Author Archives: Rebecca

A Huge Success – All Hands on Deck Progress Report

Mid-Continent Railway Museum Posted on by

The 5-day long “All Hands on Deck” session held by the MCRM Restoration Department was very successful. The volunteers really did an outstanding job and performed an immense amount of work in a matter of a few days.

The tremendously successful “All Hands on Deck” Session was held during June 26th to the 30th and we had a total of 32 different 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. 

Anyone walking in 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 and this 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.

Duluth South Shore & Atlantic Sleeping car DULUTH: Installed new veneer pieces under the windows in the smoking room and one in the sleeping compartment, installed the new window header (veneer with marquetry) in the smoking room, installed the headliner trim on the west side of the smoking room, applied canvas and painted to the two headliners for the smoking room (east side), installed filler pieces in the sleeping compartment lamp openings, installed cleats along the edge of the original veneer ceiling panels in the sleeping compartment, installed one new piece of bending plywood in the sleeping compartment ceiling, removed the remaining clerestory window frames from the car, primed and cut new car siding to length, installed a portion of the car siding on the east and west sides (approximately 30%) and took delivery of three new interior doors, two mirror frames and four vestibule end windows.

Duluth sleeping compartment ceiling BEFORE AHOD.
Duluth sleeping compartment ceiling AFTER AHOD.
Duluth smoking room east wall BEFORE AHOD.
Duluth smoking room east wall AFTER AHOD.
Duluth west car siding BEFORE AHOD.
Duluth west car siding AFTER AHOD.
Removing clerestory windows in the Duluth during the AHOD

East Jordan & Southern #2: Painted the entire exterior of the car with the EJ&S green, sanded and varnished the interior the entire passenger section of the car as well as the saloon (multiple coats), installed the lower inner window stops, painted the brake beams, trimmed bolts to length under the car, sanded the seat footrests and cleaned and painted the car body end rails.

EJ&S #2 exterior status BEFORE AHOD.
EJ&S #2 exterior paint progress AFTER AHOD.
Interior of the EJ&S #2 before AHOD.
Varnishing inside the EJ&S #2 during the AHOD.

Lake Superior & Ishpeming #64: Reconstructed the car framing for the two oval windows, installed the car siding around the two oval windows, installed the last of the straight battens on the car, primed the entire exterior of the car, cut and fit the window frames on the east side of the car, primed ten of the window frames, sanded much of the interior woodwork, cleaned and painted the car body end rails and cleaned up springs for the window frames.

The LS&I #64 BEFORE the AHOD session.
The LS&I #64 AFTER being primed during the AHOD.
The LS&I #64 east side oval window BEFORE the AHOD.
The LS&I #64 east side oval window and siding AFTER the AHOD.
Priming the LS&I #64 during the AHOD session.

Rock Island #1094: Removed the last of the cabinets and sink in the baggage room, scraped and painted the north half of the baggage room including the clerestory area, the water tanks and the side walls. Reconstructed the south doorway in the bunk area, replaced missing and deteriorated headliner boards in the bunk area and baggage room and made a mockup of the bunk side rails.

The status in the Rock Island baggage room BEFORE the AHOD.
The progress in the Rock Island baggage room AFTER the AHOD.

I’d like to thank all of the amazing volunteers who put in a tremendous amount of work during the past 5 days! Special thanks are also extended to the volunteers that prepared all of the meals for the entire crew during the session as well as the MCRM operating crew that took the group on the Pizza Train ride.

Volunteers participating in the event included: Peter, Jeff Ha., Owen, Judy, Darryl, Larry S. Jack, Jerry F., Fred, Bob R., David P., Gregg, Jane, Steven M., Larry T., Steve W., Bob B., Dean, Jerry M., Marty, Thomas, Altha, Kelly, Nate, Jay, Steve P., Dan P., Colton, Jeff Hu., David M., John T. and I. Please accept my apologies if I omitted the name(s) any of the volunteers that participated.

Some of the 32 volunteers that participated in the AHOD session.
Dinner time for the AHOD crew.
MCRM Volunteers on an evening excursion to the R&GN.

Thanks again to everyone that participated in the session and helped to make it a huge success. Our next volunteer work session is scheduled for July 13, 14 and 15.

D&R #9 Update (June 8th, 2024)

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The following D&R #9 update is from Jason R.:

“June 8, 2024; Fletcher was pumped this last weekend getting back to work on the #9 here in 2024.  We had a planning session in May where we set our goals and benchmarks for the year and knocked out some coordination for future work.

Fletch and I met with Frank F. Saturday morning and headed to the museum with hopes of cleaning the backhead in preparation for painting later this summer. BUT, mother nature had its say and we had to nix that plan with the rain that was coming down most of the day. So, we were forced to work inside, and decided to put some work in on the pilot. Many thanks to Ed R. for taking time from his work in the Engine House to help us out. Ed came up to Storage Shed #1 and did the forklift work to help us get the #9’s pilot down from the upper most racks. Once we had the pilot on the ground, we spent most of the day collecting more precise measurements on the timbers that precariously held the pilot together. Frank found his inner Star Trek and created a 3D image of the current pilot to give us a reference in the future. A special thanks for Frank’s Pup “Roger” for keeping us on track with the pilot. 

Once we had our measurements and images, we moved to Storage Shed #2 to inspect the white oak timbers that will make up the rebuilt pilot. Fletch checked moisture levels of the timbers using a moisture meter and found them to be at good levels. Another big thank you to Jerry M. for all his advice and guidance when we talked in May. Jerry M. provided us a lot of insight to help us start moving the pilot re-build forward.  

And with that, we continue to move the ball forward on the D&R #9.  We currently have two volunteer sessions planned on Friday 7/5 and Sunday 7/7.  Fletch and his crew would love for you to join us.”           

Frank taking measurements of the top portion of the pilot.
Fletch collecting photos of the pilot.
Fletch checking the moisture levels of the timbers using a moisture meter.

All photos provided by Jason R.

New Exhibit at Mid-Continent

Mid-Continent Railway Museum Posted on by

Lake States Railway Historical Association and Mid-Continent Railway Museum are teaming up to present a new photo exhibition “Clinton Jones, Jr. (1944-2024): An Upper Midwest Icon of Shortline Railroading” beginning June 22 at MCRM’s Coach Shed #2 at North Freedom, Wisconsin. This exhibit will run through Labor Day (September 2nd, 2024).

Clint Jones was a well-known force in the railroad shortline and preservation world for many years. He was involved with both organizations from their early days. Clint served as a board trustee at Lake States for many years and was the second person to ever donate personal collections, in 2007. At Mid-Continent, he was instrumental in bringing several historic pieces of equipment to the museum, including Copper Range steam locomotive #29, Copper Range wooden coach #60 (now fully restored and on display), and rare Milwaukee Road ALCO RSC-2 #988.

Over the years, Clint assembled a personal collection of photographs (many taken by himself starting in 1961) and paper documents, mostly focusing upon railroads of the Michigan Upper Peninsula. He has donated many of these to Lake States, with most of his photography now viewable on-line at www.lakestatesarchive.org. The new exhibit at Mid-Continent features more than 50 photographs of and taken by him, plus additional documents and ephemera that tell the story of his railroading career.

Originally born and raised in the Milwaukee area, his interest in railroading began with trips to the Upper Peninsula via the C&NW and Milwaukee Road to visit relatives in his teen years. After a brief stint studying business at Michigan Technological University, he hired out as a diesel locomotive electrician’s apprentice for the Milwaukee Road at their Milwaukee shops. But his passion and pluck led him to form his own company Trans Northern, Inc. to operate a steam passenger tourist railroad in Michigan and act as a dealer of vintage railroad equipment. Clint later worked for the C&NW in train service and also served as a trainmaster for Wisconsin Central Railway from 1987 to 1997, supervising train operations and train crews from Marquette, Michigan. His most recent project was the Mineral Range, Inc., a railway equipment, industry switching, and transportation consulting firm that operated a railroad between Humboldt and Ishpeming, Michigan. Never retiring and active in day-to-day operations into 2024, Clint passed away in April after a brief illness.

The Clint Jones exhibit will be open to the public during Mid-Continent’s normal hours (www.midcontinent.org), and will run through Labor Day weekend.

The track ahead is under the watchful eye of Clinton Jones, Jr. from the cab of Copper Range steam locomotive #29. The CR had kept the locomotive in storage from 1953 until 1967. With Clint’s connections with CR management, he saved the engine from scrapping, purchasing it for his new Keweenaw Central tourist railroad. It last ran in 1971. In 2003, Clint donated #29 to Mid-Continent Railway Museum at North Freedom, Wisconsin where it resides today on static display. George Forero photograph.
Looking the part of an astute engineer from the steam era, Clint is at the controls of Copper Range #29 during the Keweenaw Central days. He was in his mid-20s at the time of this photo about 1970. George Forero photograph.
October 27, 1972, was a sad day at McKeever, Michigan when the crew posed for the very last Copper Range freight train to interchange with the Milwaukee Road. Clint made up the sign to commemorate the historical event. He saved it for posterity. Today it is preserved at Lake States Railway Historical Association and is on display as part of the “Clinton Jones, Jr. (1944-2024): An Upper Midwest Icon of Shortline Railroading” exhibit at Mid-Continent Railway Museum, North Freedom, WI. LSRHA Collection 2021.008.4.256 (4×5 neg)
Clint Jones’ crowning career achievement was his creation and expansion of the Mineral Range railroad. Its primary shipper is the Humboldt mill where ore concentrate is loaded into a fleet of gondolas for the Mineral Range to pick up and move over 20 miles to an interchange with the Canadian National at Ishpeming. Clint was comfortable in his natural habitat: the cab of a locomotive. This time, it’s the Mineral Range of the 2000’s. Clint adopted DSS&A’s offset parallelograms logo years before Lake States unknowingly did the same. George Forero photograph.

#1385 Mounting Update

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More pieces are getting mounted to the new boiler as we can see in the following comparison shots. 

First up is the brake stand and power reverser quadrant.  Here’s the before (top) and after (bottom) shots below. As an added bonus, the air brake gauge bracket shown in place on the boiler. 

Pete Deets photo.
Pete Deets photo.

The top of the boiler is pictured below with an additional 3 shots following the first that show the safety valve turret and where the cab turret will be attached.

Pete Deets photo.

The location of said attachment can be seen here. Both turrets will be clamped down on a bronze ring or donut which allows for slight variations in positioning.  The white ring in the foreground is a plastic dummy ring used as a substitute while the hole in the boiler was being finished.

Pete Deets photo.

The next shot is a better detail of the safety valve turret.  The arm sticking from the side of the turret is where the whistle is mounted.  The steam supply for the whistle comes from the turret. 

Pete Deets photo.

The last shot is the steam gauge bracket with a double bonus!  In the background is the turbo-generator shelf and one of the handrails.  That handrail is mounted above the main handrail in the area where the runboard steps up and over the air compressors.  The FRA (originally ICC) has a required minimum distance between the handrail and the runboard.  Rather than making a series of fancy bends in the main handrail on that side of the boiler the C&NW opted for the simpler (read cheaper) route of a second, short piece of railing. 

Pete Deets photo.

June 2024 Restoration Work Sessions and All Hands on Deck Announcement

Mid-Continent Railway Museum Posted on by
Group photo of some of the volunteers from the
“ALL HANDS ON DECK” session, 2023.

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 1st 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 8th, 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 9th and 10th) and other work will also be taking place in the Car Shop during the three-day session.

June 26th 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.