Car Shop News

Tuesday was another busy day in Barn 4.  Let's start with the 306.   Both controllers have been placed on the platforms, and will be wired in once the appropriate holes have been drilled in the correct place.

Once the heaters have been wired in, they will start installing the seat frames (since the heaters are attached to the bottom of the frames.)  Here the frames are lined up against the wall.

 Here we see the toilet compartment partially assembled.

And here Phil is running wood through the jointer.

John was working on the light fixtures:

Tim was working on the 1268, of course.  He's currently rebuilding the west end of the car, among other things.

As you can see here, parts of the underframe are rusted out.  Tim hopes to get some of our welding experts to make repairs.

And work continues on the GB&W car:

CA&E 460 was providing passenger service today.

I had a project to work on, but I'm not sure it will actually go anywhere, so for the time being I think I'll keep it dark.

Meanwhile, progress is rapidly being made at the south end of the property.  The south side of the roof of Barn 15 has now been installed, as seen here. 

In the distance, you can see the new Bus Barn, which still needs electrical installation and a concrete floor.

 And here is the north side of Barn 15, with the roof being installed starting at the east end:

The Most Extravagant Extravaganza

This year's Transport Extravaganza seemed to me, and to several other unbiased observers, to be the biggest and best we've ever had.  Of course, I don't have access to the official numbers, but who ya gonna believe?

I didn't get a chance to see much of the antique vehicles, but I was told that there were cars parked in places they've never been before, there were so many.   And on the railroad, we were busier than ever.  There were six mainline trains in operation: a three-car CA&E wood train, a three-car North Shore train, a bilevel train, and a coach train were in regular rotation on the main line, plus  the Shay taking its usual short turns, and the 460 in Jefferson shuttle service.  Plus two streetcars.  Harold kept all of this going on schedule, and that's not easy.

Here's our CA&E train on the tail track before service started.  The 308 currently  has no motors, but it serves well as an unpowered trailer.  And we really needed three cars!  We had them all filled during the day until the very last trip, where two cars were enough.  That's unusual!

And you knew this was coming.  Frank was the motorman, Keith Letsche was the trainman, and I was the conductor.    

Of course, it's always great to have steam operating, as long as you're not downwind for too long.  

A couple of pictures of antique autos from the tail track.  Once we were in operation, I didn't have a chance to get any more.

It's always great to be able to be a part of an operation like this.  No other museum can come anywhere close to this!

Frank adds...

As my father mentioned, Sunday was a great day - the railroad kept moving like clockwork and we carried a lot of visitors. I didn't have time to take many photos but I did grab a couple.

Check out that nice new platform along the east berth of Station Track 1!

Nick Espevik took this photo of my father and I alongside the three-car North Shore train, with Chris C in the cab of the 714.

And here's a shot from the other end of the train. This is quite the lineup on Station 1! But whatever we threw into the stove on the 308, obviously we need to find something cleaner burning.

New - and We Do Mean New - Diesels

Frank writes...

Normally we don't focus too much on the Diesel Department, but the diesel-related news from yesterday was too big to ignore, so here we go. In the afternoon, IRM received three newly donated diesels from two different sources that just happened to show up together on the same train from Proviso.

This photo was taken by Lee Evans after the new diesels were safely on the property. To the left is Burlington Northern (later BNSF) 9400, built in 1993, which was the first production freight locomotive built with AC traction motors. Given that in recent years, AC traction locomotives comprise virtually 100% of the market, this is a very historic engine. When it was dedicated in a ceremony in early 1994, it was even featured in Trains Magazine alongside a familiar face:

I believe the 9400 is now the youngest piece of rail equipment on the property. The engine has been in storage for several years, so the first order of business is to assess its condition and, if possible, make any repairs needed to get it running. Longer-term, the Diesel Department will do fundraising to pay the locomotive's track space and then hopefully work towards getting it indoor storage space. The eventual plan is to return it to its as-built green-and-cream livery. More info, including on donating, is here.

The other two locomotives, described in detail here, are only slightly less new (anything built after, oh, let's say July 1957 is so new that it can only possibly be in its youth, right?) but are also quite historically significant. They're both 1970s-era Amtrak engines, including the only remaining SDP40F and one of only a couple of preserved F40PH's. Between them, they represent most of Amtrak's main-line motive power for 20 or 25 years from the 1970s to the 1990s. The SDP40F is said to be a runner, while the F40PH is in good shape but needs motor leads. Both of these engines are already on the schedule for Diesel Days, coming up in just over a week, so their operational debut at IRM isn't far off.

Anyway, for the record, that's 10,000 horsepower worth of diesels that showed up yesterday, so that's not a bad haul for a Thursday. If you were thinking about something as crazy as not coming out for the Vintage Transport Extravaganza this Sunday, the opportunity to see the new arrivals will surely quash those doubts.

EDIT: Many thanks to Lee for sending along a collection of photos taken on the 31st.

By chance, all three locomotives ended up at Proviso at the same time, so they came out to IRM via West Chicago on the Belvidere train.

This was likely the first time these locomotives are crossing Olson Road but it certainly won't be the last. It may be the last on those particular rails, though.

The Diesel Department was waiting for the new arrivals with a "tow truck" consisting of AT&SF 92 and BN 5383 - quite appropriate for picking up BNSF locomotives. Here, we see the cut from the cab of the 92 after a trip through the wye.

The end of the day found all three locomotives safely in Yard 2.

Lee also took cab photos of all three engines, which are interesting to compare:

First is BNSF 6976, built as Amtrak 644 in 1974.

Next up is Amtrak 231, which was built in 1977.

"One of these things is not like the others." BNSF 9400 was built in 1993 and was among the very first locomotives with a "desktop" control stand, as shown. You'll also note the computer screens; this is by far the most computerized locomotive we have, so in addition to making sure all the mechanical and electrical stuff is working, we'll also need to keep the computers healthy for it to run.

IRM on TV

On Thursday morning our Museum was visited by a crew from Fox-32 news, and everybody had a good time.  Of course, they focused on Transport Extravaganza which will be this Sunday, and that's always a good way to get more people interested in IRM who might not otherwise know about it.

And here's a link for part of what was on TV.

Joel and I were running the 309, and Gregg is seen here as motorman on the 1374.

A handful of antique autos are already on the property, but the vast majority of them will show up on Sunday.  You won't want to miss it!

And by the way, we could still use at least one trainman on the CA&E cars to help out.

After that was over, I had a chance to check out things in Barn 4.  Tim, of course, was working on the 1268; the platforms are being rebuilt.

The platform floor is cleverly designed to slope outwards and down.

And at the other end, you can see there's more to be done.  Watch your step, please!

The 306 project is making tremendous progress, and here's the current status.  The walls for the lavatory have been made and are being put in place.

The floor has been painted, and they say they will start putting the seat frames in place tomorrow!

So this is really exciting.  

And finally, a few more pictures of the progress on the GB&W 109.   Gregg and two of the new guys are working on it.

As I said to Gregg, all it needs now is trolley poles on the roof and it will be ready for service!

Finally, as I've mentioned before, we still get occasional spam comments which we have to deal with.  Some are more amusing than others.  One this morning started out with:

Searching for a car wash centre in Zirakpur?

If so, you've come to the wrong place!!!

The Latest on Green Bay & Western 109

Thanks to our fearless freelance reporter Gregg Wolfersheim, who has sent along another batch of photos recording progress on GB&W wood coach 109, which is in the Electric Car Shop for a short time for some woodwork.

The south side of our wooden coach finally has a relatively complete side! The area where the bay window was has been framed in. Eventually it will be covered over.

A young volunteer, Cameron, helped on Sunday by sanding down some of the siding. The green was house paint applied years ago at the museum. The yellow, which is still in good condition, was from the car's tourist railroad days on the Marquette and Huron Mountain.

More rot has been removed, now on the north side of the car.

And, more!

There was nothing behind this area of siding. So, some new uprights and then some horizontal boards will support the siding.

Ralph and Jack have been rebuilding the window openings on the south side. They hope to have this all done by the end of the week!