Take a Seat Fundraiser Update

We are thrilled to announce that our Take a Seat fundraiser is now FULLY SUBSCRIBED! We are incredibly grateful to the 20 donors who between them sponsored all 71 double seats that we will be having reupholstered for curve-siders 451, 453, and 460. One particularly generous donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, sponsored no fewer than 29 seats. Overall, the results of this fundraiser exceeded our wildest expectations. A huge THANK YOU from all of us to everyone who donated!

A bit more information is available on the fundraiser web page (though this page will probably come down at some point) but here are the next steps:

• Delivery of the custom seat material is expected in June or July 2024. At that time, the first batch of seats to be reupholstered will be removed from car 451 or 453 and sent to the upholstery contractor.
• The first car's worth of restored seats will be installed in car 460, which is in regular service at IRM.
• The second and third car's worth of seats will be temporarily and securely stored. We are currently hoping to strip and repaint the interior of car 451 sometime in the next year, after which its newly reupholstered seats will be installed. Stripping and repainting car 453's interior will follow that.
• Additional work that is required:
• Car 451: air compressor repair; installation of replacement air tank (the tank was delivered in early 2024); wheel truing; reinstall one trap; reinstall end hardware; paint lettering onto car
• Car 453: exterior stripping and repainting; repair of one coupler; air compressor repair

Not all the work listed is necessary to put cars 451 and 453 into service hauling people at IRM - in particular, car 451 can be operated in mid-train service even without a repaired air compressor. Once the car's interior is repainted and the seats are reinstalled, you should start to see it out on IRM's railroad. The same goes for car 453, except that it will need a paint job and some coupler parts first.