Rock Island 2612

                           A couple of friends from the L&N diner era dropped by the Friday, May 23rd, the Memorial day weekend, and started needle chipping the south side of the coach. Howard and Mary Geier took up the" chippers" and really "went to town" knocking off the old paint. Paint chips were flying all over the place!

That next Wednesday Howard came out and using a air orbital sanded and then primed about half the exterior below the window/ belt rail.  

                           I would like you to meet another new young  member to the restoration team.   This is Austin Harvey, a new graduate from the Crystal Lake High School system.    Welcome to the team, Austin!   As you will see  in upcoming blogs, Austin really likes volunteering at Irm.   Since Memorial Day Austin has been working with us on an average of three or four times a week.   I appreciate his loyalty as well as his work ethic.    Thank you very much, Austin.  Your volunteering has made a big different in our progress!       

                                       Please stop by and visit with us.   We would sure like to show you the latest coach progress!                                               Thanks.....      Roger 

                      The days are steaming by fast and the interior progress on 2612 is beginning to really show our work. Gary and I have been spending about 3-6 days a week concentrating on the interior. That's one reason why I haven't posted for a while.

                     With the help of a few new volunteers as well as the old regulars the planning and hard work continues.   We should be done with the interior around the 15th of July. That's what I aiming for!! Here's a recap of the week before Memorial Day Weekend.

                       We have been sandblasting seat parts but found that  the time  it takes the volunteers  to blast one complete seat frame could take weeks.  I decided to take  the frames apart and have a  company  professionally strip them down to bare metal.  We will prime and paint them in house.  It obviously costs money but it gets the job done much faster.   I have also decided to have  professionally polished  the brass  interior door handles and the walkover seat handles.  Both well worth the price.   The interior will really be "dressed up"  once the door handles and walk over seat  handles are installed.   It's well worth the money and will certainly makes a better impression for the customer.   The difference  is eye-popping. 

                                          If you would like to help defray the costs of these upgrades please donate to Rock Island 2612.                   Thank you        Roger

The weather has been getting warmer, although Friday saw snow showers in many locations.   I and our 2612 crew have again been busy working towards getting the coach ready for "Thomas".  This three day work event started off May 13th when  I finished masking a section of the wall and  painted it in the same day.  Then, on Wednesday, the team spent one day prepping walls. Thursday, I came back and painted  the door.  Here are those events recorded in pictures for you to view. The 14th we had 5 volunteers working on the coach and you could see the old paint flying off the walls.     

         Memorial day is almost here so please consider joining our  2612 crew for some friendly activities.    I'll be at the site Saturday as well as Sunday to show you around and help you get started!    

         This year you have an added incentive to visit Irm for the Frisco 1630 2-10-0 will be running , this Saturday, for the first time.                                           Ed. note   This is the first time it has operated in many a  year  so please expect a few situations to work out the "Bugs."    Please THANK any and all members of the Steam Team, you may meet, for their hard work and devotion in returning  the 1630 to operation.         Special THANKS to Tom Schneider, the curator of the department.                  Roger