Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451

Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Sunday, March 21. 2010

Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 update Posted by James Kolanowski in Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 at 21:06

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Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 update

polished window frames

A lot of work has been happening on the 451 over the past few days. Some of the windows have been removed and are being cleaned and the brass polished. The original scheme for this car did not have paint on the window frames. The outside doors are beginning to be cleaned and prepped, bondo applied and soon to be primed.

repaired corner posts

A lot of cleanup work was done on the east end with the door corner posts and the roll sign box. All the rotted steel was removed and new steel was cold rolled and welded in place. The most difficult part at this point is still coming up with the correct color of gray. The samples we have received to date have all been matched exactly, however, the color on parts of the car do not match those samples. We will be matching two more shades of gray, which will likely be the colors used for the gray on the original 451 scheme, and the second being the gray on the 319.

Additional photos have been added to the CA&E 451 Restoration Gallery. To continue this aggressive restoration project into the Priming and Painting stage, additional monies and donations are still needed. To help with this project, please consider a donation to the Electric Car Department Car Painting Fund, your support will be appreciated.

Sunday, February 21. 2010

Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 update Posted by James Kolanowski in Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 at 22:20

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Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 update

Roof Prep and Repairs

Over the last two weeks the CA&E 451 has seen a lot of activity on its roof and exterior with over a dozen people working on it. The entire roof has been stripped of two layers of canvas, down to bare wood. A large amount of an epoxy like wood filler has been used to seal, strengthen and fill in various portions of the wood roof so that new canvas can soon be applied.

Chipping the last side

Almost all of the sides and ends have been needle chipped, including window posts, and the letter boards. One side has been DA sanded after the needle chipping. Prep work continues on the window frames and jambs. Some steel work will be started soon on the end doors near the floor along with some small areas above the anticlimbers.

Some mechanical work has been started as well, the bad order air compressor has been removed for some work. The batteries have been services and charged. Traction motor leads have been reconnected. Additional work will continue as time and space permits between all the body prep work.

Additional photos have been added to the CA&E 451 Restoration Gallery. To continue this aggressive restoration project into the Priming and Painting stage, additional monies and donations are still needed. To help with this project, please consider a donation to the Electric Car Department Car Painting Fund, your support will be appreciated.

Sunday, February 14. 2010

Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 ... Posted by James Kolanowski in Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 at 15:31

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Chicago Aurora & Elgin 451 Restoration

On Saturday, February 6th, the CA&E 451 was moved into the Diesel Shop to begin its restoration. Over the past year or two, the diesel department and electric car department has been working together to trade heated shop space for storage barn space for various projects. In this case, the 451 is among the highest priority projects in the Electric Car Department, with the goal of having most of the restoration aspects completed by early April. The goal is to have the roof re-canvased after some roof repairs are completed, and have the car repainted after some minor repairs are made to the carbody.

CAE 451 progress

A photo album was created in the Electric Car Department Photo Gallery to photo document the progress of the CA&E 451's restoration. This album will most certainly be updated more often than the blog and its contributors will do their best to add cations/descriptions to the photos. The most recent photos will show up first.

To continue this aggressive restoration schedule, additional monies and donations will be needed. The entire restoration project for this car is estimated to cost about $12,000. To help with this project, please consider a donation to the Electric Car Department Car Painting Fund, your support will be appreciated.

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Comments

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...

Ted Miles about Progress update of the Multi Purpose Building
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, [...]

J Blustein about The Old Bag and the Silver Beaver
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.

Jason E about Progress update of the Multi Purpose Building
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 [...]

Thomas about It Happened One Saturday at IRM
Wed, 06-02-2021 17:27
Nice to see 428's cab back on. Looking forward to when it is operable!

Ted Miles about It Happened One Saturday at IRM
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 [...]

bob miller about Dover Strait Progress Part Three
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?

Ted Miles about John McLoughlin Progress - Part Two
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

Jason Erkenswick about Diesel Shop update 1/29/2021
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 [...]

Alex Schneider about Dover Strait Progress Part Three
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 [...]

Matthew Maloy about Dover Strait Progress Part Three
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 [...]