Painting Outdoors

Today was a beautiful spring day, perfect for painting outside.  It's lucky that what I want to paint has wheels.  I hopefully put away the space heaters and drop lights that were cluttering up the 319, and did some switching to put it at the door, since it will be the next in line for inspection.  

The 36 poses on the connector:

Followed by the 319:

And it was then parked outside the barn for painting.  The lighting is much better, and you don't have all the extension cords and drop lights in the way.  It was windy enough that the car actually rocked a little sometimes, but not enough to make me seasick.

Vestibule #2 is nearly done.  Compare to last time.

And by the end of the day, much more on vestibule #1.

The 4391 was over the pit for inspection.  Joel and several of the new guys were hard at work on it.

Tim is applying the complicated masking to the 24 in preparation for spray painting the gold color.

Later in the day: 

 The Track Dept. have been working for a while on the diamond and tail track:

You never know what might show up on the interchange track.  Here we have two beautiful PV's paying a visit to East Union while in the area.  They're in the Chicago area to serve some corporate clients, as I understand.  I asked Nick how much it would cost to charter a trip to Kishwaukee Grove and back, and he said I don't have enough.   That's probably true.

The dome car was built for the UP, and the obs car started life as an 11-double bedroom sleeper on the IC.

These cars are absolutely spotless.  A little dirt and dust got on the trucks, so here we have two guys washing and scrubbing them.  I'd be happy if my windows were this clean!

Anyway, we all got a nice tour, courtesy of the owners, and guided by Mike McCraren.  Here are a few interior views.

The silverware is authentic, and came from various lines.

Note the dinner chimes.

That was very impressive, but our clients will just have to be satisfied with interiors more like this:

Doodlebug Carlines

Gregg Wolfersheim has been making great progress on the UP doodlebug.  This is just what many of you wanted to see.  He writes:

On M35, the water tank is finished with both sight glasses back in place with their red handles.

All of the carlines over the engine room were installed during Wednesday and Thursday.

Another view of the new carlines. Some touchup will still need to be done.

The view looking up showing the square headed bolts and nuts that sandwich the carlines with the steel ribs.

In Memoriam: Ed Rosengren

Sadly we must report the death of Ed Rosengren, a long-time IRM member. Ed was active in the Operating Department as a department officer and trainer. He was in charge of Publicity for many years and was always active in setting up IRM displays at local train shows. Ed also played a large role in running the Day Out With Thomas events held during the past several years, including managing ticketing operations for the event. His dedication to the museum over many years of volunteering was an inspiration and he will certainly be missed.

Ed died Wednesday morning after a long battle with cancer.   Funeral arrangements are as follows:

Visitation: Sunday, Apr. 9, 3 - 9 pm

Funeral Service:  Monday, Apr. 10, 10 am

Both at the Pedersen-Ryberg Mortuary
435 N. York Street
Elmhurst, Ill.  60126
630-834-1133

Thursday Report

Thursday is usually not a busy day at the Museum, and there weren't many other volunteers around.  But it was a nice day for working, and I have plenty of pictures to show.

The #2 vestibule of the 319 is getting close to completion.  One thing that remains is all the weather stripping around the doors.  It seemed best to do this in a single pass.  They were wire-wheeled to bare metal, where possible, as seen here.

Also, since the ceilings have been painted, it was time to reconnect the buzzer cord at both ends.

And the weather stripping gets painted with white primer.

The white outlining of the door is actually pretty classy.  Too bad it can't stay that way.

I hadn't really noticed this before, but this door has five hinges.  That's very unusual: all other train and side doors on the cars have three hinges, including the other train door on this car.  Just another example of the many inconsistencies that accumulated during these cars' long service life.

It was a nice day for a walk, so let's go check on the 321 for the first time in several months.  While you have your checkbook out to pay Uncle Sam, you might have noticed from the IRM website that we're now soliciting contributions for Barn 15.  It would be nice to get most of the rest of our historic steam collection inside!

The 321 hasn't changed much.  It will still take a few decades to repair.

Now back to work.  I finished up most of the piping for the motorman's position at the #2 end.  The controller cover needs to take a trip to the shop sometime to be repainted.

And at the #1 end, several parts that Greg stripped last time got white primer.

And on the 36, the parts of the truss rod that had been unbent got painted black.   

The only other person from the Car Dept. I saw was Tim Peters, who almost never stops.  He spent most of the day unloading and sorting parts from the 1754 and putting them into storage.

The shop was empty, but there was plenty of evidence of progress.   Regular readers should be able to identify what all these various parts are for.

And Mike Alterio shows us a repro cast iron hand brake wheel for the 24 that he made for Tim.  Very impressive!

While the paint is drying, let's finish up some inspection tasks on the 36.  First of all, we want to check and lubricate the walkover seats.  This is an early design, more primitive than the seats in the other wood cars.  And we're lucky they all work; finding spares would be almost impossible.  Notice that the main transverse beams are wood rather than steel.  That has its advantages: when we got the car, one of them was broken, but I was able to epoxy it together, and if that hadn't worked, I made a couple of spares that are still on hand.

Also, the castings for holding the seat backs don't have rollers like later models do.  That means they have to be lubricated regularly, probably every year.  So I started putting white lithium grease on the tracks, as seen here.   With the right applicator, namely a worn-out lettering brush, the grease can be applied without removing the cushions, which would be a lot of work.  And after a while, they all walk over pretty easily.

And I have my desk set up to keep track of all the paperwork.

Another fun thing to do is oiling up the wheels for the pocket doors.  Above each pocket door is a hinged panel for access to the wheels.  On the 36, they have little spring latches.  (On the 308, you need a screwdriver.)  First unhook the buzzer cord to get some slack, and open the door.

You should be able to see the two castings holding the wheels.  Now oil the bearings.

This one still has one of the original springs for holding the door in the closed position.

Also I checked the windows to be sure they're operating more or less correctly, drop sash in the side doors, and so on.  I haven't tested the match strikers recently, but I'll assume they still function, so we're ready for service!

Galloping Goose

Joe Becker, president of the Galloping Goose Historical Society, sends us some excellent pictures of winter-time action in the mountains. He writes:

 I thought I would share a recent experience that the Galloping Goose Historical Society had with RGS Galloping Goose No.5.

Over President's Weekend this February, the Galloping Goose Historical Society was invited to operate RGS Galloping Goose No.5 during the Winter Photographer's Special on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.  This is the first time since the Rio Grande Southern was abandoned in 1951 that RGS Goose #5 operated during the winter. On Saturday and Sunday, Goose No. 5 followed their steam train to/from Cascade Wye, their winter terminus, stopping for photo runs along the way.  Saturday was cold but sunny but Sunday was snowy.  It was winter mountain railroading at its best.  It brought back memories of chasing/photographing trains as a teenager in winter in the Chicago area using an 8 mm movie camera. Trying to keep the camera dry and keeping the snow off the lens again proved to be a chore.  

Open For Business

The Museum is already open for business again -- the winter season sure went by quickly!  That means, among other things, that I need to be more careful about picking things up, closing doors, and avoiding trip hazards such as extension cords in the aisles.  Typically, during the winter tools and parts can just be left in the middle of the sidewalk -- not any more!

Yesterday was a short work day because my daughter was flying in from Boston.  Mostly, it was more painting in the 319.  As promised, here is the nice new red controller handle at one end:

And there were several minor tasks to perform for variety's sake.  A new cutout cock at one end of the 309 was installed.

And then primer on the truss rods of the 36 where Gerry and I had straightened out the groinks.  Next time these parts can be painted black.

And there were a few inspection tasks remaining on the 36, such as the controllers.  

I didn't spend much time over at Barn 4.  One project I did get a picture of shows Dan Fenlaciki welding the new floor into place on the Cleveland PCC.

Of course, a lot of other people were busy on various projects.  But you can't be everywhere at once.

Finally, and this is not a joke, IRM has a new e-newsletter as part of our ongoing publicity efforts.  Most of the material will already be familiar to current members and/or people who follow the IRM website, but the newsletter should help stimulate contact with local news providers of various sorts.  Frank will be able to tell you more about this.

Opening Day is April 2nd! Opening Day for the 2017 season at the Illinois Railway Museum, beginning our 52nd year of train operations, is Sunday, April 2nd. Early spring is a great time to see a different side of the museum, without the crowds or the hustle and bustle. Climb aboard a warm, cozy interurban car for a ride past budding trees and fields seeing their spring planting. But don't forget about what's coming up soon: Day Out With Thomas™ is in July this year!  Tickets go on sale to IRM members on April 1st and to the general public on April 8th. It is strongly recommended that you buy your tickets early to ensure you get a seat on your preferred trip! Most reserved seats for trips during the morning and early afternoon sell out prior to the event dates, which this year are July 8th, 9th, 15th, and 16th. Click here for Thomas™ information and tickets Interested in getting your Day Out With Thomas™ tickets early to guarantee you get the train time you want? An IRM membership includes free general admission for all of 2017 as well as discounts in the museum's stores, our quarterly magazine Rail & Wire, and more! Click here for membership info. Upcoming events Events at the museum during the coming two months include Scout Day on May 12th-14th; Mother's Day on May 14th (moms admitted free with accompanying child or adult!); and Chicago & North Western Day on May 20th, a new event celebrating this famous railroad. Check out the complete calendar of events  Steam operations start in May The museum's 2-10-0 Decapod, Frisco 1630, is due to start its public operating season Memorial Day Weekend, weather permitting. And this year, for the first time in some 20 years, YOU can run a steam engine at IRM! This once-in-a-lifetime experience is $500, money which goes directly to support steam restoration at IRM. Guest engineer slots are limited to only 3 over the course of the summer so contact us soon to reserve your spot! Click here to e-mail us. Illinois Railway Museum | 7000 Olson Road, Union, IL 60180 | 815.923.4391 | www.irm.org Join us on Facebook for regular updates and news items!

R Nu Look

This blog has now been active for more than nine years (has it really been that long?) but times change.  In order to post something, we have to sit down, organize our thoughts, write out complete sentences and fix any errors, and try to make sense.  That's not only a lot of work, it's just so 2016.

So after giving the matter very little thought, we've decided to get with the social media thing like everybody else.  You'll get the latest news within seconds, no matter how trivial, absurd, or just plain false.  Hey, we can provide wild, unchecked, ridiculous rumors with the best of them!

Of course, plenty of useless comments like "lol" will be encouraged.  And don't worry, besides the occasional railroad-related tweet, we'll have lots of cat videos, obnoxious comments about health care, abortion, immigration, and taxes, and news of incredible medical advances:

So be sure to like us on Twitter, follow us on Facebook, and so on.  U gotta get with it!