Yesterday we attended the gala benefit concert for the IRM Steam Department held at the Sanfilippo Estate near Barrington -- it was a tremendous success, and everybody enjoyed themselves immensely. The estate houses an incredible collection of organs, calliopes, mechanical music devices of all sorts, juke boxes, phonographs, chandeliers, slot machines, stationary steam engines, art works, stained glass, posters, and knick-knacks of every sort. And oh yes, railroad equipment. The estate is not open to the general public, but hosts benefit events like this one. So let's go!
There is so much to see that we can only give you an inadequate sampling.
The highlight of the evening was a concert on the world's largest theater organ, presented by Dave Calendine, brother of Jeff Calendine in the steam department.
His talents are unbelievable, and exploited to the fullest the huge array of sounds the organ can produce, including cannon fire, bagpipes, bells and whistles, earthquakes, and steam locomotive exhaust. You had to be there. The five-manual console rotates, raises and lowers. The 32' open rank makes the building shake.After the concert we were able to visit the carousel building which includes the railroad equipment. There's a steam loco, a wooden caboose, and a parlor car.
#18 was built as a narrow-gauge 2-6-0 by Grant in 1888, and later rebuilt to standard gauge. 
Like many similar locomotives, it has been substantially modified over the years.
The three pieces all are now equipped for link-and-pin couplers.
The parlor car was originally a chapel car, but little of the original structure is left. It was heavily rebuilt, and is now wider and taller than 
any ordinary passenger car.The hall is so crowded with various things that photography is difficult.
In any case, the event was a great success and they're talking about making it a yearly event. So don't miss out on this unique opportunity!
6 comments:
Did they say where the organ console was from? I thought I read once that there were only three five-manual theater consoles ever made: the Congress, the Paradise, and the Uptown, all in Chicago.
(Of course, it's been ages since I was into theater-related stuff....)
Someone at dinner mentioned that parts of it are from out West, then they added more parts when it was at the Estate.
Mr. Goggle is your friend:
The centerpiece of the Music Room is an 80-rank, 8,000 pipe Might Wurlitzer theatre organ, mostly hidden by a large scrim. The nucleus of the organ was built in 1927 for the Riviera Theatre in Omaha. It has been expanded to the 80 ranks of pipes and is considered to be the most versatile orchestral theatre pipe organ ever built. There are five chambers containing pipes, percussions, wind regulators and controls in a four-story-tall area. The console is patterned after the original from Chicago’s Paradise Theatre. It is mounted on the original Peter Clark lift from the Granada Theatre, which raised it from the lower level cage enclosure up to concert playing position.
-Hudson
The locomotive has an interesting history. It was built, as Randy mentioned, as a narrow gauge engine. It was purchased by Henry Ford for inclusion into his "Edison Institute" collection (now known as the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village). There, it was "restored" and modified to standard gauge.
I am curious as to how well done the work was to make it a standard guage locomotive. In reading the history of the Ford museum's semi replica 4-4-0 the "Edison" it turns out that the work done by Ford craftsman was first rate, but they didn't know much about how actual locomotives were constructed and operated. As a result, the "Edison's" original pilot truck from the 1920s reconstruction was more wishful thinking than anything that could actually function on the railroad. Still, a neat little locomotive, especially with the crosshead driven water pump.
Ah, but you left out the most important part of its history: around 1903-1904 the locomotive was acquired and re-sold by the Hicks Locomotive & Car Works as part of their equipment resale business! (Info from www.steamlocomotive.info)
Interesting that the console is a replica of the one from the Paradise. The original Paradise console still exists, and is probably one of the lowest-mileage theater consoles out there.
Soon after the Paradise was completed, it was revealed to have poor acoustics (a common problem with "atmospheric" auditoriums like the Paradise)...as a result it saw very little use before being removed in the 1950s.
Of more interest to readers of this blog would be the Paradise's back-alley neighbor: Chicago Surface Lines' West Shops complex.
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