On Friday the Museum hosted a large group of local students, about 90 in all. They toured Barn 3, Barn 9, and the Model Railroad building. Then they all went for a trip on the North Shore train, as seen here. Marcus Ruef was the conductor and I was the motorman. A good time was had by all.
And several other volunteers served as docents and guides to help the teachers with keeping everything running smoothly. I didn't get all their names, but their help was much appreciated.
IRM is always open for charter groups of various sorts. Contact the office.
Now here's something I'd never been able to see before -- the roof structure of the IT line car up close. As mentioned before, it's now been moved into the roof booth.
The roof structure itself is a fairly simple construction without compound curves or anything, covered as usual with canvas.
Then every carline has a full-width saddle attached to it, over the canvas. And the main platform is mounted on these saddles. The movable platform is mounted on top of that.
There's a slight gap here for the chimney, since the car is heated by a coal stove.
And we have a sample of the tack molding to work with.
It's all pretty rotted, but complete. Watch this space for progress reports!
Speaking of rot, let's see what Tim is doing. Several parts of the roof structure on the 1808 are badly rotted, and he is replacing them as needed.
Here's an example of some of the deck rails that had to be replaced.
And when complete, it looks like this. Good as new!
Finally, let's take a quick look at the progress in Yard 12.
3 comments:
I must admit the paint on equipment operating at IRM is looking better and better. I worked on the first re-roof and re-paint of CNS&M 714 some fifty years ago, but it had to live out in the weather for years after. I understand it was recently re-painted again, along with 749. They both look good. What are they using for herald and number decals these days? They look good. It would be nice to see the 160 re-painted to get rid of that imitation gold lettering, which never looked right. Considering who runs this blog, I should also mention the CA&E fleet is equally impressive. Keep up the good work!
Dennis
Thanks, Dennis. I can't answer your questions about the lettering, but I know the 160 is in the queue for repainting.
Randy, thanks for helping out on Friday's charter. So glad you enjoyed yourself...you did look like you were having fun! We are working very hard to build this book of business which is growing into a significant element of our revenue stream. Everyone can help by spreading the word to anyone they know be it a school, church, park district, civic organization, neighborhood. Feel free to publish my number (304) 962-3419 and/or email mruef@irm.org Another huge help is when volunteers like you can serve as operating crew and/or docents, especially on weekdays. Thanks for mentioning this in your blog and helping promote the Museum.
Marcus Ruef
Group/Charter Coordinator
Post a Comment