Entries by Roger Kramer

For all of us at Irm who have been patiently waiting  for the construction of  barns 13 and 14.    Your wait is over.    The construction began August 4th, 2015.   Thanks to Dave Diamond for all his planning and Hard Work.  Now its paying off.    Tuesday, the crew of eight worked till about 7:30 PM drilling and setting the column support brackets.   Here is the photo progress from yesterday, August 5.  As you can see they are moving right along.  Well, this is how our barns will be constructed.  Quite exciting!   I know many of you have been patiently waiting for this day. We will keep you informed of all the progress. If you get a chance to visit Irm in the next month by-all-means do so because this is one massive construction project! And its finally here! Thanks again to Dave and his Buildings and Grounds Crew.   These two barns are being constructed because, You, the members and friends of the Illinois Railway Museum have so generously donated to this worthy project.   Thank You.      Here's another idea for everyone.  Lets, today, start a new fund and begin donating to the next new barn, barn 15.  It again will take some time to build the fund but remember tomorrow is the future so we must plan for it.  You now can see  the results of all this planing.  Send in your donations.    We can start the next barn soon.     Thanks          Roger

     Buzz has been focusing on the further restoration and upgrades of our famous "private varnish"  passenger car The Ely.  While working on the ceiling in the Ely he noticed the 32 volt light fixtures had paper insulators that were  deteriorating from heat built up and old age.  He searched various web sites and ordered new replacements but had to modify them to fit.  A few porcelain  sockets were in such bad shape that Buzz decided to try and make a few new ones.Recently, Shelly found this  upper clearstory window which had been removed many years ago.  Its  original location was above the porters station.  Buzz recently refinished it and it is now re-installed.  Thanks to Victor for the brass pull. The clearstory windows in the Ely, like other 100 plus year old cars, have an intricate latch/hinge mechanism.  This was also rebuilt.   Notice that this part of the window was as built and still has its wood finish.  The observation lounge has the clearstory painted white with a pinstrip pattern.  Yellowing is from the varnish covering the gold leaf.  We assume this change was made after electrification in the 1910 to 1920 era.  If you know of any lounge photos taken in this car showing the clearstory please contact us as we are in the process of restoring the Obs clearstory.  We plan to have the PV opened for tours but only if docents can be found.   Want to help?  Please see Paul C., Mark G., Buzz M or myself for further details.   YES, donations are needed to continue the progress.   Thanks  Buzz and Roger   

This is a small CGW  X38 plow update sent to me from Buzz Morisette Victor and his crew are doing a marvelous job. What a beautiful clean interior.   Please observe that everything is painted! The CGW crew has really been working hard on the plow and it shows.   This is what 3 or 4 volunteers can do when the concentrating  on one project.   Donations are needed for the last few but expensive details.   Please sent your $ to the CGW X38 plow.    Thanks Roger and Buzz