Summer is a busy time at Mid-Continent, as well as in the Restoration Department. Throughout the month of June, volunteers will have several opportunities to take part in helping Mid-Continent to preserve and restore equipment in the Car Shop.

Following is a summary of the dates volunteer work sessions will be taking place in the Car Shop:

 June 1^st and 2nd: This session has been added as a result of the MCRM Summer Shindig being held (starts 4 pm on Saturday). Volunteers are needed to assist with the restoration work on the LS&I #64 coach, the DULUTH sleeping car and the EJ&S #2 combine.

June 8^th, 9th and 10th: This session is one of our pre-scheduled volunteer work sessions. Pete B. will need volunteers to assist him with the EJ&S #2 project (on June 9^th and 10^th) and other work will also be taking place in the Car Shop during the three-day session.

June 26^th to the 30th: This is a specially planned session to deliver a lot of results in a short period of time. To date (20) volunteers have signed up to help out during this session known as “ALL HANDS ON DECK”. We are still looking for more volunteers for this session so we can make significant progress that would otherwise take several months to accomplish. The primary projects for this session are the LS&I #64 (fill, sand and priming), the DULUTH (install siding and ceiling work), the EJ&S #2 (interior restoration) and the Rock Island #1094 (interior painting).  After a day of work, we’ll be providing meals and have planned after hour activities, including a pizza train ride at MCRM and a train ride/tour at the Riverside & Great Northern RR.

Any and all volunteers are welcome to participate in any or all of these sessions. If you’d like to volunteer for the All Hands on Deck session you must sign up in advance by contacting the MCRM Office at 608-522-4261 or via email at inquiries@midcontinent.org. You can help out on one or multiple days during the session, but please RSVP so we can appropriately plan the work and the meals.

Come join us and give us a hand! With everyone pulling together we’ll make some great progress in the Restoration Department.

The MCRM Restoration Department recently completed a three-day volunteer work session that was held on April 10th-12th. We had a good size crew given that it was held during the week. The volunteers that helped out for this session were Jack, Jerry F, Jerry M., Dean, Karl, Bob R., Richard P., Pete, Larry S., Owen, Tom B., Steve and Bill B. Thanks to this crew we got a lot of work performed and completed.

Following is a brief summary of the progress made during the session:

LS&I #64:

Work continued on cutting and fitting new wood for the exterior of the car. Karl trimmed up the new center window stops and installed them on the car. Bob R. primed all of the new battens for the windows. Jack and Jerry were working on cutting, fitting and installing new windowsills. Two windowsills remain to be cut and fit. They also installed one set of the new battens for the arched windows and sash. During the next session, work will continue on the windowsills and installing more of the window battens.

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C&IM #90:

Jerry and Dean continued to install trim pieces and mahogany plywood in the north stateroom. The woodwork in the clerestory area is complete as well as the north and south walls in the north stateroom. Once additional mahogany plywood is purchased the east and west wall will be worked on. In the south stateroom, Steve roughed in the new wiring for the lighting and outlets for the room.

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EJ&S #2:

Work continued in the passenger section of the car. Larry S. sanded the recently varnished woodwork while Owen worked on painting pieces of the clerestory trim (two colors). Owen and Bob teamed up to apply two coats of varnish on pieces of walnut trim during the session. Pete and Larry worked on cutting and planning pieces of poplar that will be used for making the seat back frames for the car. Plans call for moving the EJ&S #2 to the north end of the car shop so the car can be accessed easier for painting the exterior of the car. This move is scheduled to take place on April 20th.

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DULUTH:

Karl and Bill B worked in the DULUTH smoking room. They cut new headliner panels for the east and west sides as the old pieces were water damaged. Karl also started to remove the remnants of the partition that was embedded in the west wall where the swinging door was mounted.

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C&NW #1099:

Richard continued working on restoring and rebuilding the underframe of the narrow gauge combine. His work this year includes installing two new side sills, two new end body beams, two new body bolsters, one new intermediate sill and an all-new subfloor. During the session Richard and Larry S. worked on squaring up the frame in preparation to securing the flooring and side walls to the frame.

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MISCELLANEOUS:

Bob installed the new springs on the National vestibule traps on the north end of the Badger #2 Fish car. The springs are part of a system that help lift the traps up, when opening, as well as prevents the traps from free falling when closing.

Larry T. is continuing to strip the old finish off the woodwork inside the GN A-22 “Hill” car. Larry is presently working in the state room and has also been working in the garage end of the car. He has been making good progress and he has been uncovering some beautiful mahogany along the way.

Upcoming work sessions include one on April 26, 27 and May 3, 4 and 5. The May 3-5 session is in conjunction with the “Spring Fling” event on May 4th. We’d really like to have a good turnout for the Spring Fling weekend as we have a number of projects that we need help with. You can register for the Spring Fling here: https://form.jotform.com/240655916920157

If you would like to help out in our restoration department, please reach out to the Mid-Continent office at 608-522-4261 or email inquiries@midcontinent.org.