Civic Improvements

Just like downtown! It's now construction season at IRM, and several civic improvement projects are underway. We saw the Schroeder store earlier. But that's not all!

The pavement is being torn up on Depot St.; today was mostly north of Central. You can read about it here (at left). If you want to get to the car shop, for instance, you'll have to take the back route via Bruneau Drive and (probably) Riverview Rd. This will provide better drainage, and new utilities are being installed.

Here Dave is using the back hoe to rip up the old asphalt.

And here our Executive Director is cleaning up the debris. Somehow I can't imagine the executive directors at MSI or the Field get out to do productive work like this....

And next, Roger S. (L) is helping Max dig a trench for new electrical lines to the street lights. Sorry, I don't know exactly what sort of street lights will be installed, but when the news breaks out, you'll read it here first! (I hope.)

Last Sunday, the Car Dept. switch crew spent most of the day shuffling Barn 8 again, so the CA&E wood cars are now at the east end of track 84 again. Thanks, guys!

I spent all day working on the 319, as usual. More red paint in the vestibule is seen here; there's a limit to what I can do with a brush on the surfaces behind the air pipes, but this is certainly an improvement.

And I also started painting the floor with the finish color, a sort of pumpkin pie tint. Mmmm!

The reason I started repainting the vestibule was that the paint on the ceiling and most of the walls was badly cracked. The inside surfaces of most of the doors, however, were OK. However, the old paint has darkened with age, and it's difficult to cover with the bright new paint. So I now think the best thing to do is to put a coat of white primer over the old paint, and then the new paint will match the rest of the vestibule much better. This is the vestibule side of the platform door with a thin coat of white primer. Next time, this will turn bright red!

However....

All this time, you've probably been thinking to yourself: "What are Public Improvement Funds, and where do they come from?" Well, they certainly don't come from taxes or anything like that. It's just a fixed percentage of the Museum's receipts from visitors that is earmarked for B&G projects. So if we want civic improvements to continue, we need more visitors.

And that's where you (yes, you, sitting there at your computer desk) can help. Be sure to tell your friends and neighbors about IRM. If people are worried about the high price of gas, you can point out that Union is a heckuva lot closer than the Wisconsin Dells, for instance. And you might say that while Union itself does not have a casino or waterparks like the Dells, there are some nearby. And we even have a Dells-like tourist trap right down the road. So what's not to like? Our website -- irm.org -- is easy to remember, and there are lots of special days scheduled this year. Let's spread the word!