Greetings to all on Flag Day. Mint Fest weekend in North Judson also.
The vendors are out on the main street in NJ and the plaza is full of food
vendors also. Music was going on in the afternoon Saturday along with
a beer tent. Lots of events both Saturday and Sunday around town.
Friday was a trip up to Chicago on the South Shore for an afternoon of listening
to the Blues bands at Grant park. Stayed for about 5 hours and took a rush hour
South Shore train back to Michigan City. A wonderful day in Chicago, exceptionally
clear blue skies, with out any smog in the air at all. As the train came on to the
Metra tracks at Kensington, the skyline was so beautiful. Just one of those days
you only get once in a great while. If I would of had more time, a trip up to the
Hancock building or Sears building would of gave great views of the Chicago
area. When I was a kid, the tallest building in Chicago was the Prudential building
on Randolph and Michigan, giving a spectacular view of the IC yards below and the
IC station to the south. Now it is all covered over and gone, progress marches on.
Early morning Saturday at HVRM, no board meeting was held due to Mint Fest
and board members absent. Will be next Saturday morning. Not a large crew at
the museum either. Lots going on the Fathers day weekend also. The train crew
was busy getting the train put together for the 10am departure. I helped Mark with
replacing a couple of security light that were not working. Getting the manlift
started took some time, has not moved in some time. A tire on the front was flat,
but had been replaced with another tire during the week sometime. One light
was easy, only putting a new bulb in, the other some problems. The wind had
ripped off the metal sheild and broke the bulb. When the socket came out, the
sheild fell off. Mark had to go hunt up another bulb and I got some washers to
secure the shield better. Fred assisted screwing in the screws and shield while
I held it for him. Mark found a hidden bulb and it was replaced. I returned the manlift
to the shop, backing it in. David had put the payloader in first, manlift last. Mark filled
the John Deere tractor with diesel fuel and put it away also. Les painted the
steel plates for the flat car and left them to dry. The little crossing guard shack's
door would not close on the bottom, after investigating it, the floor had come up,
rubbing on a couple of bolts. Les got some finishing nails and put them in
and got the floor lowered some and the door closed perfectly. Not many projects
were ongoing during the day, so it was sort of slow. Bob took some old paint and
tires to Knox for recycling. John worked in the tool car in between train runs, as
he was the engineer of GE 11 for the day. Les helped me move the tool car
doors away from the tool car, if I would want to start priming someday. Those
sliding doors were heavy, more than I could move by myself the week before.
Fred was in the tower applying a wood filler in the window sills. After sanding
them down, Fred put a coat of primer on them. Instead of replacing the wood sills,
Fred is trying this method. I received a notice from Matt during the week he has
received a blue print of what each lever in the tower was painted when in service.
So someday the levers will all be painted their correct color. Bob and Loretta manned
the gift shop today.
Sunday started off early for me, I was at Crown Point to ride with Les and Betty to
Illinois Railway museum to ride behind Frisco 1630. After breakfast with Les's
son's family in Thornton IL, for fathers day, we were off thru Chicago to Union.
Arriving about 11am, a notice on the admisssion booth no steam today due to
water issues. DARN....But since not being at IRM for almost 10 years, a quite of
few changes have been made since. New buildings for railway equipment have
gone up on the newly purchased land in the last couple of years. A new freight
yard is being put in the south side of the museum. Most of the freight equipment
is now out in the field. A walk thru most of the barns was interesting. The steam
building had a number of engines in being worked on. The Frisco engine was
out side with a groupl working in the cab on pipes. As leaving, smoke was coming
out the stack, so a fire was built in the firebox to see if the water problems had
been fixed, too late to wait around to see if it would run or not. A interesting observation
on the drivers of the locomotive was that to correct the problem having been built
for Russia, 5 foot guage, much wider wheels were installed to make up for the
4 foot 81/2 inch guage. All the wheels were at least 6 inches or more across,
wider than the normal driver wheels. No slider wheels were in the middle
either, so the wider wheels must make up for curves in the railway. An interesting
fix for this problem of the engines not going to Russia. A nice ride on Chicago
North Shore cars to end of the line was made right in the railfan seat behind the
operator. IRM has a nicely maintained ROW and has been replacing wood poles
for the canterary line. Signals work nicely along the line. Many different styles
of signals are used on the line. A real nice dining restaurant has been built
in the last ten years for drinks an meals. IRM is expanding with a main street
of old buildings and maybe an old time villiage in years to come.
After dropping Betty in Rockford IL, we headed home down I-39 to Rochelle
IL for a stop at the trainspotter viewing platform. Within 15 minutes 5 trains had
passed the platform. Quite a crowd was present on the platform, having picnics
and just enjoying the day. Next stop was Mendota IL, the CB&Q 2-8-2 4678 with
a Burlington caboose along side the BNSF tracks down town. A nice museum
located in the Amtrak building. A total of 6 Amtrak trains stop daily in Mendota,
quite a lot for such a small town. A nice place to spend some time watching
trains.
It was about 11pm when I got home from the round trip Sunday. So a big weekend
of railfanning for me. Many thanks to Les again for doing the driving to all those
wonderful places.
Everyone have a good week, hot weather and some rain forecast for the days
ahead. Corn and beans in Illinois growing good also.
Tom Travis
The vendors are out on the main street in NJ and the plaza is full of food
vendors also. Music was going on in the afternoon Saturday along with
a beer tent. Lots of events both Saturday and Sunday around town.
Friday was a trip up to Chicago on the South Shore for an afternoon of listening
to the Blues bands at Grant park. Stayed for about 5 hours and took a rush hour
South Shore train back to Michigan City. A wonderful day in Chicago, exceptionally
clear blue skies, with out any smog in the air at all. As the train came on to the
Metra tracks at Kensington, the skyline was so beautiful. Just one of those days
you only get once in a great while. If I would of had more time, a trip up to the
Hancock building or Sears building would of gave great views of the Chicago
area. When I was a kid, the tallest building in Chicago was the Prudential building
on Randolph and Michigan, giving a spectacular view of the IC yards below and the
IC station to the south. Now it is all covered over and gone, progress marches on.
Early morning Saturday at HVRM, no board meeting was held due to Mint Fest
and board members absent. Will be next Saturday morning. Not a large crew at
the museum either. Lots going on the Fathers day weekend also. The train crew
was busy getting the train put together for the 10am departure. I helped Mark with
replacing a couple of security light that were not working. Getting the manlift
started took some time, has not moved in some time. A tire on the front was flat,
but had been replaced with another tire during the week sometime. One light
was easy, only putting a new bulb in, the other some problems. The wind had
ripped off the metal sheild and broke the bulb. When the socket came out, the
sheild fell off. Mark had to go hunt up another bulb and I got some washers to
secure the shield better. Fred assisted screwing in the screws and shield while
I held it for him. Mark found a hidden bulb and it was replaced. I returned the manlift
to the shop, backing it in. David had put the payloader in first, manlift last. Mark filled
the John Deere tractor with diesel fuel and put it away also. Les painted the
steel plates for the flat car and left them to dry. The little crossing guard shack's
door would not close on the bottom, after investigating it, the floor had come up,
rubbing on a couple of bolts. Les got some finishing nails and put them in
and got the floor lowered some and the door closed perfectly. Not many projects
were ongoing during the day, so it was sort of slow. Bob took some old paint and
tires to Knox for recycling. John worked in the tool car in between train runs, as
he was the engineer of GE 11 for the day. Les helped me move the tool car
doors away from the tool car, if I would want to start priming someday. Those
sliding doors were heavy, more than I could move by myself the week before.
Fred was in the tower applying a wood filler in the window sills. After sanding
them down, Fred put a coat of primer on them. Instead of replacing the wood sills,
Fred is trying this method. I received a notice from Matt during the week he has
received a blue print of what each lever in the tower was painted when in service.
So someday the levers will all be painted their correct color. Bob and Loretta manned
the gift shop today.
Sunday started off early for me, I was at Crown Point to ride with Les and Betty to
Illinois Railway museum to ride behind Frisco 1630. After breakfast with Les's
son's family in Thornton IL, for fathers day, we were off thru Chicago to Union.
Arriving about 11am, a notice on the admisssion booth no steam today due to
water issues. DARN....But since not being at IRM for almost 10 years, a quite of
few changes have been made since. New buildings for railway equipment have
gone up on the newly purchased land in the last couple of years. A new freight
yard is being put in the south side of the museum. Most of the freight equipment
is now out in the field. A walk thru most of the barns was interesting. The steam
building had a number of engines in being worked on. The Frisco engine was
out side with a groupl working in the cab on pipes. As leaving, smoke was coming
out the stack, so a fire was built in the firebox to see if the water problems had
been fixed, too late to wait around to see if it would run or not. A interesting observation
on the drivers of the locomotive was that to correct the problem having been built
for Russia, 5 foot guage, much wider wheels were installed to make up for the
4 foot 81/2 inch guage. All the wheels were at least 6 inches or more across,
wider than the normal driver wheels. No slider wheels were in the middle
either, so the wider wheels must make up for curves in the railway. An interesting
fix for this problem of the engines not going to Russia. A nice ride on Chicago
North Shore cars to end of the line was made right in the railfan seat behind the
operator. IRM has a nicely maintained ROW and has been replacing wood poles
for the canterary line. Signals work nicely along the line. Many different styles
of signals are used on the line. A real nice dining restaurant has been built
in the last ten years for drinks an meals. IRM is expanding with a main street
of old buildings and maybe an old time villiage in years to come.
After dropping Betty in Rockford IL, we headed home down I-39 to Rochelle
IL for a stop at the trainspotter viewing platform. Within 15 minutes 5 trains had
passed the platform. Quite a crowd was present on the platform, having picnics
and just enjoying the day. Next stop was Mendota IL, the CB&Q 2-8-2 4678 with
a Burlington caboose along side the BNSF tracks down town. A nice museum
located in the Amtrak building. A total of 6 Amtrak trains stop daily in Mendota,
quite a lot for such a small town. A nice place to spend some time watching
trains.
It was about 11pm when I got home from the round trip Sunday. So a big weekend
of railfanning for me. Many thanks to Les again for doing the driving to all those
wonderful places.
Everyone have a good week, hot weather and some rain forecast for the days
ahead. Corn and beans in Illinois growing good also.
Tom Travis
