weekend update april 12 2008

another week of behind the scenes.

Not wquite the weather we had last week either, gloomy, chilly, a bit of wet stuff……

It would appear that the decision has reached a consensus to move the streamliner set to the north track of Yard 5.

The turbine will move to the south track in front of the Used Book store,and the RDC will be the new entry point and tail end of the sleeper set.

It wont happen quick, but we think we can clean the car up and make it into a coach trailer for the train, which would be nice. A good cleaning for starters will give a new entry point, and the entrance and exit will both be on paved surface for our visitors.

Now all we have to do is wait for the board to approve it and give Max the money to order the electrical equipment we will need to set it up. The cars will be open for our dedicated friends as soon as they move, but not for the general public for a little while until we can enclose all the connections and get the electrical and ventilation systems operating.

Stop on by and say hi, feel free to set and have a cuppa in Bimingham.

 On the heavyweight front, the first of two new baggage doors got installed today in CNW 7700, and of course its gorgeous and works great! Mike, Ray, Wayne and Shelly have spent a ton of effort on these, and it shows, shiny and new!  The second door is now in paint and hope to get it in next week. Congratulations!!!

BLE 25 new window is varnished, and hope to have it sanded and ready for Mark Hoffman to install soon as well.

DLW vestibule metalwork is getting cleaned, prep for repair plates, as soon as the CNW 7700 doors are done the car can be tested and then Mike hopes to get back to welding and sparking.

Chick has been abusing windows for the DMIR 84 at home over the winter, and its almost time for him to drag back and join the rest of us party folks in the barn.

 Barn 3 has gotten all of the lights checked, so on days we are open we will now have 12 of 16 cars lit for view, and we hope to get a bunch of them open for visits as well.

Once we get the Yard 5 issues resolved, we will once again turn to the plan for Barn 11. Dave Diamond is awaiting our eviction so he can begin the process, and we couldnt be happier to oblige. The sooner he gets rolling, the  better our chances of ioccuping the building before winter. Wouldnt that be great? Nine more cars going inside from the passenger car department.

The passenger car dept also got energetic and cleaned up East Union dispatcher office over the past week. We found several typewriters, comptometers, and and change making machine from a Chicago company that went out of business in the 1930s. Early office equiipment now set up for the ticket agents in the station to use

Stop out whenever you can, say hi, and we will put you to work.

As always , dont forget that all of this work needs funding, so please donate to your favorite passenger car, or one of the funds available on the web site store

http://www.irm.org/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=35_46

thanks for visiting, see you soon