds for future shop projects.                Thanks   Roger