We face the issue of preparation and operation from early August until November, Vintage transport, then Thomas, then Showcase, then Halloween, so we face a period of time when we sometimes get a bit behind. Its hard sometimes because we have to concentrate our efforts on operations and active displays for a big chunk of time, and so much of the restoration work grinds to a halt for three months of the year. Lets try to catch up a bit

On the heavyweight front,

i reported last month that the Dover has now been painted and lettered on both sides, Bob has made great progress on both vestibules, and progress is being made inside on the corridor.  There remains a bit of a problem involving the electrical feed for the car, and i hope to get it resolved completely this off season. Mike and Ray also are working on the hand brake, non functional for ?? maybe years.  It might be able to go for a ride next season. even as an exterior show it will be great to show it off. Bob Hunter deserves all the kudos for moving forward all the time.

http://www.irm.org/gallery/DoverStrait

Roger has been plugging along on the bathrooms of the John McGlothan as well, and I dont want to forget to give credit where its due, even though i am sorry i dont have any new photos to include just yet. Perhaps one of the projects this off season will be a new set of pics for the photo gallery.

The Boston and Maine cafe keeps going as well. Jack made it into this months Rail and Wire.

http://www.irm.org/gallery/BM3288

With the season slowing down after this weekend, Mike hopes to get the DLW coach vestibule repairs completed this winter, as well as a couple of coach ceilings that need repairs. There a some new pics of the work in the car folder, for the structural fans.

http://www.irm.org/gallery/DLW556

A slightly different item involves road trips to Monee Il, where there are several privately held pieces being scrapped. Steam team has begun to acquire two unique locos from there, and while there are a coupkle of heavyweitght passenger cars on the property, the reality is that we do not have the funds to transport them , store them, or restore them. The decision then was made to make trips and remove parts we can use. We did acquire a set of seats for the ATSF 2544 to allow us to install authentic seating in the coach area, and remove the streamliner seats that are there.

After Halloween, the streamliner sleepers will come home and, while it will take a couple of weeks to winterize them, we have made some more progress as well.

Two of the three power poles in Yard 5 are in place and operating, so we are almost completely connected. Max had a bit of delay with some pressing personal issues, but he has been out a bit more lately, and we hope to be ready when the cars come back next week. This will give us solid electrical connections for all cars, plus decent power supply for the baggage/shop car at the end, which will make the winter much more functional. I cant wait to have them in, winterized and lit for the holidays this year.

RDC 9934 now has all the interior lights working, and I want to get the classification lights working soon, but of course getting the set “buttoned up” and settled in for the winter takes precedence.

The one passenger window that was leaking has been repaired, as we discovered that it was installed upside down, with only 3 screws holding it in instead of the designed 26. New gasket material around the exterior and a solid mount and we think we have most if not all of the water leaks in RDC solved for now.

The one cab window that is missing has been located, (at least we think so ) in the Diesel locomotive storage, and as soon as someone gets a chance they will pull it out for us and we can get that issue resolved too.

http://www.irm.org/gallery/CNW9934

Plans include progress in all three sleepers, plus some more kitchen work in Birmingham. We will have to see just how much we can get accomplished in the 4-5 months of the off season. Spring comes quick, and we feel responsible to have the display open by May, so as always, help would be neat if anyone is interested, and donations are welcome all season.

The cost of the electrical system in Yard 5 has seriously depleted our restoration funds, and there are a few pieces of interior that i would love to restore in Silver Ridge, but do not have the funding for.

We hope to get back in the habit of regular updates, and hope to see many visitors by spring.

Hope everyone has a fun autumn and a happy winter season, see you soon!

First of all, to brag on Dover Strait, both sides are now lettered, and the second diaphragm is coming along

We hope to have it outside in the sunshine for everyone to see for Showcase Weekend

http://www.irm.org/gallery/DoverStrait

for those that have not noticed, the photos are now in folders for each year of work, to help keep from digging through a multipage listing

Thomas trains worked out well, no major malfunctions

The second power pole is running, and so we are now on external power with NO generators running! Max made an extra effort and got stuff installed almost as fast as the parts were delivered. On behalf of the tranquility in Yards 4 and 5….. THANK YOU!!!

Streamliner sleeper train has had its brakes checked and two problems found have both been dealt with.

We have begun to plan for next weeks showcase weekend, a bit late because no one planned (or asked) us to participate until last week, and there was no crew set up. If there is no crew for the event, the set will be open for visits throughour the evening so a night experience will be possible either way.

On top of all, the RDC brakes work!!!! Mike found a cracked pipe and we hope to get that fixed this weekend; if all goes well, we will have RDC 9934 on the tail of the train for showcase weekend! After 17 years of sitting dormant, we will get her back to life. tomorrow we hope to get the power supply run so we can use the interior lights for night operations. No headlight or horn yet…but i have been able to track down some of the circuitry so I should be able to connect both the classification lights and headlights over the fall and early winter…..

http://www.irm.org/gallery/CNW9934?page=1

see you all soon at Showcase weekend

Dover Strait lettering contionues to progress, going to be great to have it out in the sun soon, if Bob will let us set it out for display.

http://www.irm.org/gallery/DoverStrait

Streamliner progress is also being made, but not much visible. We now have the first of the electrical poles up and running, and we hope to have Birminghams new power supply connected for this weekend!

The cord alone is costing $1100 so if anyone feels like donating, now would be a good time. The costs have almost doubled since the move to Yard 5 was first discussed, due to increased cost of the plastic, copper and shipping.

nothing is being wasted from our old wiring. The old Birmingham equipment will go to power the baggage car so we can actually have some working electricity for the shop.

The old baggage car inlet will go onto the RDC, as we get that car energized for the fall.

Its going to be neat to see the entire set lit after dark again without the need for generators! We will stil need two generators this weekend, to run Loch Sloy and the AC unit in Silver Ridge, but as soon as the parts come in Max has promised to do his best to get things connected. He already has all three breaker panels installed, and most of the outlets connected as well. Thanks to him for all the effort.

I hope to get the classification lights and headlights on the RDC working soon. I have located the circuitry, and will try to get them going. i had to stop to get the power pole done, but want to try and have more of the lights working saturday night.

I know its kind of neat for the volunteers to see the set lit after a hard day work on Thomas, and everyone is welcome for a snack or beverage if they wish. There are so many folks working so hard to make the Thomas event successful, its impossible to name them all.

The department makes progress and plans for our little blue “friend” next week, and so some of our restoration projects have taken a slight slow-down. There are always exceptions, however…… 

First I simply have to brag on Bob Hunter, Bob Kutella and all the folks i cant name that have done a splendid job on Dover Strait. She got one side striped and lettered last week, and part of the sunday switch move was to get her turned for the second side. Thanks again to Kirk Warner for the inside pics, as he was busy scuffing the tank car for painting, and stopped long enough to keep us all up to date.

http://www.irm.org/gallery/DoverStrait?page=1

second as we clean up the streamliner set for visitors, the RDC takes on a much better “look”.

Interior baggage lights are in better shape, we got last of the stuff cleared out of the inside, and with all seats in place, the lady cleans up pretty well.

http://www.irm.org/gallery/CNW9934

Shelly got the mirrors intalled in Galt House, and in the absence of photos right now , believe me when I say the car is looking great!

Wayne made some modifications to the entry step for Susan Marie, and now the way is clear and solid for folks to get on the platform, with our plan still to make the interior accessible in the near future.

Also in the absence of photos, the bathroom in John McGlothan is also looking more and more like a bathroom, thanks to the continuing work of Roger Kramer

Parts have arrived to let Max begin the installation on the new power cabinets for Yard 5 , and when the transformer parts get here, the cabinets will be waiting for them eagerly (not to mention us).

 Time to batten down and take care of the Thomas event; it looks like the weather will be reasonably cool. The forecast right now is for rain Sunday, but good temparatures, and pleasant skies the rest of the time. No swimming in Barn 3 allowed this year!!!

Just to keep everyone up on our progress, not too many new photos but a few.

In barn 3 we now have opened Galt House for tours since July 4 Shelly continues to make is sparkle, and she has now reinstalled the end mirrors in the seating area. I hope to find time to get the kitchen lighting to work so she can go at it in there too. I finally got a few interior photos on the website.

http://www.irm.org/gallery/LN2726

elsewhere in Barn 3 we have opened a stepwell on Susan Marie, giving folks a chance to climb the platform for now, and /Mike is contemplating how we can enclose the bedrooms to allow folks to tour the car again. As much as we would like to do it now, it is sounding like a winter project, after the DLW coupler pocket repair.

speaking of the welding work, it is coming along, just a bit slowly as every portion of the pocket has to be rebuilt one step at a time.

Dover Strait is getting her stripes and letters, and a few shots of the progress, thanks to Kirk Warner The work is finally paying off! we are so happy for the folks involved and all their work over the years

http://www.irm.org/gallery/DoverStrait

Barn 11 has not been started yet, but the price has gone up! It will now be $180 per foot to build, so anyone that is interested in a car goiong in, now is your chance to help us finance the building! There are some donation links on the IRM store page, or send in your donation to the Passenger department indoor storage fund, which will reduce the need for cars to pay their own way in. If you want to contribute to a specific car, please feel free to contact the museum and earmark your donation. Every little bit helps!!!

Out in Yard 5 we still await electricity, so we are forced to operate on generators to simply feed the air conditioners, and that is only about half of what we need.

The progres son the RDC continues, with removal of exterior paint and clearing of more inside. The paint on the letterboard is 4 or 5 layers thick, and in the middle of it we have discovered Baltimore and Ohio. It forced us to slow down and try and preserve the lettering long enough to photograph it for history, because as soon as we clean the letterboard for CNW it will be gone.

Seat movements on one side have been repaired, and i hope to have the seating reinstalled in time for Thomas to make the set look pretty.

In addition, we have gotten the electrical cabinet figured to some extent and we now have the baggage rack lights working. The car is designed to be self contained, and run completely from its power plant, which is 64vdc. As a trailer we are much better off converting it to a more commn power supply, and a couple of eastern operators have suggested exactly that to Marc so after trying to avoid it, we will be changing the car to 110vac, and we have started to replace light equipment to allow that. With that decision made, it will simplify the cirsuirty, and our work will include all the fluorescent ballasts and incandescent lamps, plus replacing the blower motor. The advantage is once we have those few, relatively simple changes made, the car will be functional from our trainline generators, and the power from the pole when we get it.

For the CNW RDC fans , we also located marking on interior parts that confirm the car is in fact 9934  instead of 9933.

http://www.irm.org/gallery/CNW9934

Antique car weekend saw a warm up and a significant crowd, so in anticipation we added an other AC unit in the vestibule of Pacific Peak. It seems to make a difference as the Birmingham was able to keep its comfort level up without fighting the influx of heat from the other cars. My thanks to our donors, including Kevin Brown, who have continued to support the cars and made the funds accessible to make the purchase.

I promise to try and get more pictures listed and write updates more often, i simply got wrapped up in the day to day of the department and ran out of time.

We are making progress on the electricity for Yard 5. Max got all three poles in the ground last weekend. YAAAAY!!!

Now we await the ordering of parts to install on those lovely poles.

In the meantime, the streamliner set is open for visits, but not running at 100%. We have perhaps half the power needed, and no power at all to the RDC or shop car yet. 

In the meantime, we keep making progress on removing all that purple on the RDC. Marc has been plugging away at it, and it will be a task to pick away at for the rest of the season, I think.  In addition, we have taken all the seats apart on one side of the car, and gotten the pullover seats to work again. We discovered that someone didnt want the seats to be movable, so they WELDED the frames shut. D’OH!

A couple of new pics in the RDC folder, hope to take some interior shots this weekend as well. The car is cleaning up nicely, and as soon as we have electricity in the area, I hope to solve the lighting issue as well. Just cant do a lot of experimenting yet since i dont really have a stable source right now.

http://www.irm.org/gallery/CNW9933

On the heavyweight front, The diaphragms are in on one end of the Dover, and of course they are gorgeous. Bob Hunter has fought them all winter and spring, fabricating and shaping each piece by hand one at a time. Next we hope to get someone to start sanding the corridor and perhaps get the car striped and lettered this summer.

Bessemer combine 25 has its windows back in, and Mike hopes to get it air tested this weekend. The brake valves for the DLW cars are back, and one is installed, hope to get the second one in next weekend.

B&M cafe car is quietly moving along as well. Jack is beginning to work on the coach area, and if the dining area is any indication, its gonna be great when he gets it done.

Wayne Baksic is making new step boxes for the barn displays, larger than previous stock, to make it a bit easier for our visitors. Once they are done, we will plan to open Susan Marie up for visits, as the ramp railing has been opened for a doorway.

We hope to get the barn reset this weekend, and give Andy a chance to assault the other side of the IC cafe car, plus put the Galt House in position to open for visitors.

This time of year, there always seems to be lots of things to do, and never enough time to do them. As always, if anyone wants to help feel free to join in. We have housekeeping to do, metalwork on some, paint removal on some, etc, etc, etc…..

Saturday was a decent weather day, made a good amount of progress getting the streamliner cars powered up and lit for visitors.

Sunday not so good…..

Chilly rainy until early afternoon, then an area wide power failure for two hours took the place down for awhile.

It was kind of fun being the only spot in the museum with electricity for a while. Kitchen was open and a few folks stopped in for a “cup and a sit”.

On the work front,

RDC paint removal made forward progress. Mark Gellman just keeps scrapin’ and scrapin’ and…..

photos in the car file  http://www.irm.org/gallery/CNW9933

Streamliner cars got some of their joints weatherproofed, and some of the interior display pieces got put out.

Cleaning will be a perpetual process for a while, until we get caught up and full power restored.

While we are on internal power, we do not have enough electricity for AC so as a purely selfish reason we hope for cool temperatures for a while.

After two years of dependable service one of our generators is getting a bit fussy, so will have to do some maintenance next week.

Mike got the second DLW coach tested and it failed, so after attempting repairs, he pulled the brake valve from the icky baaaad DLW coach, and it failed too.So no added coaches this week.

Pete did get the CRIP coaches in position so Mike can go on them next weekend, add one for Memorial Day at least we hope….

Roger and Bob Hunter were out and both made progress on the Dover.

Wayne got the main signpost in front of Barn 3 installed between tracks 2 and 3 so we can do a nice display for guests.

Shelly keeps finding things to clean in Galt House. she also brought in the mirrors we need to replace so we hope to get them hung soon.

Mark Hoffman was a “tailhoser” Saturday, so spent Sunday getting the BLE 25 window re installed. Almost done. We have an ulterior motive as we need to assemble a Pullman train for a special event in late July

 As always, if anyone is interested in work on a particular piece of equipment, they are always welcome to

ask questions or

help or

donate

and we will appreciate it greatly.

a decision on the move of the streamliner cars……we will be moving to the north track of Yard 5

The turbine is already moved, and the Used book store is already back in position. Now we have to await Max and his time to plan and install the electical connections for the train.

Of course, now that he is working, that may take a month or so. If we move in the meantime we will be forced to run on generator power for a while,  but we have been forced to do that in the past, so it will be ok. Not necessaarily the best thing, but progress is good!

The other advantage to the north track is that is will give us a straight space with pavement for our visitors to use and hopefully make their visit better.

Watch out for Pauline to add photos of the turbine move et al.

 On the other passenger front. the second door got into the CNW 7700 today, and all aligned and ready to go. Next week the car will be brake tested, and then its off to service it goes! 

Mike plans to push forward with testing most of the commuter cars right away, and getting them all in service and “off our plate” of things to do. Then he wants to go back to working the vestibule of the DLW car.

Roger, Bob Mike Prendergast and Mark Hoffman all shared time on Dover today as well, which is nice to see. They got the bedroom lights going again for the season, and worked windows back into place

Shelly got the BLE 25 window just about done, and hope to have it in Marks hands next week to install.

With Nick back in town the bobcat work begins. Julie has given the passenger dept a signal cabinet to store paint, and it got moved into position today about 50 ft east of the barn. Mark will needlechip it (his current favorite pastime) and we will paint it red.

We finished the afternoon by cleaning up some more of the winter mess and improving the barn for the upcoming season.

Mark Gellman spent a chunk of time working the paint on the RDC, getting the purple removed as we want it to go back to CNW livery as soon as we can. Once we get it in line with our streamliner set, we hope to jump in and get it cleaned up for guests.

The AC system in Birmingham moved forward as well. I want to try and get it done before the move, so I have electricity to test each component. so we can focus on other housekeeping issues with the set when we get them in position. We need to purchase one more blower at a cost of $200 to finish so of course donations to the Silver Car Fund would always be appreciated.

Time and energy have been at a premium these past two weeks, so not many photos. I promise to try and get a few more done soon.

A six minute interview with Dover Strait project leader Bob Hunter can be found on the page too. Bob describes some of the history of the Dover Strait and a bit of the work he has done on the project.  The interview buttons can’t be seen if you are using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer for your browser for an unknown reason. The file has been tested and works great in Firefox, Opera, and Safari browsers, all of which are free to download and install on your PC.

September 22, 2007 two-tone NYC gray paint has been completed.