Buildings and Grounds

Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Thursday, August 13. 2015

The barn building process Posted by Roger Kramer in Barn 13 Construction at 15:51

Comments (5)

The barn building process

This is barn 14s pad. Picture is facing southwest

Here's the latest construction news taken Tuesday August 11, 2015. All the H support columns are installed and incased with concrete. The crews have been working at another site but will be back in two days. In the mean time the poured concrete is curing in the hot blazing sun of August.

Again this is barn 14s pad picture is facing west. This the corner of the building. Notice the double H where two columns will be installed for added strength

Another view of that construction

That edge you see looks like wood but is actually a plastic resin design which will no deteriorate Pretty smart!

An overall view

Those plastic, as I call them,pieces are connected with bolts to each H column. Very strong, indeed

This view is facing northwest showing the end of the future barn 13

Barn 14 pad before the real construction starts

This shows that both barn pads a complete and waiting for construction to begin

The contractor just unloaded these materials this last Monday

More materials

I will try and keep everyone updated with our "barn raising." It should be quite interesting especially during the Thomas events. Please come out and visit Irm during late August and September. You will be impressed by all the activities and improvements. Roger

Thursday, August 6. 2015

The long wait is over Posted by Roger Kramer in Barn 13 Construction at 16:34

Comments (14)

The long wait is over

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.

Drilling the first holes for barn 13 support columns

Another look

The contractor is based in Eureka, Il

They use a Bobcat tractor attached to an auger to drill the holes for the future wood support columns

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.

This is barn 14 pad. Almost all brackets are installed

This is barn 13s pad Please notice how straight the entire line is. All precise and square

Another view

This is the foundation of each barn. Steel support brackets encased in concrete. The upper part of the H is where the wood post will be attached.

Another photo of all the brackets

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

Sunday, October 27. 2013

The Montrose Bridge - October 23, 2013 Posted by Robert Kutella in Buildings and Grounds at 05:41

Comments (5)

The Montrose Bridge - October 23, 2013

There used to be a bridge to carry the CNS&M tracks from the elevated structure about Wilson Ave on the North South line, then south over Montrose Ave. and down a ramp to the ground level North Shore facility about Buena. Some years ago the Museum was fortunate to acquire the three spans and two of the support steel 'piers'. The two steel supports were re-purposed to support the new Central Pavillion area and are restored to hold the roof and on display. For many years the three steel spans have resided just south of our car line tracks and east of the Springfield Ave platform. On October 23 cranes were on site and the three spans were moved. First, the short span was taken south to be adjacent and north of Yard 13.

The Lift

Next the cranes lifted the easternmost of the long spans.

Walking

With a crane on each end, the span was 'walked' east toward South Junction.

New Location

The span continued to moved, first turning south, and then traveling along the leads to Yard 13. Ultimately it was paced just to the north of the area where the leads go due west. And then the second long span was stacked atop the first one.

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Comments

Ethan Armitage about A brief history of 9976
Mon, 09-08-2025 08:22
Good job on the Burlington Nortern 9976. OK.

Jamie Kolanowski about New Acquisation: What is CN 15444?
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:56
No new news that I have heard of thus far.

Jamie Kolanowski about Burlington Northern 9908 body work
Tue, 08-12-2025 12:53
I'll also be doing another update on it soon. Keep en eye out for that.

Jamie Kolanowski about Burlington Northern 9908 body work
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 [...]

Johncrpenter about New Acquisation: What is CN 15444?
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

Lincoln Strickland about New Acquisation: What is CN 15444?
Sat, 07-19-2025 18:56
Yeah, sadly it's still there as of 7/19/2025

Nick about Burlington Northern 9908 body work
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 [...]

Steve Smedley about Milwaukee Road 33C update 3/23/2020
Wed, 04-09-2025 17:40
Jamie Thanks for the update. She's gonna shine like every thing else you guys do! Smeds

James Kolanowski about Diesel Shop update 3/5/2025
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.

Joe S about Diesel Shop update 3/5/2025
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?

James Kolanowski about Milwaukee Road 33C update
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 [...]

AJ about Milwaukee Road 33C update
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...