“All Hands on Deck” | Restoration Department Update | June 18-22, 2025
The 5-day long “All Hands on Deck” session held on June 18th-22nd by the MCRM Restoration Department was a great success. The very successful and productive “All Hands on Deck” Session had a total of 32 volunteers participating in the event, with an average of 20 volunteers per day. In total the volunteers put in over 800 hours of work during this session. The volunteers really did an outstanding job and performed an immense amount of work in a matter of a few days.
Anyone visiting the MCRM Car Shop after this event will notice a significant difference in the appearance of the cars that were worked on. The progress made during this session exceeded the expectations. The progress made was achieved due to the support, commitment and hard work of the volunteers. Progress made during the 5-day All Hands on Deck Session is summarized below. Note that several of the photos capture the status of the projects before and after the All Hands on Deck session.
East Jordan & Southern Combine #2: The volunteer crew of Pete, Jeff Hu., Jeff A., Jeff Ha and Dean S. assembled and installed the Buntin seat frames, seat back and seat bottoms for the seats in the passenger section. This included boring the holes in the truss plank for the foot rests and installing the arm rests on the aisle castings. The crew also installed the second overhead oil lamp in the passenger section as well as the oil bracket lamp adjacent to the saloon. With work wrapping up in the passenger section additional work was performed in the baggage compartment.
Duluth South Shore & Atlantic Sleeping car DULUTH: The volunteer crew of Karl, Bob B., Ron, John, Dean V., Nate, Andrew, Tom, Jack, Jerry F. and Bill worked on the DULUTH during the AHOD session. During the session we took delivery of six new berth tables, six folding window screen frames, the sleeping compartment window panels and trim pieces for the smoking room. Work performed included installing trim pieces, headliner battens and a window bottom rail in the smoking room. In the sleeping compartment the new window post panels were trimmed, fit and installed along with the berth partition overlay pieces. The accomplishments in the sleeping compartment are significant as they will allow us to move on to installing the heating pipes and lower berths.
On the exterior of the car over 15 feet of the car received new car siding on the area below the windowsill. Another significant accomplishment was the installation of the new 8-piece windowsill for the east side. Each piece of the windowsill was doweled and screwed together to make for a one-piece sill 65 feet in length. Once assembled the windowsill was lifted into place with the help of ten volunteers evenly spread out across the length of the sill. Once in place the windowsill was screwed in place and the screw holes were plugged.
Soo Line Caboose #99085: The volunteer crew of Richard P., Larry S., Bob R., David P., Dean S., Dean V., Jeff Hu., Altha, Jack, Jerry F., Gregg, Jane and Bill worked on the caboose during the AHOD session. Work performed included installing the new car siding on the east side of the car and framing out all four of the windows on the car. On the west side of the car new siding was installed around SW window and the bottom six inches of a number of boards were cut off and replaced. Epoxy repairs were made as needed on the car sides and the end beams. The entire car body was sanded, and all bare wood was primed. With the exception of a few areas awaiting further repairs, the entire car received two coats of the caboose red.
The new window frames for the car body and cupola were primed and given two coats of finish color. New wood roof drip edge pieces were made and are waiting to be installed along with the new rubber roof.
Chicago & Illinois Midland Business Car #90: The volunteer crew of Steve, Dean V. and Jerry M. worked on the C&IM #90 business car. Work continued to route and install new wiring for the light fixtures in the south end of the car. The light in the toilet room has been energized and shortly power to the south entranceway and rear vestibule will be completed. In the south stateroom good progress was made with replicating the wardrobe. Final fitting of the door to the door frame was performed and the material for the wardrobe side and bottom were cut to size. All pieces of the wardrobe were sanded and the interior surfaces were sealed and stained.
Rock Island Combine #1094: Fred B. And David M. braved the sun and heat to work on needle scaling the east side of the car. The process has them getting down to bare metal and removing all of the rust. Good progress was made as over 60% of the east side of the car has been needle scaled, wire brushed and primed.
Lake Superior & Ishpeming coach #64: Bob and Larry worked inside the #64 coach. Two new end doors were received as well as a new panel for the smoking room wall. The wood panel for the smoking room was installed while the end doors wait to be fitted to the car. Inside the car stripping and sanding the car continued on the south end of the car.
“I’d like to thank all of the amazing volunteers who put in a tremendous amount of work during the past 5 days! Your collective efforts were amazing and a real morale booster to the restoration efforts at Mid-Continent. I’d also like to extend a special thanks to the volunteers that prepared all of the meals for the entire crew during the session.” – Bill, Restoration Dept. Manager
