Sunday Report

Frank writes...

Guess what? More seats!

Above is the "before" picture taken at the start of Sunday's work; the seat back on the right is wedged into place but isn't actually attached. Below is the "after" picture showing the three newly installed seats.

Two of these needed to use antimacassars from the 451 because theirs were damaged; since the 451 is being backdated and won't need its, it can supply spare antimacassars to the 460 (and, eventually, to the 453). The third seat put up a tremendous fight; I even managed to break off a tap trying to get the seat back installed. Many thanks to Richard, who extracted the broken-off tap, and to Matt K, who provided the horsepower and extra hands needed to finally force the seat into position and get it screwed in. I also carted some old seat backs over to the 451 for storage and returned with more reupholstered cushions. We're now over the 50% mark - 14 seats down, 13 to go!

I found a second cash fare receipt wedged into one of the antimacassars; this one is from an unknown August 11th (though after the cutback to Forest Park, so that limits it to the years 1954-1956) for an eastbound trip from Glen Ellyn to Lombard for 20 cents.

Next door, Jimmy and Greg were working to diagnose an issue with the Illinois Central 1920s MU cars. These cars run, but a short between the conductor's signal buzzer wire and the electric brake wiring means that whenever the train is in "release," the buzzer sounds incessantly. That's certainly annoying! The two investigators, with some help from Richard, were able to trace the short. The next step will be to fix it.

These cars are a bit tired, but they're in remarkable condition considering that IRM has done only minimal restoration. Basically everything you see, from the paint to the seats, is original to when these cars left service 50+ years ago.

Over in the new shop extension, Joel and Will were working on installing shelves and support stringers. This is shaping up to be an extremely impressive storage facility!

"Here we see the North American Railway Museum Volunteer in his native habitat." Working on a different kind of shelf, Richard was back to work on the display of historic rail sections in Barn 8. He's finishing up signage for the bottom shelf, after which the shelf above it - which will feature LED lighting to illuminate the rail underneath - will go in.

Good Nick spent the day refinishing hardware for hanging trolley wire from the new troughs, shown here, that will go over track 41 in the new shop extension. Many thanks to the B&G crew who built these! Nick got all the hangers repainted and installed by the end of the day.