Illinois Railway Museum Blog

The interior restoration of the Private car, Pawnee, has been greatly helped by the addition of a new volunteer, John Knoll. A retired business executive, John, along with my assistance, has begun the job of installing the various interior parts back into their correct location in the car. This is definitely not an easy job for both of us. Having worked on many restoration projects gives me a general insight on the location of various parts on any project. Whereas this project presents a unique challenge. What makes this job so difficult is, first, the many parts had been removed at least 20 years ago by another party, and second, there is no central listing where they are to be installed.  Yes, some were marked, but many have been found lying on the floor or sofas with no indication of their location or how they interacted in the grand scheme. Between the two of us we have been finding the locations. It sure takes a long time. As I sometimes say it’s like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.

John has been faithfully working on the car twice sometimes three days a week. He also brings some of the parts home and uses them as "homework assignments." My thanks to John for his perseverance and dedication to the Pawnee.

The two buffers that were shipped to IRM in April, 2020 were installed by Gregg and I. The end buffer is shown here. 

John, in the foreground, with newly installed shelf in the public bathroom.

Howard priming one of the air tanks. 

Howard applying a coat of black paint to the tool box.

Enclosed and insulated five hundred gallon water tank coated with fresh black paint.

Parts installed in the bedroom A.

Photo shows the bed head board of the master bedroom.

The guard for the steam pipes in the public bathroom being painted.

We have finally installed one ceiling fixture. Each bedroom has one so now we have three left to install.

There is still much work to do but we are striving for an operational rollout of the Pawnee sometime in 2021. In the meantime, please come down to visit our restoration shop in barn 10 once we open this upcoming season. Thanks, Roger.