Monthly News

Day Out With Thomas™ tickets now on sale! Our biggest event of the year, Day Out With Thomas, is coming up on July 14-15 and 21-22. Tickets are now on sale and some trips are more than 90% sold out! So don't delay - go to irm.org and get your tickets today. Featured in this e-newsletter: Day Out With Thomas tickets for July 14-15 and 21-22 are on sale The museum has completely overhauled its website Get 50% off admission this Saturday, May 5th, on Illinois Day High-speed Amtrak locomotive arrives at IRM Big changes around East Union Depot Memorial Day Weekend to kick off the heart of train season Steam Department Benefit Concert is June 24th Progress update on the North Shore "Electroliner" IRM owns an Alco Century - but it's not yet in Illinois Museum Entrance Building planning and fundraising Visit us online for schedules, blog updates, and more Day Out With Thomas™ in 2018 Thomas the Tank Engine and all of his friends are returning to IRM this July and they're hoping to see you there! Ride along with Thomas and Percy, meet Sir Topham Hatt, see magic shows and story readings, and create unforgettable memories. Event is July 14-15 and 21-22 only; tickets are available online or by calling the IRM office at 815-923-4391 ext 452. Get your tickets now - some trips are nearly sold out already! Click here for tickets and more information IRM Has a Brand New Website The museum's website, www.irm.org, has seen its most extensive overhaul since the late 1990s. The site is now easier to read on a mobile device and has a more visitor-friendly layout. Traditional favorites like the blogs, roster, photo galleries, and webcams are all still there. Check out the new site here Illinois Day 2018 One of our new events for this year is Illinois Day. This Saturday, May 5th, in honor of the state's bicentennial, Illinois residents are admitted for 50% off with valid state ID. If you're used to the crowds at some of our mid-summer events, try a visit during the spring when the pace is a little easier and the museum is a bit less busy! Click here for more information Amtrak Locomotive Acquired The museum's latest acquisition is Amtrak 945, an AEM-7 high-speed electric locomotive built in 1982 in La Grange, Illinois, and retired in 2015. The locomotive arrived at IRM on its own wheels in late April after a trip from Wilmington, Delaware, and is currently having some "sprucing up" done. It should be on display this summer at the museum. Keep an eye out for our only 125mph-capable locomotive! Big Changes at the Depot On your next visit to IRM you're sure to notice a major change in the scenery near East Union Depot. The baggage cars that have sat just east of the depot for some 35 years are now gone! They're safe, back on "live rail" on museum trackage, but with the gift shop moved to the Schroeder Store on Main Street they're no longer needed next to the depot. Now is the time to come enjoy some sight lines that haven't been available since the early 1980s. Click here for more information The Zephyr is Back Memorial Day Weekend traditionally kicks off the heart of IRM's season and is a great time to see some of the stars of our lineup. Frisco 1630, our 100-year-old steam engine, will be running all three days. Sunday and Monday May 27-28 the famous Nebraska Zephyr will be running as well. And there's plenty more to see! Click here for more information Steam Dept Benefit is June 24 Our annual benefit concert to raise funds for the Steam Department will be held at the Sanfilippo Estate in Barrington on June 24th. This is a great opportunity to hear the mighty Wurlitzer organ in concert and tour this unique collection of artifacts. Click here for tickets and information Electroliner Progress Update The major project to get the famous North Shore "Electroliner" running again is moving along. The trucks and motors are rebuilt and motor gearing work is just about complete. The next step will be to put the trainset back onto the trucks! Everything is dependent on funding but with luck the 'Liner will be back on its "feet" soon. Click to help with Electric Car restoration TP&W 800 is Ours On April 27th the Morristown & Erie handed over this ex-Toledo Peoria & Western C424 "Century" locomotive to IRM - but the work is just starting! We still need to raise money to transport this (fully operational) diesel back to Illinois. Please help us save TP&W 800! Click to find out how you can help Museum Entrance Building Fundraising has kicked off to build the new Museum Entrance Building. This exciting project will provide not only a permanent public entrance, but indoor exhibit areas, a theater, event space, and an entire block of historic building fronts on our Main Street Scene. Sponsorship opportunities are now available. Click here for more information. Visit us online for schedules, blog updates, and more

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Calm Before the Storm

Most of the day was pleasantly warm and sunny, so it was a welcome opportunity to move the 309 over to the pit to continue inspection.

Everything appeared to be in good condition, and no new problems were discovered.

Underneath the car, we can look up at the commutators.  This is one that was rebuilt by Steiner, and it still looks as good as new.

I decided to leave as the storms were approaching, so as before, the roof and most of the lubrication work remain to be done.

And as typical for a Wednesday, there were lots of other activities going on.

Andy Sunderland was helping Jon Fenlaciki with the roof of the 65.  Here is Andy inside the car:

And here Jon is on the roof, with Andy helping from the ladder.

And here I thought Jon could read.  How much clearer could that CAUTION sign be???

And most of the Wednesday regulars were at their usual jobs, such as Tim and Victor.

Norm and Jeff continue their work on the 28.  Jeff has been sorting out parts at home, and made up some professional-looking labels for the cans.  The rest of us are green with envy.

Jeff is very proud of his label maker.

Next door, John the pharmacist continues work on the 68.  Sorry for the glare, but I didn't want to interrupt his painting of the window sill.  Notice the 309 down the track.

And in the other direction, work continues on the Electroliner.  Here Ed and John are removing all the old window shades and extracting the hardware.  The Adlake company will be making new shades for the entire train.  This work is possible only because of generous donations from people like you.  For which we are thankful.

Outside, the old storage tracks have been disassembled, and the material is ready to be removed either scrapping or reuse.

And in switching news, the old baggage cars were pulled off Station 2, so we can run trains again.

The switch crew consisted of Gregg Wolfersheim, Paul Cronin, and Bob Albertson.   Here the decrepit old wooden baggage car is approaching us.  Don't stand too close!

And they were put onto one of the turntable leads.

Inspection work will continue, and we could always use more help.  See you on Saturday!

Daniel in the Tiger's Den, or something

Frank writes...

So Sunday was "Daniel Tiger Day" at IRM, or "Be My Neighbor Day" or something like that. Regardless, there was a pretty big crowd. The traffic flow was very interesting: the public entered at the new entrance across from the Schroeder Store and visited the two costumed characters, Daniel and Katerina Kitty, at the front of Barn 4 and in a Rock Island car parked on the 50th Avenue west track respectively. And that was mostly it. While there were some people wandering around, and the playground was pretty well patronized, the rest of the property - and, notably, the area around the depot - wasn't all that busy.

There were seven electric cars in operation, a lot for a day in April. Shown here are the two-car CA&E steel train (409 and 460) at 50th Avenue with the Matchbox at Central Avenue. Board member Marcus Ruef is standing in front of the Matchbox helping to direct traffic.

Over in front of Barn 4 our very own neighborhood trolley, Veracruz 19, served as a backdrop for people to take photos of their kids with Daniel Tiger. The weather was gorgeous, probably nice than it's been all year, which certainly helped tremendously with attendance.

And boy was there attendance! The line to see Daniel Tiger stretched down to Barn 7 at one point. The event was run entirely by WTTW, our local PBS station, and there was some concern about people being unhappy with the long lines. But for the most part everyone seemed to be having a great time.

Besides the two CA&E steel cars, the CTA 4000s were also running and the 415 and 3142 were in service on the car line along with the Matchbox. Here's the 1374 boarding at Depot Street with Norm Krentel as motorman and Jon Fenlaciki as conductor.

While I was hanging around the area, I snapped this picture of the former site of the bookstore and gift shop cars just east of the depot. The north track is gone, except for ties, and the south track has been taken apart for removal. The platform has been scrapped and the ramps are currently sitting on Central Avenue next to Barn 6. Sic transit gloria mundi...

...though in this case the gloria has only transited over to Station Track 2, where three of the four former store cars await future use. The fourth car, the streamlined RPO/baggage car that used to serve as the gift shop, has already been relocated elsewhere on the property.

Other than that, I spent most of my time moving spare seat cushions - most of them from the CA&E - into storage. These were obtained during the Trolleyville acquisition back in 2010 as part of IRM's allotment of spare parts and since that time have been sitting in a truck trailer. But we're trying to put them into more permanent storage. Many of the cushions are dark red leatherette, which only one preserved CA&E car - the 409 - has. This work wasn't particularly exciting or photogenic though.

But here's something to pique your interest: among the other stuff from Trolleyville was this armature oven, which will shortly acquire a new home, possibly in the lean-three. That could be useful. In the right background is the old North Shore signal shanty which for many years served as our oil shed. It is on the short list for restoration by the Car Department.

And there was plenty of other activity going on. The big project was annual inspection of the CTA 2200s, which were on the pit. Good Nick, Joel, and Richard among others were working on this. And shown above is the air compressor from CA&E 451. Brian and Richard, among others, worked on installing the newly-rebuilt armature on this compressor prior to reassembling the whole thing and putting it on the car. This is part of the push to get the 451 running this year.

I didn't get much done on the 18, though with help from Joel I did make a little bit of progress on replacing a broken end window. But the real progress on the 18 was happening outside the barn door, where Mark Secco was working on the CGW wrecker. He is trying to get a clutch working, and once he does the boom can be raised and the wrecker can be moved out of the way. At the moment it's immobile and preventing us from moving the 18 under wire for further work. But progress is being made by Mark. He showed me around the body of the wrecker; above is the operator's cab, with the gearing and hoisting equipment to the left.

And finally, while I was helping Joel put some stuff away in one of the boxcars, I stumbled upon a random grab iron which probably nobody except me would recognize. But I knew it immediately: the missing grab from the 205's doors! This story goes back at least ten years, to when the middle two leaves of the car's folding doors - which were really shot - were removed and new ones were made. All of the hardware was removed from the old door leaves in late 2007 and when the new doors were ready in mid-2008 all of the hardware was reinstalled - all, that is, except for the angled grab iron from one of the doors which had inexplicably gone missing over the previous winter. Well I always figured that it might turn up someday and it finally did, so I very happily took it over to the 205 and installed it. It's seen above on the left, ready to assist people climbing the steps. The one on the right was installed on that door almost a decade ago. Better late than never.

Inspection Report

Inspection continues with the 309 being next up.  The 141 is still over the pit, so I started by swapping the 308 and 309 to put the latter at the door.  As a result, it comes out into the sunshine for the first time this year.

At least half of the inspection tasks can be done while the car is in the barn, and everything went well.  The only thing that really needs to be fixed is that the #2 air gauge needs to be recalibrated; both sides read low by about 10 psi.  The way the cars are presently arranged, we will probably be operating from the #2 end, so that should be addressed.  

 A view down the track:

 Here we see the DB-15 contactors in their little arc chute boxes:

And the DB-20 reverser: 

A newly-elected member of the Board of Directors continues his usual activities:

 Jon Fenlaciki continues to work on the roof of the 65.   It's not easy; the ceiling has to be partly disassembled in order to remove or install bolts.  Here we see Gerry helping out from on top of the scaffold:

While Jon applies some torque from inside the car: 

Our new AEM-7 locomotive arrived late yesterday, and is temporarily housed in Barn 2 for repair of vandalism damage and a few other things.  The lighting isn't great, but let's take a tour of the interior.  Jamie happened to be there and showed me through our latest acquisition.

The engineer's control stand: 

And the fireman's: 

The interior is very cramped.  These are a couple of parts of the air system. 

And the rotary compressor: 

Among other things, Buzz is painting new siding for our Milwaukee Road wooden reefer.  The MRHS graciously donated the money to have the siding produced for us.

Finally, I stopped by to see how things were going with cleaning up the old storage tracks near the depot.  Carl and Dave discuss what to do next with the partly-scrapped flatcar body.

And look, there's an abandoned branch line.  You don't see many abandoned right-of-ways around here, because IRM is expanding, not contracting.