Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Although the weather has been cold and rainy, with some snow added, that has not stopped Dave Diamond and the B and G crew from spreading more concrete.   A couple of weeks ago the crew was poring concrete for the curbing in the parking lot expansion.    This last Wednesday they were at it again but this time finishing off the sidewalks in and around the Schroeder Store.    I believe this completes this part of the project!   As I have said before, this will be the new entrance for the museum. The Happy Holiday Rail event will be the first to use this new entrance!   This new entrance dresses up the museum and, in my opinion, is quite impressive to view. This is just another great job by our Buildings and Ground dept!    Thanks      Roger

What's happening at the museum?    Well quite a bite as you will see.   From Freight cars,  Elevated cars, Coaches, Diesels, and Buildings and Grounds there is a lot of activity here at IRM.  Here's some examples.  Matter of fact if you enter the museum grounds from the parking lot next year there is a entirely new grand entrance being constructed! Thinking of helping with these projects, either volunteering or financially, please stop by and view all the different projects that are being work on here at Irm.        Thanks    Roger  

The exterior painting for our food bar coach, IC 3345, is drawing to a close.   Thanks again to everyone who participated in this project.   We are still not completely finished with the exterior but the vast majority of work is done.  These latest efforts revolve around the painting of the vestibule and exterior doors on both ends and the prepping and painting of the trucks and other underbody parts.   We removed most of the old paint, sanded the surface and then primed and finished coated both the walls and ceiling of the vestibule and did the same to the entrance door on the opposite end.  It was very time consuming taking three to four weeks to complete.  These pictures will show you what was involved in getting  the results we are striving for. Our main project in October was the repainting of the vestibule.  It took many manhours to prep mask and paint the walls and ceiling.  We got it done!    WOW!  With a lot of planning and volunteer hours we finally completed this painting project.   Yet to be completed is the installation of both metal buffers and the purchase of canvass curtains that are attached to the buffers.  The buffers are stored in another location so they will be moved to be worked on this fall and winter.  Estimated cost for each canvass is $1000 each.   If you would like to help us with this particular facet of the project please send your donation either electronically or by mail and mark it IC 3345.                  Thanks  Roger