As you may recall, a couple of years ago IRM purchased a farm property adjacent to our right-of-way primarily as an investment, as we can rent the farmland for, you know, farming. It also has the side benefit of preserving the existing agricultural vista for most of the distance between Karstens and Johnson Siding. Anyway, the homestead is just out of sight of our right-of-way over a low hill, can't be rented for farming, and is of no particular value to IRM. So we're selling it.
In preparation for this, Marcus reports: Track and B&G have spent a lot of time remediating what was a horrible dump and turned it into a saleable 5 acre homestead. I spent a whole day there with our big CAT loader filling seven 35 yard dumpsters to full visible capacity. We probably saved the Museum $30K with our volunteer effort. Most work done by Dave D, Bob Olson, Nick K, my wife LaJuan, our social distancing agent (dog) Fraya, and me.
Many thanks to Marcus, Dave, Bob, Nick, LaJuan, and everyone who helped with this unglamorous but important and valuable work! The photos below, sent by Marcus, show the progress made - compare with photos here taken before most of the property cleanup. And if you're looking for a bucolic home near your favorite railway museum, drop us a line!
5 comments:
It’s a shame that the wooden boxcars are being left behind.
I suspect that, like most farm shed conversions in this part of the country, they have no underframe. Can anyone confirm?
Dennis is correct; from what we could tell when we looked at these a couple of years ago, they are indeed, lacking under frames and draft gear. It’s too bad, as they are interesting cars: M&StL Fowler single-sheathed cars likely built before WWI. They are of the same era as, and share a lot of characteristics with, two of our elder Soo Line boxcars.
Question: Can you see the IRM mainline from the farmhouse or property? It looks like there are are a line of poles beyond the boxcars in your photos.
And, how many acres are included in the sale and where does the line get drawn?
It's somewhat discouraging to lose a habitable space, I was hoping this would become dorms and the cabeese would be freed from other duty.
O Anderson
Do volunteers really sleep in the cars at the museum or is that some sort of inside joke going over my head?
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