Back to the 205

Frank writes...

I spent a while Sunday working more on lettering for the 205; this time it was time to create number stencils for the sides of the car.  Previous sanding on the car itself had revealed only fragments of the car's Indiana Railroad number.  There was ample evidence of the original Interstate "266" numbers as well as the later Portland "4003" numbers but it's possible Portland sanded through some of the IRR paint in 1940 because traces of the "205" numbers were very difficult to find.

So after combining the fragments of lettering traced off the 205 with photographic evidence I came up with what you see above.  Jeff Brady, who was in the shop working on straightening metal bars for the side doors on the 28, helped out with the "eyeball test" to make sure the numbers looked right.

I very briefly helped a crew that was working all afternoon on putting the first of four rebuilt motors into the trucks for Milwaukee 972.  This car has been an on-and-off project for many years and a lot of work has been done on it.  Rod, Joel and Greg (the latter two seen above) got the first GE 265 motor put back into the first truck, a major step forward for this car.

And Nick was around, as usual.  He gave me the above poster which he found in the attic of one of our buildings.  You never know what you'll find lying around at IRM!

It was a beautiful day, so I figured I'd grab a shot of a makeshift Milwaukee Electric interurban freight train spotted behind Barn 7.  The locomotive is the L3, the eldest of four "TM" steeplecabs owned by the museum and the only one of the quartet with GE Type M control.  Behind it is container car M37, a quite historic car from the very earliest days of intermodal shipping and the only surviving example of its type.

I also tightened down the straps on the 319's new roof canvas and spent a few minutes chatting with Mark Wolodarsky, an IRM member from New York City who was visiting.  And I took some measurements needed for making up the final stencil for the 205, the numbers over the end windows.  Other than that the only lettering left to do are the stripes along the belt rail and floor line.