Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Not to be out done the John Mcloughlin also has seen its share of new progress.    For this we have to thank Mark Hoffmann, Howard and Mary Gierer, and Bob Olson for all their efforts.  Work is now focusing  on the hallway and the men's bathroom.  This type of paint restoration is very tedious and takes a while to remove the old paint, sand and then prime.  With a few more volunteers we could get the entire area primed and painted by this fall. Regardless, you will read about  our progress.   This is a brief summary of the John McLoughlin project to date.  We have a variety of activities related to this sleeper that require various skills and talents such as painting, carpentry, metal work and sandblasting of parts.   All can be accomplished by you the volunteers.   Please come out and visit us in  the coach and freight car shop of barn 10.     Thanks   Roger  Kramer   

The small band of volunteers are working on three ongoing projects in the Coach Department. The progress is being made on the  Mt Harvard, Milwaukee Road 649 and the John Mcloughlin. Here are the updates for your viewing pleasure. First, is the Mt Harvard and its interior restoration. I have been slowly working on the interior with the goal of repainting the hallway leading into the lounge area of the sleeper. Before I purchased the car from Mid Continent RR Museum, its previous owner, Dick Goddard, begin the interior up grade by repainting the lounge and priming part of the hallway. I thought that would be a good place to start where he left off. The hallway was partially stripped but never finish painted. After a few weeks of work it has been primed and  now has a finish top coat.

This is a massive restoration commitment and a personal goal of mine is to restore the Mt Harvard to limited service at the museum. Before I go on I would like to thank the following crew members for their help; Dale Steichen, Bob Olsen and Kari, Sandi, Paul and Charley Voyda. Now, once the interior is painted and in good shape I will turn my attention to the exterior. That means, basically, finding a welder to work on the installation of new steel panels for the vestibule area and also along the exterior side of the sleeper below the lounge area. A large amount of money. Perhaps, $9000 FOR JUST THAT WORK. The other large expense is the manufacture of major vestibule parts. They include two traps, two stairs and the rebuilding of the two vestibule doors. Since I have some of the parts already in storage the expense should be somewhat less, maybe $7000. Again my goal is to have the Mt Harvard in operation on our demonstration heavyweight steam train showing the membership and educating the general public the significance of passenger trains to the American economy. If you would like to help with this project please consider a donation the Mt Harvard fund. And by all means when visiting IRM please stop by and visit the Mt Harvard. Its currently located in Barn 11. Thanks, Roger Kramer