Barn's 13 and 14 (along with any future barns) were speced to be 17ft clear to the bottom of the truss and height of the doors. At this point, everything we have will fit in them, however, curvature into these two new buildings is somewhat limited.

Jamie

Good news that the new barns are finally going up. The pictures on Frank'a blog show great progress. Looks like one building may be full of cars by this winter. What is the gray grade beam running around the bottom perimeter of the buildings? Is that treated wood or something elce.

On building a barn five, I would think the problem is the fire and safety codes, not zoning issues. These objections could probably be overcome with a fire wall between 4 and 5.

David, I didn't take a close look myself but a post on the IRM.org blog stated that the beams around the base of the building are of a resin composite material. And you're correct about the issue with a theoretical Barn 5 being fire break-related. A fire wall would very likely solve that problem.

Hello, David Johnston and all.

Even more progress has been made on Barn 13 since Frank Hicks' post on Tuesday, Aug 25. However, the barns likely won't be occupied until Spring, 2016.

In order to "occupy" (put rail cars in) the barns, they need to be COMPLETELY built, and an occupancy permit needs to be issued by McHenry County, stating that the building was built as permitted. While the exterior of both barns will likely be finished by mid-September, the electrical wiring, outlets, lights, fire exit signs, pavement, etc won't be. Rest assured that we will work as quickly as quality craftsmanship will allow, but Spring 2016 is likely how long it will take.

We, of course, are also soliciting donations for Barn 15, as per my earlier post. The sooner we can raise the money for that, the sooner we can build it. Thank you for all of your past and current support, and thank you in advance for your continuing support.

Thanks.

Brian J. Patterson.

Brian, thanks for your response. The last time I was involved in building a car barn, the county building inspection people were concerned with the building being occupied by people, not rail cars. They looked at installing the "displays" in the building as part of the constucting the building. No one from the public was allowed in the building until the COC was issued.

Will there come a time when all of IRM's equipment is in storage barns? Getting equipment under cover is always a wise idea, especially if your museum is located where winter can be harsh and thus risk the wear and tear Steamtown's equipment suffered while at Bellows Falls, Vermont.

No.

Since the organization is incapable of forming a coherent collections policy, they will never stop getting more "stuff", so some will always be outside until it dissolves.

Anyone care to offer a less negative opinion?

Hello, railfan261, Dennis Storzek, and all.

Minus the "insult," Dennis is close to being right. The IRM Collection IS growing, and will continue to do so. While IRM is making every reasonable effort to have our indoor storage space "catch up" with the collection, this might not happen. You can help IRM win the race "the right way" by donating to the Barn 15 fund, as I mentioned in a previous post in this topic. While our collections policy IS coherent, it also is open-ended. In other words, as significant pieces of equipment leave railroad service, we will continue to acquire them. Likewise, we will also acquire pieces of equipment from other museums when the become available where they "fit" into our collection.

Thanks.

Brian J. Patterson.

Regarding collections policies, from Recommended Practices:


Source: http://www.atrrm.org/images/Recommended_Practices.pdf

Given the dynamic railroad industry in the Chicago area, I can see that IRM could have an open-ended collection policy vs. closed-end, limited to a certain era or time frame.

Wesley