Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Here is another update on the Mt Harvard restoration. Events are happening so fast that I can't always blog about them in a timely manner. A five member team volunteering on the last three Saturdays gets the job done quite fast. Here are two new developments. First pictures are of the lounge area. Sandi cleaned then sanded the seat frames of the small buffet. She then applied two coats of stain followed by three coats of Spar gloss polyurethane. While she was working on that I focused my efforts on a couple of areas including replacing the two large windows that were once Lexan plastic with 3/16 plate Glasson either side of the entrance door. Next, I then began reproducing and installing missing Mahogany window sills on either side of the lounge. While I was working on the sills she begin sanding and staining the large desk window sills located on either side of the lounge entrance door.

The buffet end seats now stained and freshly covered with polyurethane.

Mahogany windows sills installed.

Small arm tables receiving sanding, stain and clear polyurethane.

Our five person Saturday crew has divided their attention into the men and women bathrooms.

We are just beginning to strip old paint off the ceiling and wall.

This is Bill Sr. working in late February.

Bill Sr. again but this time in early March. His son is also in the picture. That is his  back in the blue sweatshirt.

Please consider donating to this project. Replacing the old rusted steel will be expensive. More on the exterior later.     Thanks   Roger

This winter we have been replacing rusted steel panels on the 2524. Welding in new sections of steel on one vestibule end of our last remaining unrestored Rock Island coach.  This has been accomplished in the unheated barn 10. Very cold but our work continues in spite of the harsh environment. Paul Cronin, in the fall of 2018, began this part of the project by removing all the old rusty steel and insulation from the area in these following pictures.

December15, 2018, here is a view of the vestibule wall with all badly deteriorated areas removed.

Our welder, Jarred, measuring for new steel replacements.

He just finished weldingthe new support pieces.

This piece was just fabricated and installed on the other side.

February 16, found Jarred again measuring for new steel parts.

March 2 Gregg Wolfersheim assisted Jarred in welding more new steel pieces.

March 9 of this year, the end panel is completed with a coat of primer.

We in the coach department hope to continue on this project of replacing the rusted plates on both ends of the coach. Stay tuned for more updates.   Thanks  Roger