Spring Cleaning

I brought out two new seat parts -- a stationary seat cushion and the third and final walkover seat back -- to install in the 36.  They both look good, except for being obviously newer and cleaner than the old parts.  But that's a common problem when you replace only the defective items.  Anyway, I think the rattan replacement program has worked out well, if I may say so myself.

In the main compartment, you can easily spot the three new seat backs.  I can only hope that after a period of regular service they will start to blend in.

And it was time for some spring cleaning in Barn 8, but nothing worth taking a picture of.

Speaking of cleaning, it appears that Tim has taken up a new occupation: ironing!  A lot of us at IRM tend to wear rumpled clothes, so he might have a lucrative business here, except...

He's actually ironing car cards.  Old car cards tend to get damp and wrinkled.  It turns out that by placing a linen tracing paper over the card and running a steam iron over it, he can make it flatter.

It may not be perfect, but certainly better than before.  How much starch do you want with that?

Meanwhile, the Bunny Hop was in full swing, the Track Dept. were busy, and lots of other things were going on.  As I always say, you just have to be there in person.

PRR Tool Car

As mentioned recently, Freight Car Dept. stalwarts Victor and Bill are continuing to thoroughly rebuild the Pennsy tool car.  Bob Albertson has sent us another picture, showing where the new siding will go.

We've posted pictures of the car earlier:  here and here and here.   Enjoy!

Doodlebug Progress

Another astounding report on the UP doodlebug from Gregg Wolfersheim:

Much progress has been made on the UP doodlebug. The frosted sash was installed in the women's toilet section.

Once the windows were in, other parts could be reinstalled. This is the side bracket that holds the wash basin. On the wall is the other bracket already installed.

Now the wash basin is in place.

The door for the water cooler is hung. It is shown in the open position.

View from the aisle side of the toilet compartment, and the water cooler door.

A new piece of mirror glass was procured and installed in the frame. It's now back on the wall.

The last of the four baggage racks was mounted on the wall after being restored. The next step is to finish the floor so the toilets can be put back in and seat bases mounted.

Rapidly Replacing Rattan

On Wednesday I brought out the second reupholstered rattan seat back and installed it in the 36.

It looks good -- probably too good.  Any modelers out there have some weathering secrets for rattan?

Anyway, the third and final back is being varnished and should be ready soon.  For my next project, I went through the car and took a closer look at the seat cushions.  One of the corner stationary seats had a bad rip in the rattan, so I took it home for repair.

 There's also one walkover cushion that has a worn-out spot, and it should probably be recovered too.  And then one of the old-style seat backs has a noticeable rip.  So there's more to do.  I have plenty of new material.

And then I spent some time rearranging parts and tools in storage.  While we're in Barn 8, let's look at the nice new door on the 213.  It's close to the barn wall, so the angle isn't the best, but you get the idea.  The glass still needs to be installed; it was left out to eliminate the chance of breaking it while mounting the door.

Pete and Fritz were working on building the next 213 door.  Here they are running stock through the big jointer.

And Tim and Buzz and Victor and Bill and others were working on their projects too.

Finally, when I got the first stationary seat cushion home, I started by taking some pictures for future reference.

One amusing mathematical fact: these stationary seats are exactly 24" wide.  When these cars were built, the ERR journal article claimed that the seating capacity was 56.  But the only way you can get to 56 people is if you have two persons sitting on each of the stationary seats.  That might work if all your passengers are ten year olds, but otherwise it's pretty much impossible.  48 is a much more reasonable number.

Sunday Update

Frank writes...

I don't have too much to report from Sunday. Bunny Trolley Hop was in full swing, while in the car shop, efforts are concentrating on getting equipment ready for operations next month. I spent much of my time helping with that.

I did get some work done on the 18. As shown above, the three windows I'd stripped the previous week got some finish sanding and then received a coat of primer. Next time, I can put a coat of cream paint on them. I can also do the window my father rebuilt, which is on top. I also cleaned up the bits and pieces from the fender rebuild project.

Joel, Brian, Nathan, and Mikey were working on equipment inspections and electrical work, Tim was working on the 1808, and Good Nick and Matt were over in Barn 2 working on IT 415. Above, you can see the dance floor where the Berlin sander used to be. The green thing on the left is the control position. The plan is to put a table saw in this space and rearrange some of the existing machines.

The only other photo I took of recent progress was this one, showing the K brake cylinder that one of our expert welders repaired. It's destined to head back to the Steam Shop for installation on our newly restored Pennsy bobber caboose, hopefully making that car operational.

Saturday Report

Saturday was the first day of the Bunny Trolley Hop this year, and we seemed to have a good crowd of visitors with small children visiting the event.  But I didn't get any pictures of it -- I'll let the people who are actually in charge of publicity do what they do best.

I've been working on making new rattan seat backs for the 36, as seen earlier.  The second one was finished, but after trying to install it I decided it need some minor adjustments to the mounting brackets, so I took it back home.  I also removed the last of the doomed plastic seat backs, and I should be able to start making the third and last of the replacements in my home workshop.  Again, no pictures, but don't touch that dial.

I also put together another window for the 18, painted it with primer, and brought it out.

And it got a first coat of finish cream on the outside.

Next door to the Hicksco corner were these huge planks that were being worked on by the Steam Dept.  They're part of a tender, but I forgot to find out which one.  

Take a good look at this picture - you won't be seeing this machine much longer:

The (in)famous Berlin sander is on its way out of the car shop.  Despite the large promises that were made when it was acquired and installed, in practice the Berlin has seen very little use, and we could certainly use the space in more productive ways.  So it's being prepared for removal into storage.  I must agree that this is the logical choice.  But I'd also have to say that anyone who has gotten to watch it in operation cannot complain of his lot in life.  It was hilarious.

One of the doors from the Pawnee as completed by Buzz.

And of course there were a lot of other things going on, as always.

The Milwaukee Road Museum

I had never actually been inside the MRHS museum in the Multipurpose Building before, but I had a message to pass on from a man I met in Tucson, so I stopped in.  And I must say it's very well done and quite interesting.  So here are a few pictures.  

There are quite a few models of various sorts.  The most unusual is probably this: an all-wood model of the original Hiawatha.  It must have taken an incredible amount of labor to construct.  

I would rather have an actual Class A to preserve.  I guess I'll just have to keep digging.

And this is the library room, which has windows out onto the street.

The MRHS guys are all very friendly and helpful.  Stop in to see them sometime!

Finally, the Model Railroad room was busy with lots of different gauges in operation, including the bizarre Z scale layout which I hadn't seen in operation before, and it had lots of visitors.   We have a lot to be proud of.

What's Behind Door #3?

Buzz has sent us some interesting updates behind his work on doors for the Pullman car Pawnee.  This was the last heavyweight private car built by Pullman, and was acquired by IRM in 2019.   You can read all about it at this link.

Door #1: Warped and peeling veneer had to be removed and repaired.

Door #2:  New veneer is dry-fit with replacement trim.

Door #3: Replacement trim and veneer had to be separately stained to match the existing old mahogany.

Door #4: Ready to be put back on!

Tuesday News

Tuesday was another productive day at the Museum.  I brought out the first rattan seat back that has been completed in the Hicksco factory and installed it in the 36.  It sticks out because of course it's a lot cleaner than the old seats, but other than that I'd say it looks pretty realistic.

Better than the flat backs with plastic mesh.

And I now have all the seats in place in the 319, and the damaged arm rest has been replaced.  I guess I didn't take a picture of it for some reason.  I would have liked to paint some of the old fabric, but it never got warm enough.  We're not scheduled to go into operation until late May, so painting can wait.

And while we're at Barn 8, back behind the barn we have a yard sale going on.  Barn doors for sale -- cheap!!!  (Cash and carry only.)

In the car shop the regulars continue to work on their projects.  Here Jim is polishing parts for the 36.

Steve and Pax were prepping Liner parts.

John was cleaning, checking, and painting snap switches and MS switches for the 306.

Tim Peters was there but I didn't get a picture.  And Buzz has been working on a door for the Pawnee.  Here it is with fresh varnish under a dust cover.  I didn't want to disturb it, so you just have to use your imagination.

Out in the shop, the 1702 is on the center track, and the 306 is over the pit:

Finally, I did some more work on the 309 motor bearing project.  We should be able to install the first new bearing when the 309 is over the pit for inspection in a couple of weeks.  The motor cap for that location, however, had loose alignment pins.  New pins were made but they're still loose.  I plan to replace it with a different motor cap from one of our spare motors.  It has good pins, and this is the one I used to drill the holes in the new bearing.  Motor caps should be identical, but in this business you just never know.  So I have it tagged.

I also wanted to verify that this was indeed the one I had used to align the holes.  It fits perfectly.

I had picked this one out of a pile of spare motor caps, going on the theory that I could infallibly tell a GE66B part from anything else.  But after scraping and wire-wheeling all the dirt and grease off the part, and it indeed says "GE66B", that was a relief.

(By the way, I'm referring to this part as a "motor cap" because that's what the CA&E called it, as you can see from the third picture at this link.  But we have usually called it an "axle cap", and that's fine too.  I don't want to argue.  "Axle cap" might be a North Shorism.  Or a Dave Shorism, who could tell?)