Weekday Report

Yesterday was another active day at the Museum, with nice weather.  And I was able to get pictures of several interesting projects, so keep reading.  First of all, we now have a date, about two weeks from now, when they will be loading up the 453 in Scranton.  Transporting it here will take a few days, but when it arrives, we'll be on hand for the unloading.  Thanks again to everyone who helped fund this acquisition!

I started by cleaning out the 309 and 319.  I plan to repaint the floor of the 319 this fall.  It has a number of paint drips from the last time the walls were painted.

And the window wiper mechanism at the #2 end has come apart.  I'm not sure whether it can be fixed, so I went over to the 321 to get a spare.  It was taken home to be repainted, and I should be able to install it next time.  I also spent some time trying to reattach a seat frame in the 309 that had come loose.  I believe it should be good for one more day of revenue service.  The only permanent fix will be to remove the frame and rebuild the wall at that point.  That has been done before for other seats.

Rich Witt has been working on windows for the GB&W 109.

We haven't paid a visit to barns 10 and 11 recently.  Here Victor and Bill are working in the shop they have set up in a boxcar next to the Pennsy bobber.  A lot of progress has been made on this difficult project.

On this side, much of the framing is completely new.

New walls and cabinets inside the car.

An official PRR caboose stove.

Next door, in Barn 11 Jack Biesterfeld has been making great progress on the interior of the 109.  He recently completed a total repaint of the ceiling, which is a huge job.   It looks great!

Paul has been helping with disassembling the rotted-out parts of the side wall.

And one track over, Buzz has been lettering the insulated boxcar.

What's on track 131, in case anyone's interested:

The Yard 5 Group are busily repainting the D-13.

Ron and Henry were providing revenue service with the 749.

 In the Multi-Purpose Building, the floor should be just about cured by now.  I believe the next step will be to build a full masonry fire wall through the middle of the building, east to west.  We're looking southwest here.  The wall will be along the line of the steel posts.  Behind it will be the Pullman Library, and the public sections, including the model railroads, in front.

 And over in the Steam Shop they're almost ready to start pouring the main walls of the inspection pit.

I believe these must be the ties that were pulled out of the shop, where the pit will be.  They must have been there since about 1970.

And progress is being made on the Cleveland PCC.  The first wheel was installed with some difficulty, but the next ones should be easier.

Showcase Weekend is just ten days away, so don't miss it!

Labor Day Photos from Buzz Morisette

Buzz also shares some photos from Saturday with us.

Reproduction is prohibited without permission from the photographer!

Rich S. and company had to scramble out with the NS line car to fix a cable on the trolley loop

Had a nice evening crowd as evidenced with a full 3142.

Nice shot of 1630 chuffing out of the steam.

Labor Day Photos from Chuck Amstein

Chuck Amstein once again provides us with some excellent photos from Labor Day Weekend.

Reproduction is prohibited without permission from the photographer!

Update:  Here is his video from Sunday:

 Labor Day at the Illinois Railway Museum - Day and Night

IRM After Dark

Frank writes...

This was the fourth  year of nighttime train operations on Labor Day Weekend and it seems as though it was the most successful year yet in terms of public attendance. As with the last year or two, the wood cars were scheduled during the day on Saturday and Monday and for the "night shift" (3pm-9:30pm) on Sunday. Saturday the train was annulled because we didn't have enough crew, but Sunday we had a full three-man crew ready to go into service at 3:00.

Unfortunately I didn't have much of a chance to take photos, but our official photographer Chuck Amstein was out so I didn't worry about that much. We failed to get a crew photo (oops) but my father was motorman, I was conductor, and Gary Woertz was trainman/car host. The original plan was to just run two cars but the three-car set of 309-36-319 was still made up from the Vintage Transport Extravaganza so we just ran all three. As it turned out, that was a good thing.

While it sounded like crowds early in the day were modest, the museum got busier as it got into the evening. We ran trips at 3:30 and 4:30 but for the 5:30 trip the 309 and 319 filled up and we had to open the 36 to accommodate the crowds - always a good problem! Henry Vincent helped out as an additional car host. After the 6:30 trip it was time for a dinner break, and I took the above photos while the train was positioned out of the way on the west wye.

The dinner break lasted a bit longer than intended but we were back in the station a bit after 8pm. Thanks to Richard Schauer for help with sourcing additional kerosene for the markers and for working as conductor on our nighttime trip! Our four CA&E markers worked flawlessly, once they were properly fueled, and our trip at 8:45 saw all three cars practically full of passengers. Other trains on the railroad included the CA&E steel cars (put away in the afternoon), the 1630 with the coach train, and the Zephyr. The car line saw the 144 run all day bolstered by the 19 during the day and the 4391 after dark, while various nighttime photo ops were set up at 50th Avenue (featuring 2000s and 4000s) and other spots around the property (featuring various diesels). I particularly enjoyed a nighttime running meet at Johnson Siding with the 1630. There's nowhere else quite like IRM!

In Memoriam Max Tyms

Sadly, we must report that long-time member Max Tyms died Thursday evening due to complications from a stroke.  He was 61.  His wife Tanya said that there are no services planned by the family.

Max will certainly be missed by everyone who has worked at IRM at any time in the last 30 years.  For much of that period, he was almost a one-man line department, and has left an enduring legacy in much of our current electrical system, which is of course at the heart of the Museum's operation.  He was a long-time member of the IBEW, of course, and took great pride in the quality of his work.  It's doubtful that anyone who ever met or worked with Max will forget him.

And actually, I can think of no better tribute than a piece that Max himself wrote several years ago, which we posted here.  He was a man of strong opinions, and never hesitated to advance the causes he believed in.

Wednesday Report

Another productive Wednesday featured great weather and lots of activity.  But we'll start with a few roster shots of steam locomotives on the turntable leads.

This is the newly-repainted SP 975.  It's a purely cosmetic restoration, but it certainly looks great.

Next is the 1630, with its new auxiliary tender.  This replaces the old milk car.

Finally, the Shay will be running this weekend along with the 1630.  You won't want to miss it.

And in Main St. news, the floor for the Multi-Purpose Building was poured yesterday.  It needs to be watered on a regular basis for the first week to keep the concrete cool enough to cure properly.  

Dave Diamond had started on watering the floor, but he had other important things to do, so I volunteered.  It's not a difficult job, sort of like watering the lawn.   And I did this three times.

After watering, it looks like this, but it tends to dry quickly.

One high-priority Car Dept. project is to switch out the middle track in Barn 4, so the Baldy can be made operational, and the roof booth can be used for more roof projects.  John Faulhaber, Gerry, and I worked on this in the morning, with help from Chuck Meter.  I should have taken a "before" picture, but those of you who have been around for a while will remember what the front of the 28 looked like.  We managed to clear nearly everything away, and moving the car now appears possible.  That was fun.

We also met a new couple who recently joined, and wanted to volunteer.  Their names are Randy and Bev, and after some discussion they spent most of the day helping Ed with sanding the ceiling of the Electroliner A unit.  This seemed to go well, and they said they'd be back next week.  We certainly hope so!

Tim is installing the siding on the 1754.  Those splotches are lens reflections, not something in the paint.

Reggie continued to work on the 213.

I did some cleaning in the wood cars, and checked the oil levels so they'll be ready to run this weekend.  We still need additional crewmen each day.

Finally, today's service car was the 749, with motorman Ron Seavers and conductor Henry Vincent.