This weekend is Member's Weekend (aka Museum Showcase Weekend) at IRM, so it will be a good weekend to watch the webcams at http://www.irm.org. Equipment scheduled to operate includes:
Electrics - Chicago streetcars 3142 & 4391, IT streetcar 415, CTA "L" cars 30, 41, 4290 and 4412, North Shore interurbans 251 & 749, CA&E interurbans 308 and 431, Indiana RR interurban 65 (the museum's first car), IT interurban 101, and Sand Springs suburban car 68;
Mainline - BN U30C 5383 with a demonstration freight train; C&NW F7A 411 with the bi-level commuter cars; CB&Q E5A 9911A with the stainless-steel sleeping car train; and SP SD7 1518 with a caboose train.
This equipment will all be operating tomorrow and many of these will be running Sunday as well. Enjoy!

in addition we have put together a decent sized heavyweight passenger car train, eight cars long, RPO,combine, three standard coaches, two overland coaches, and a parlor obs. Not quite sure how much stress the dispatcher will have bt it should be fun to watch. C'momn out if you can, we plan to run at least some trains after dark as well.

At the IRM today we had a celebrity guest, our own moderator, Randy Hees. A sharp eyed web cam viewer may have noticed Randy in the firemans seat of SP 1518 on the 3:45 PM trip.

He was a gentleman in all respects, was visiting with his Navy son, and a real pleasure to talk to.

Bob Kutella

A couple of thoughts on my first visit to IRM…

It’s a BIG museum with a BIG collection. Yet most is under cover, and all (nearly all) shows the evidence of care. The cars are distributed among the barns in a way that makes sense to someone not familiar with the site.

The site is well laid out.

There are lots of visitor amenities. Things like two sets of bathrooms, good, paved visitor paths, a snack bar, (really nice, both inside and outside (with umbrellas) seating, incorporating a traditional dinner as part of the building (exterior restoration complete, interior to come). The “East Union” depot area really works. The Elevated Station has just reopened after much work. Nice lawns and landscaping

My son (a railroad museum regular, but not a foaming fan) noted the low brick dividing walls which incorporated granite company names and other details from historic railroad buildings… similarly the neon signs for various railroads appear on car barns and elsewhere.

Back to the collection… Lots of variety, much shows evidence of work to; 1) care for and therefore keep alive, including probably long needed work on motors and other “hidden” mechanical issues. 2) restore in the traditional chip away at it, or 3) World class heavy restoration… (they have a SD 24 in the diesel shop, receiving body work appropriate to a 90+ point concourse show car… ) I saw a couple of electric car projects, one nearly the completion of its restoration from a “chicken coop” will result in a new, sharp looking car (again a show car, I think Chicago and West Towns) a Cleveland PCC, stripped to a steel body which has been rebuilt, with new steel as needed (as a former Toronto car, in a salty environment, a lot of new steel, no bondo) nearly ready to move on to the next stage in its restoration…. And of course, board contributor Bob Kutella’s project, Sand Springs 68, which was out running.

Lots of great, sharp lettering Bob....

Thanks to Board member Frank Hicks, his dad, Bob Kutella, Barbara (former board member, I missed your last name) and many others (help in searching our Frank, impromptu tours of several shops, by members who had no idea who I was… ) welcomed a stranger from the west and his son, and showed us a great time. I even got a cab ride in the first SD 7, an SP engine which has personal memories for me…. I have left out more than I written about and apologize to anyone left off.

Randy I am glad you had a good reception during your visit to IRM and I would have to agree it is a great collection but if its not out of the barns very hard to view or understand unless your a knowledgeable individual when it comes to rail preservation. My wife and I visited IRM on Fathers Day this last June and except for the people in the Gift Shop and the Snack Bar experienced and witnessed some of the rudest interaction between the members of IRM and the public. We witnessed several people ask various members with IRM name badges questions and being told I don’t know that’s not my area or you will have to find someone else I am busy and don’t do that. I also had two IRM members just turn around and walk off when I started to approach them with a question. I continued after them and was told I would have to ask someone else they were needed in the shop and didn’t have time to talk.

Until that Sunday I had been under the impression that IRM was a first rate museum and was visitor friendly. After that day I saw that if your not in the in crowd you don’t count and that the daisy picker who comes to the museum and pays an admission is just money in the bank and a bother when they ask a question. If you wonder why your attendance numbers are down and your income from that has decreased I would suggest you take a long look at what is going on. Don’t get me wrong it’s a great place to play trains and see some fantastic equipment that otherwise would not have been saved. But unless some things change its not a place for the public to get a warm reception and come away with a reason to come back again or recommend it to others as a destination stop.

John Deck

John, I am very sorry you came away with a negative opinion of IRM. I will apologize for the organization, and hope sometime you will give us another chance. Feel free to contact me off list to address any particular concerns.

I personnaly try to always be visitor friendly, even if I am involved in a task. I often open cars for families who show interest to let kids try to ring the floor gongs or turn the cranks on a fare box.

With a wide variety of volunteers out there not all of them realize that a positive visitor experience is our best 'product'. Many of the people in my department also try to engage visitors and/or respond to comments or questions.

Please feel free to give me any of the details since we cannot try to correct problems without valuable feedback like yours.

Bob Kutella