Folks -
We are going through a stretch of mild November weather. Rose to the upper 60's by the afternoon, with sunshine all day. Can't beat it!
This day actually started on Friday, November 4th, when Tom Rainford and I went up to Metra's KYD Shop on the far south side of Chicago to pick up some seat and back cushions for our two Highliner passenger cars. Since the last run of these cars occurred this past February 12th ending almost 45 years of use, we thought it would make sense to try to acquire some of these cushions for backup use for the two cars in our collection (numbers 1502 and 1529) as replacements won't be available in the future. This morning, I found a spot on the upper level of the racks in the East Annex of the Shop and Tom and I stacked them up (see the first photo). Also received from Metra on Friday from, were two ditch lights. More on them in a few moments.
After a busy passenger train season, limited somewhat by our being unable to run west of English Lake, the museum took a break this week. Since no passenger runs were scheduled, museum membership was a bit lighter than normal, but some of our work was resumed. Included was the finish of the preparatory work for the soon coming concrete floor in the West Annex of the Shop. The second photo shows Cory Bennett at the controls of the backhoe as John LaOrange, Dave Cook and Tom Rainford (left to right) watch Cory spread sand with the bucket. This job was finished by the end of the day.
Work continued on C&EI tool car #A-1054. The third photo shows Kevin Kennedy at left and Joe Kingsbury at right while in the distance, Joe Baker (and his unseen assistant Ryan) work on an electrical installation at the end of the car.
Meanwhile, out at the east end of the museum grounds, Mark Knebel worked alone on tie installation as shown in the 4th photo.
Bob Albert installed some additional photos in Illinois Central display caboose # 9914. We had some heavy rains in the area earlier this week and Bob reported that the 9914 showed no signs of any leakage, which is excellent news!
Margrett Cook went to Subway and brought back some sandwiches for lunch.
I mentioned earlier, that Metra has also given us a couple of Highliner ditch lights. One of the lights on 1502 was busted and after lunch, Tom and I replaced the bad ditch light with the Metra replacement. The results are shown in the 5th photo. That's the old light on the ground with the newly installed light on the car.
Since I had to leave early due to another commitment, I decided to go up into Grasselli Tower and apply white paint to the numbers on levers 36, 40 and 49, which Steve Henrichs had painted prior to our October passenger runs. Results for lever 36 is shown in the last photo.
Loretta Kosloske states that they are looking for someone to "man" the depot next Saturday since she, Bob Barcus and Tami Shaw will all be unavailable. With no trains running, the duties will be light.
Weather is supposed to continue to be mild, so enjoy the week! And don't forget to vote on Tuesday!
Les
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