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Wednesday, June 5. 2013RI 2612 project: May update
This is the latest progress report on the transformation of the RI coach 2612. For those of you new to this blog, we received the coach in mid-February of 2013. The efforts are slowly paying off and the interior is finally looking like the interior of a Rock Island commuter coach. I, with help from Brian Paterson, have been working on it almost once a week for the past few months. My lastest efforts have been aimed towards the lighting. I have reinstalled two missing light sockets [ I have extras in stock]. Then I found enough glass shades[also in storage] and installed all 26 of them. Lastly, I tested the lighting circuits and the lights came back on without any blown fuses. What a beautiful sight! We now have the capability of having a five car RI train that can be lite during our famous "Night time" operations. Not many people can have five cars lite up for night operations!!
 It really looks like a Rock coach especially w/ glass shades installed  Picture from the other end. Look closely at the first two pictures. Can you see the shades?  Electric applied and 26 lite bulbs installed  Looks nice  Roger scraping away the old paint Sunday, June 2. 2013Milwaukee Road Dynamometer Update
On May 25, 2013 we had 4-5 people working on the Milwaukee Road X-5000 Dynamometer car in various areas.
Chuck Trabert started out by spending time of the roof looking for small water leaks over the kitchen area. He found an old copper roof patch that come loose. We used a combination of a new spray on flexible rubber membrane sealer and his trusty Vulkem caulk.  The area of one leak over the kitchen area was identified  A soldered seam had popped up causing the leak Warren Newhauser and Larry Kuehn evaluated putting on a new kitchen door latch from the Coach Dept., but it would require removing sheet metal cladding on the door so the decision was made to postpone this project for now. Larry Kuehn installed two new jelly jar lights on both ends of the car that had been removed before the car arrived at IRM. Total time required: about 2 hours to disassemble the piping and run the new wires. These were donated by a railway supply company. They will add a nice touch to the car at night.  Larry Kuehn threading wires for one jelly jar light installation  Wiring completed for the kitchen -B- end jelly jar light  Close-up of jelly jar light installed on the kitchen end of the X-5000  A view down the side of the Dyno while testing the new lights  Larry installed the second jelly jar light on the front end of the Dynamometer car  The jelly jar light on the rear end of the X-5000 was tested and it worked - Larry is happy! Warren Newhauser installed two new time delay relays on the Waukesha propane Enginator (generator) control panel that control the automatic starting of the unit, making the controls 100% functional, except for one missing relay on the Load control Panel that is not essential. These relays which are becoming scarce, were also recently donated and were off the old KCS business cars. The car is able to generate 32VDC for the lighting and other systems.  Warren working on the Waukesha propane Enginator (generator) control panel Buzz Morissette delivered the roughly 400' of tongue and groove ceiling boards we made this Winter in the Wood Shop with the help of Bob Kutella. Buzz made several wood carlines to which the ceiling boards will be attached. He also made three wooden drip caps for the two side doors and the kitchen end door that were were patterned after those on the MILW ribside caboose 01984. The woodwork was previously stored in the MILW X-5001 caboose. All of this will be used for ceiling repairs where the original boards need to be replaced. The drip cap moldings will prevent water from running in the car when rain hits the doors.  Buzz Morrisette delivered drip caps for the side doors with other materials processed over the winter Larry, Chuck and Warren spent much of the day working on replacing a broken pipe underneath the car.  Chuck Trabert fixing a pipe  Evacuating the fluid from the heating system with a drill powered pump Pauline Trabert was the "official" photographer. Overall it was a very good day with a lot of progress. Tuesday, May 28. 2013RI coaches.... Whats up!?
About a month and a half ago the cleaning crew came out and took on the job of cleaning the Rock fleet. Unfortunately, RI 2571 was unavailable for it was inside barn 11 The three that were cleaned were 2555,2602, and 2582. Thanks to all for making the added effort. YOU all did a fine job. The cars had not been touched in about six months. You can imagine the dirt and debri that was in and around the seats, the walls and doors. Another chore that was completed was that of wiping and cleaning the 26 ceiling globes in each car. They certainly needed it. Thanks to all who participated.
 Harold is enjoying the view  washing windows and seat cushions  It cold but at least everyone is still smiling |
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Comments
Wed, 04-01-2026 09:01
Good job on the barn 15
Wed, 03-25-2026 18:21
Exciting to see a new barn going up! What's next, after the RAIL project is complete?
Mon, 09-08-2025 08:22
Good job on the Burlington Nortern 9976. OK.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:56
No new news that I have heard of thus far.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:53
I'll also be doing another update on it soon. Keep en eye out for that.
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:47
A little work was done to it for Diesel Days this year. You'll see photos floating around for the temporary short term job that was done to make it [...]
Wed, 08-06-2025 13:01
Is steam car CN 15444 going to be coming to museum several times it was to be moved to muesum
Sat, 07-19-2025 18:56
Yeah, sadly it's still there as of 7/19/2025
Thu, 06-12-2025 19:14
Its been 14 years guys, where is the unit? Like really? Did you guys misplace it? Or are repairs taking that long? At this point be might we will have [...]
Wed, 04-09-2025 17:40
Jamie Thanks for the update. She's gonna shine like every thing else you guys do! Smeds
Thu, 03-06-2025 16:28
Yes, there is a wye. Those two have been MU'ed on diesel days a year or two ago.
Wed, 03-05-2025 14:04
7009 number boards look good. Is there a way to turn a locomotive around at IRM? In case you ever had a mind to connect 7009 and 6847?