Sunday, August 14, 2016

Early Days at North Chicago

Art Peterson just sent us some great color pictures of equipment at North Chicago.  Most of these cars have since been restored and operated at Union.  Enjoy, and thanks, Art!



These photos are copyright by the photographer and may not be reproduced, etc.!!!


 The 309 in April 1964, undergoing some restoration work.  To the left is the Class B, on the right a corner of the 1024.


The 321, not yet repainted.  To the left is the 277 and the 0-6-0T, on the right one of the North Shore snow sweepers.


North Shore sweeper #21 in May 1955, disguised as CHF 238.  This was never part of the IRM collection.  In the background at left is the 354.


The 1024 (24) with a chimney, in April 1964.  Stoves for heating were not uncommon, until the 309 caught fire.


The 65 with its Crandic skirts, being prepared for repainting in September 1955.  On the left is one of the cranes that were scrapped to help pay for the move to Union.


In November 1962, the 277 has just been spray-painted.  

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What happened to North Shore sweeper #3 - don't see it on the IRM roster.
Bob

Randall Hicks said...

Excellent question. There's always a possibility that it has changed its identity, such as the 1024 reverting to 24, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. So we look in the Deaccession List, which is linked on the right side of the page. And under "Electric Non-Revenue Equipment", we see that it was scrapped in 1964 at North Chicago. By the time IRM moved, it had lost its trucks and was sitting on the ground, used as a shop and storage space. It was not thought to be restorable, and so was scrapped.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, judging from the photograph it looked all together and I didn't think to look at the deaccession list.
Bob

Frank Hicks said...

Actually that car lettered CHF 238 is not North Shore #3; it's one of the other North Shore sweepers, maybe 21? I can't recall. The 3-spot was a McGuire-Cummings while the one in the photo is a Brill. The Brill sweeper had been partly stripped of parts, including motors I believe, and it isn't on the IRM deaccession list because it was owned by CHF and was never owned by the museum itself.