The museum acquired this 1930 built Baldwin-Westinghouse Visibility Cab diesel-electric locomotive in 2012. It was moved to IRM in August 2016. On December 14th, 2019, it was moved into the Diesel Shop to begin its restoration.
The first stage is to simply clean out the locomotive. There were several brake valves stored in the engine compartment, along with all the tie down hardware (used to hold the locomotive down to the flat car it arrived on), its foot boards, and other items. The engine room, cab and the floor under the cab were all vacuumed and debris removed.
This cosmetic restoration won't be a quick one, it was moved in the shop to fill a space that would fit its length well. It will make a good fill in project when there are extra hands around and when other projects get put on hold for various reasons like awaiting parts or funding. You can help support these restorations by contributing to the Diesel Department Restoration Fund.
Here are some pictures of the building construction which will house the model railroad display, Milwaukee Road Historical Association displays and the new home for the Pullman Library Archives. The museum should be very proud of this monumental construction project. Dave Diamond has done a marvelous job as general contractor scheduling the various companies to complete this building!
Talking to Dave he hopes to have the building interior finished by either late Spring or early Summer of this year.
Thanks, Roger Kramer
Comments
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 [...]
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...
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, [...]
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.
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 [...]
Wed, 06-02-2021 17:27
Nice to see 428's cab back on. Looking forward to when it is operable!
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 [...]
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?
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
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]