Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Entries from Tuesday, August 28. 2018

Tuesday, August 28. 2018

Steam bites Posted by Roger Kramer in Union Pacific 428 at 12:01

Comments (2)

Steam bites

Rich Thomas and his small team have been continuing the restoration of the UP 428 cab. This time his efforts are concentrating on the installation of the interior wooden side panels. During that same time the two metal floor replacements for the cab were finished and made ready for installation. The riveting team of Jerry and Stu installed about 50 rivets into both floor panels.

Newly painted ceiling boards are being installed.

They are now all installed!

Next, setting up the metal floor to measure and fit to the locomotive frame.

The newly riveted metal floor set up for the custom fit.

A broader view.

Inside the cab again with unfinished window frames inserted to see how well they fit.

The opposite side.

Work has begun to prepare and old Illinois Central tender once used on the steam pile driver for eventual use as an auxiliary water tender for the Frisco 1630! Not only is the steam department cosmetically restoring this tender but they are also working on installing new brakes and steps.

Kevin Tudor spend part of his valuable vacation needlescaling both sides!

The side has already been chipped. Thanks Kevin for all your help. There are a number of other people assisting on this project but I forgot my camera at home that day.

The 975 is receiving a much needed paint job. Not an easy task but one that is definitely needed.

The scraping needlescaling and priming of the wheels on one side is already finished.

Dennis, our in house volunteer welder, is finishing a couple of key components for our shay.

Here he is brazing a new fitting onto a pipe that supplies steam for the hydrostatic lubricator of the Shay.

Dennis just completed one of the last welding projects for the Shay.

This is just a small sample of the work being preformed in the department. Yet to be blog about are another two huge projects, The sandblasting and painting of the UP Rotary Snowplow and the reassemble of the 10 ton crane located in back of the steam shop. We need this crane back in operation in order to lift the UP428 cab back on the engine's frame. Thanks Roger

Tuesday, August 28. 2018

Part 4 Milw 649 Posted by Roger Kramer in Milwaukee Road 649 at 11:07

Comment (1)

Part 4 Milw 649

We are still proceeding on the goal of having the 649 ready for the Happy Holiday Railroad this Christmas Season. The work has been slow and somewhat tedious but progress has been made on all sides of the coach. With a small and dedicated crew of three, to five, we have made real inroads.

In this photo Howard has just completed spraying the lower red stripe.

Removing the masking paper shows the contrast.

Another view. What a great job, Howard. You, the reader, should see it up close.

The project was progressing slowly when a new volunteer joined the coach department and began working on the 649. Steve Dobberfuhl is the newest member of the coach department. He has shown us what working on a project two or three days a week can do. Welcome to the Passenger Car Department, Steve!

Steve has taken this project under his wing. Here he is removing the old paint surface by grinding it off inch by inch.

Here is what all Steves work looks like when done. Just a little personal note, if not for Steve, Kurt, Bill and Howard this painting project would not have even been started. All the guys are very dedicated.

After prepping the car body it was ready for priming. Howard was on vacation so inorder to continue the progress I decided to prime the coach. With the help of Steve, I applied two coats of Sherwin Williams grey primer to the body.

A view before paint was applied.

I am hard at work spraying the first primer coat.

The first coat is applied!

Now I am applying the second coat.

Helping us on this project would greatly be appreciated. The small team meets every Wednesday and Saturday. Come on down and join us. Thanks Roger

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Comments

James Kolanowski about Milwaukee Road 33C update
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 [...]

AJ about Milwaukee Road 33C update
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...

Ted Miles about Progress update of the Multi Purpose Building
Mon, 12-27-2021 16:28
Happy New Year to all the Departments at the Illinois railway Museum! Thanks for all the good work you do in railroad preservation. Ted Miles, [...]

J Blustein about The Old Bag and the Silver Beaver
Wed, 10-13-2021 13:33
Was the CB&Q 1309 every transported to IRM?I’ve been reading old issues of Rail&Wire and the car was mentioned several times.

Jason E about Progress update of the Multi Purpose Building
Mon, 06-07-2021 22:40
I was wondering if in the model layout display what scale would you guys be using and would you be displaying model train history as well? Just [...]

Thomas about It Happened One Saturday at IRM
Wed, 06-02-2021 17:27
Nice to see 428's cab back on. Looking forward to when it is operable!

Ted Miles about It Happened One Saturday at IRM
Tue, 06-01-2021 16:47
I hope the work will continue on the UP #428. Now that they are the museum's connection to the national railroad network; she would be very [...]

bob miller about Dover Strait Progress Part Three
Sat, 04-17-2021 23:07
What is the status of 126, the Milwaukee Buffet car that is in S. Dakota? Any guess on when or if it will get to IRM?

Ted Miles about John McLoughlin Progress - Part Two
Wed, 04-14-2021 21:09
Perhaps it is time to scrap the remains of the c, B & Q 7128 to make room for the Villa Real. Ted miles, IRM member

Jason Erkenswick about Diesel Shop update 1/29/2021
Wed, 04-14-2021 15:26
Hi IRM my name is Jason and I was wonder If you guys would be willing to save a CN Dash8-40cm they are currently being retired by CN and being [...]

Alex Schneider about Dover Strait Progress Part Three
Fri, 04-09-2021 19:56
Bear in mind that the Nebraska Zephyr is an articulated train set, so cars cannot be inserted at will. Although cars and/or a second engine could be [...]

Matthew Maloy about Dover Strait Progress Part Three
Wed, 03-31-2021 11:37
I believe Silver Pony is currently on the back burner, and has been put into storage in one of the barns. The car needs a lot of work done to it's [...]