Wednesday Report

Things are busy at IRM as we're getting ready for this year's Showcase Weekend, previously known as Members' Day, and you won't want to miss it.  Or at least, you can see pictures of it here.  There may be some surprises, so stay tuned.

On Wednesday we got a surprise visit from our old friend Kirk Warner, who came all the way from Florida to see how things are going back at IRM.   And we had some good conversation about various issues, such as the lamentable scarcity of railway preservation in Florida, but you can't have everything.  However, Kirk himself is doing fine and has found plenty of things to keep himself occupied.

And I did some more needle-chipping and wire-wheeling on the letterboard of the 453, getting about halfway down the car by the end of the day.

Meanwhile, we can observe the progress that John is making on the 306.

Pete and Fritz continue restoring the interior of the 160.  They're doing an excellent job.

But I need to take frequent breaks from grinding, so let's visit Barns 10 and 11 and see what other people are doing on this nice Wednesday.  One big project was to empty a number of machines and other items from the Rock Island automobile car.

This is the Mt. Harvard, with Roger and his friends fixing it up for service on Member's Day.

And then, we have the Pennsy bobber.

The roof is nearly finished and looks very good.

The braces for the cupola have been installed.

The interior is getting finished....

and this is the inside of the ice box.

They have a lot to be proud of.

Finally, my old buddy Jack Biesterfeld continues work on the 109.

Some exploratory work has started on the exterior:

Jack was working on clerestory windows, and there are a lot of  them.  

Luckily, he has the mechanisms so they can be angled into the car for ventilation.

The mechanisms are much like those on the 309.

And here are more frames, waiting for installation.

And of course there were several other projects going on.