Frenetic Fenestration

The framing around the west window on the Jewell Road building was in bad condition, so I've started rebuilding it to a limited extent.  It's going along pretty well.  On Thursday I brought out several new pieces made at home, cut them to size as necessary, and installed them, after removing most of the old wood, which was mostly rotten.  I have more to do on the window.  Also, note that the two long siding pieces above the window will be replaced.  While I was working, Andy wandered by, taking a break from working on his caboose, and helped by holding up the next siding piece so it could be marked for recutting.

But I found myself wishing I could just roll the shelter into one of the barns.  Like the 1808, for instance...

Among other things, Tim has been painting the new siding pieces.   This is the brown primer.  I think.

John has been polishing up and cleaning all of the conduit pieces for the 306, as seen here.  

I don't remember doing this for any of my cars, but then they never wound up at Shaker Heights either.

Finally, in the new barn area we have just two of the several IT cars that will be on display and in operation this Saturday for the IT meet.  Let's hope the sun shines on this worthy endeavor.

In Memoriam Dennis Storzek

I regret to announce that an old friend, Dennis Storzek, has died.  He was a very active volunteer at the Museum back in the old days, and his expertise in every sort of mechanical art was a great benefit to the Museum as a whole, and to many of us who learned a great deal from him.  One of his most valuable contributions was recovering the North Shore's Silverliner paint scheme.  The 251 is still in beautiful condition.  Here Dennis is proudly standing in front of his work on Member's Day of 1979.

It's hard to believe that was 45 years ago.  He will certainly be missed.

Here he is in the process of painting the shadows on the 251:

Used with permission from the Jon Habermaas collection

We do not yet have details on funeral arrangements.  We will post them as soon as we can.

Line Car Lettered

 Gregg Wolfersheim sends us another exciting report on the astounding IT line car!

This week Buzz and I applied stencils to the line car.

 

Stencil over the door on the #1 end.

You just connect the dots and then fill in the middle. 

And before you know it, it's done.

The lettering on the sides is a little more of a challenge. The bevels between the siding tend to attract runs. The lettering on the left has been touched up. We hope the car will be done for this weekend when the ITS Historical group come to visit.

Neighborhood Improvement

One of the earliest posts on this blog was about a car card promoting neighborhood improvement.  Sixteen years later I still don't know what the ACTION council was, but I decided it was time to get to work renewing my neighborhood.  Here we have the west wall of the Jewell Road shelter as it was:

And after some work, with the old siding partly removed:

And then completely removed.  I decided the lowest board didn't need to be replaced.  That would have been a real pain.  Also, the window frame obviously needs to be replaced, but I already have all the measurements for new parts, and that will happen soon.

By the way, when I needed to cut a board at an unusual angle, Tim helped me set up the cutoff saw so it could be done quickly and safely.  Thanks!!  None of this amateur handsaw stuff!

But that took a while, so it's time for lunch.  Over in Barn 4, Jim was installing panels, and Gerry was working on the mechanisms for the doors on the 306.

Buzz showed us a picture of the south side of the 1808 from yesterday.  Here Tim is going along with his nail gun, rapidly residing the north side.

But in old shanty town, we don't have power available, so it's all done with hammer and nails.  Back when I was about five years old, my father built a garage using the same general method. 

Much nicer than it was before.  I will want to replace the next two boards above the window, as well as the window frame, so I'll need some more wood.

But renewing your neighborhood always takes time.

Finally, I saw that the Champaign Zephyr was being prepared for the IT Meet on Saturday.

Just another fabulous perk of being a member of the Society.

By the way...

It's time for another word from our sponsor.  Our heroic Building and Grounds Department is constantly working to keep IRM the biggest and best non-governmental museum around.  And even if you're not too impressed with Jewell Road, there are lots of other neighborhood improvements being made all the time.  So contributions earmarked for B&G are always appreciated!

Monday at IRM

 Buzz Morisette sends along some pictures of various projects from Monday.  Enjoy!

Barn 4 had a new skylight.  But the roofers had it closed back up at the end of the day.

Tim has all new T&G siding on the south side of the 1808.

Some of our restorationists may consider it heresy to apply lettering with a roller, but there will still be plenty of hand touch up later.

Three very light coats applied to the 1702 by Gregg and Buzz.

Later That Day...

Frank writes...

I was out on Saturday, too, but stayed later than my father did.

After the safety meeting, I spent a little while cleaning inside IT 233, shown here. The plan for the Illinois Traction Society meet next weekend is to have this car open for walk-through tours, which I believe is the first time we've done this - or, at least, the first time in three or four decades. The car is very complete inside and has a pretty unusual layout, which I hope to cover in more detail next weekend - with luck (read as: no rain), the car will be outdoors and the light will be better.

One thing that was needed to switch out the 233 and the 150, which has been spotted just east of the 233 for years, was removing the scaffold. We'd already told Joel that this could be disassembled and taken over to Barn 4 for use however is most beneficial for the greater good. Here, Nathan and Jimmy have already taken down the wooden tool tray and grating and are starting to unbolt the X-braces. I think we've been using this scaffold for a little over 25 years - at least, 1998 or 1999 would have been about when we grabbed that tool tray that Glen Guerra had built - but there's no obvious need for it in Barn 8 in the foreseeable future.

After that came dinner and then the annual membership meeting. It's Chicago, political signs directly outside the polling place are the least of your concerns.

I took this photo at the afternoon safety meeting, but other than the big screen having come down, the evening membership meeting looked about the same. It finished in near-record time, I believe about 51 minutes start to finish. The usual "congratulations and condolences" go to Zach Ehlers, who was reelected to the board; to Conn McCarthy from the Steam Department, who was elected for the first time; and to Marcus Ruef, who was elected a year ago but has now succeeded the term-limited Jason Maxwell as President.

Afterward, I hung around talking with the car shop guys back in Barn 4 for a few minutes. This interesting item was pointed out. It's a door bridge to allow the trolley wire to pass through the new roll-up door at the east end of track 41, and will be the first we've put into use at IRM. The barns at the south end (10, 11, 13, and 14) all have roll-up or aircraft hangar-style doors, but none of those barns have trolley wire going into them. And this will be the only one we use with this project, since the wire won't extend out the east end of tracks 42 and 43. But track 41 is the inspection pit lead, so this thing will see plenty of use!

ADDENDUM: Many thanks to our intrepid freelance photographer Joel Ahrendt, who sent along photos of the switch move taken on Sunday!

Above, track 84 is completely clear end to end.

And here's Lake Shore Electric 150, out in the sunlight for the first time in quite a few years. I'm not certain but I think it may have last been outside around 2015 or 2016. Among other things, the other side of the car has since been painted (though obviously I missed that front corner - oops) and tack molding was added to this side of the car for appearance. Anyone snap a photo of the other side of the 150 while it was outside?

This is a really nice photo of our two out-of-service orange cars, business car 233 and sleeping car 504, coupled together on the ladder track. Of these two, the 233 is in pretty good condition but lacks motors (the IT removed those a few years before retiring and selling the car) while the 504 is rough, but certainly restorable. Both should be available for viewing, both inside and out, during the ITS meet next weekend. Interested in attending? You need to be an ITS member - get more info here.

Take a Seat Fundraiser Update

We are thrilled to announce that our Take a Seat fundraiser is now FULLY SUBSCRIBED! We are incredibly grateful to the 20 donors who between them sponsored all 71 double seats that we will be having reupholstered for curve-siders 451, 453, and 460. One particularly generous donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, sponsored no fewer than 29 seats. Overall, the results of this fundraiser exceeded our wildest expectations. A huge THANK YOU from all of us to everyone who donated!

A bit more information is available on the fundraiser web page (though this page will probably come down at some point) but here are the next steps:

• Delivery of the custom seat material is expected in June or July 2024. At that time, the first batch of seats to be reupholstered will be removed from car 451 or 453 and sent to the upholstery contractor.
• The first car's worth of restored seats will be installed in car 460, which is in regular service at IRM.
• The second and third car's worth of seats will be temporarily and securely stored. We are currently hoping to strip and repaint the interior of car 451 sometime in the next year, after which its newly reupholstered seats will be installed. Stripping and repainting car 453's interior will follow that.
• Additional work that is required:
• Car 451: air compressor repair; installation of replacement air tank (the tank was delivered in early 2024); wheel truing; reinstall one trap; reinstall end hardware; paint lettering onto car
• Car 453: exterior stripping and repainting; repair of one coupler; air compressor repair

Not all the work listed is necessary to put cars 451 and 453 into service hauling people at IRM - in particular, car 451 can be operated in mid-train service even without a repaired air compressor. Once the car's interior is repainted and the seats are reinstalled, you should start to see it out on IRM's railroad. The same goes for car 453, except that it will need a paint job and some coupler parts first.

Frank Sirinek Memorial, and More

The Museum held a memorial observance for the late Frank Sirinek on Saturday, which was well attended.  Frank was a life-long member of IRM, tenacious, dedicated, uncompromising, and a great friend and mentor to many of us.  The five operating streetcars with which he was most involved were lined up at Central Avenue: the four CSL cars and the West Towns 141.  Of course, he also worked on several others that are on display in the barns.  Several of Frank's relatives were in attendance.

144 and 4391

1374, 3142, and 141

Dan Buck gave a brief message about Frank's life and conducted the funeral service.  Steve Iversen also spoke.

Then the cars made a few trips around the car line.  My son Frank and I rode the Matchbox.

He was one of the first people at IRM I met, nearly fifty years ago.  He will certainly be missed by all of us.

In the afternoon we attended the annual Safety Meeting.  Most of the subjects covered are only of interest to actual operators, but there are a couple of announcements that we want to bring to your attention:

1)  This summer, there will be two electric cars operating every weekday!  One mainline car and one streetcar.

2)  There will be a steam or Diesel-powered train every Friday, either coach, caboose, or mixed.  This is intended to attract more group business, but of course all visitors are welcome.

Naturally, we will need additional volunteers to operate the increased schedule.  Training for new operators is still available.  We Need You!

Bright Lights

Last time we saw the new lights installed in the inspection pit.  On Thursday the electrician was busy putting newer and brighter lights in the shop areas.

It occasionally helps to have a clear view of what you're doing.

Most of the time I was working on painting six new siding pieces for the Jewell Road shelter.

They already had primer on all sides, and today I was able to put finish red on all sides.

And while I was over at Barn 11 collecting parts in the 321, since it was raining I stopped in at Jewell Road to see if there was any water leaking into the structure.  It seemed completely dry.  I may be ready to start replacing the siding when we have a clear day.

Back in the shop, the 306 guys are working on various parts.  Gerry cleaned and repainted these brackets for the door motor linkage.  

 

John was hard at work on the heater wiring.

Tim was working on the 1808, of course.  And finally, the IT line car is getting lettered.  Buzz is responsible for providing all the professional-looking artwork.  And the lighting in the new barn is noticeably better than what we had in the old Barn 4.

 

Tuesday Travelogue

Another productive day at the Museum saw progress with several ongoing projects.  I was able to put primer on all sides of the next three pieces for residing Jewell Road.

And I worked on some parts projects, and did some cleaning.

Several of the weekday guys were working on the 306.  Here it is in the new section of Barn 4.

The ceiling of the vestibule is being painted.  That's always a pain in the neck.

All doors have now been mounted, and work continues on making the door mechanisms operational.

Here John is removing the conduit for the heater circuits to be repaired.

Tim continues repainting the interior of the 1808.  It is now getting the correct colors, a delicious blend of chocolate and butterscotch.  Termites must find this an irresistible combination.

He works at blinding speed:

And on Monday, new LED lights were installed in the inspection pit.  This should be a big improvement when there's a car blocking the general illumination.

As I was lining up to take this shot, my camera gave me some advice: "Get a little closer".  Sure, and fall into the pit.  No thanks!

Electroliner Visit

I had a chance to visit with Ed Oslowski and the others on the Electroliner team.  They continue to make steady progress, but because the Liner is over in Barn 7, we don't often get to see what is being done.  They have a lot to be proud of.

New castings for the marker lights.

The motorman's cab in A1.  It's hard to get a picture of such a confined space.  Claustrophobes need not apply.

New parts for the narrow section of the door.

Old and new sections of the crossover plates.

Work is progressing in the tavern-lounge.

One of the problems is that SEPTA painted over a lot of the interior, such as the original naugahyde covering in the lounge area.  So this has to be replaced.

It's astounding how many parts there are to this train.  It's extremely complicated, compared to the old wooden cars we're more used to seeing.  But Ed and the others are keeping detailed records of everything they do, so that it can all be put back together correctly.  Thanks!!!