Saturday Report

Today I spent much of my time touching up handrails on the wood cars with the finish grey.

And also other parts that needed touch-up with either blue or red.  This flag bracket on the 36, for instance, was still in brown primer.  Until today.

 

It's been 15 years since the 309 was painted, and it's starting to show.  I'm planning to start sanding it down over the winter and repaint the vestibules, then repaint the exterior in the spring.

I brought out the window shade I had taken home for safekeeping and installed it in the 460.

Don't bother me while I'm driving, buddy!

Next, the walls of the Barn 4 extension are starting to go up.

We had a lot of operation today.  First is the North Shore train, 749 and 251:

And the 3142 on the car line:

Then we also had an electric-powered coach train, with the Com Ed 4 on the head end.

Joel was the conductor, with Wes Lloyd the motorman.

Then there was another main-line coach train powered by the BN-3.

And then we had a Chicago trolley bus in operation:

Actually, there were two in operation.  Although I don't think they can MU.

And now, a couple pictures of progress in the car shop.  Gregg is making tack molding for the 1702:

And for the 306, here's a set of folding doors that John has completed:

And these are the marker lights for the end of the car:

Finally, new this year, we have some official Campus Guides to help visitors find their way around the world's largest railway museum.  We hand out maps, but it can still be confusing.  Don't tell anybody, but I sometimes get confused too....

So here is Max Power with his setup at the corner of Central and Depot.  He helps visitors understand what's operating today, and how to find what they most want to see.  He says he has several new volunteers interested in helping out, so we should be seeing these guides around more often.  This is a big step in making the Museum more visitor-friendly!