Opening Day 2025

Frank writes...

Sunday was a beautiful day to open the gates to visitors for the first time this year, sunny and with temperatures in the 50s. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of CA&E 431, which was the day's service train.

Many thanks to Richard for working with me on removing the remaining three seats from CA&E 453 that will go to the upholstery shop for restoration in this next batch. They're shown above on the trusty Taylor-Dunn after I removed the antimacassars. The 453's antimacassars are different than the other two cars' examples; besides being affixed with a bunch of carpet tacks, they also have much more of a leather grain look to them. They're generally in good shape and can be reused. These seats were moved to the 451 and the antimacassars went back to the 453 for storage.

After the 431 was done with revenue service for the day, it and the 460 were outside briefly for switching. This was the first time the 460 has left the barn since the seats were replaced, so I had to see it for myself! Thanks to Zach for the heads-up.

Zach and Joel also brought the 319 over to the inspection pit. Its inspection isn't scheduled until next weekend, but this allows for some of the items to be knocked off the inspection list during the week as time allows.

While Richard and I were over at Barn 13 working on the 453, we decided to swing over by Yard 15 to see the progress on the "U-store-it" storage building, shown here. The interior walls appear to have gone up since my last photograph. But wait a second, what's that line of things off to the left?

Hey, it's the posts for the south wall of the South Storage Building! This structure, not to be confused with the structure shown earlier, will mostly be used for storage by the Bus and Trolley Bus Departments, I believe. With this, we now have three different buildings all under construction simultaneously: these two storage buildings and Barn 15, the latter in about the same early stage as the South Storage Building.

In other news, a crew was out working more on repairing the overhead at the west end, while others were hard at work in the shop on air gauge repair.

Straight Talk About the 321

At the Annual Meeting, coming up soon, there will be a motion to remove Chicago Aurora and Elgin car 321 from the Permanent Collection list.  If you're a voting member, you should know the background to this issue.  And even if you're not, you might be interested.  It's not a simple matter, so we have a short version and a long version.

This post represents our opinion, of course, on why this is a good idea.  But if anyone would like to submit a coherent argument why it's not a good idea, we will be happy to publish it.

SHORT VERSION

The 321 was originally acquired to be scrapped for parts, mostly the trucks and motors.  The car's body has not been well maintained, has several severe structural problems, and is in poor condition, missing several important parts.  There is no feasible plan for restoration, and the 321 has been replaced by car 319 from the same series, which has been fully restored and operates regularly.  Furthermore, the 321 cannot be restored to operation without using the trucks and motors that were intended for another car, Milwaukee Electric 1129.  The 321 takes up valuable barn track space, and if removed from the list it can provide parts for other projects as well as indoor storage for something else.

LONG VERSION

The second and third cars ever acquired (in 1955) by our Museum were two ex-Milwaukee Electric ("TM") interurban cars that had been sold to the London and Port Stanley in Canada.  There they had been heavily modified.  But they were the last two TM interurbans in existence.  Due to the modifications in Canada, the Milwaukee fans, Tom Jervan in particular, were on the lookout for correct trucks and motors for car 1129, which had been converted to a trailer on the L&PS.

In 1962, cars and parts from the Chicago Aurora and Elgin became available at Wheaton.  IRM chose two cars for preservation, the 309 and 431.  Tom Jervan, Bob Bruneau, and others also arranged to buy the 321 for its trucks and motors, intending to scrap the body at Wheaton.  The 321 was the only one of the Jewett series that nobody had selected for preservation, because the body was already in poor condition.  Tom then arranged to trade the 321 for trucks and motors from one of the steel cars, that had been rebuilt but never used.  But three days before the IRM equipment was scheduled to leave Wheaton, the junk dealer changed his mind and cancelled the deal on the trucks and motors.

With just days to go, there was no choice but to oil up the 321 and couple it onto the two cars slated for preservation.  And so it wound up going to North Chicago.  There it was quickly converted into storage space.  The seats were removed, the walls were chopped out so shelves could be attached, roof parts removed and roof covered in tar paper, and so on.  And just to make sure that nobody would ever be dumb enough to want to restore the 321, a lot of unnecessary damage was done and various parts removed and given away.

In 1964, the 321 was moved to Union along with the rest of the collection, and it continued to suffer from neglect and the weather over the next twelve years.  It had been painted before the move, but that didn't last long, and much of the wooden body started to rot.  The car probably would have been scrapped if room could have been found for all the parts inside.

By 1976, though, somebody dumb enough to want to restore the 321 had come along -- me.  The 309 was an ongoing project, and I thought it would be good to have a two-car train if possible.  And at that time it didn't look like any other CA&E wood cars would ever be available.  I started lobbying to have the 321 preserved, and in 1978 I moved to have it put on the Permanent Collection list.  The Museum was expanding rapidly in those days, and the 321 was one of several items that were added at the same meeting.  All I can say is that it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Restoration work was done on the car over the next several years, as a background activity to restoration of the 309, mainly by myself, and later with Frank's help when he was old enough.  This mostly stopped when we were able to acquire the 308, which was in much better overall condition.

And in 2009, when the Trolleyville collection became available, the 319 was a far better candidate for restoration than the 321.  Bob Olson and I put up the money to include the 319 in the cars IRM was acquiring.  (Best $10,000 we ever spent!)  In order to put the 319 indoors, the 321 was tarped and put outside for the next seven years.  In spite of the tarp, the body continued to deteriorate, and the roof has partly collapsed.  The 321 has also served as a parts source for the 319 and other cars, so its present condition is pretty wretched.  Feel free to see for yourself.  It's on track 114, the car nearest the door.

And if you didn't like either the short version or the long version, we still have the

daytime talk show version!

Progress on IT 277

Steve Smunt and Paul Hough send pictures of recent progress on the Illinois Terminal 277 combine.

First application of wood epoxy section 7-8

Sanded 2nd application of wood epoxy

Replacing refurbished ceiling fixtures

Ceiling is painted cream, primer on wall

Section 7-8, storm window sashes installed

Section 7-8, transom and interior sashes installed, paint completed.

Thursday in Brief

 As usual, I spent most of the day painting the interior of the Jewell Road shelter. It's coming along well.

John, Gerry, and Phil continued to work on the 306.   They pointed out that as built, the car had a orange color paint on the floor, which can be found by careful sanding.  So that's what they want to reproduce.

Here we see Gerry sanding down the floor of the smoker:

And John was painting seat frames.

Tim is installing the nice new ceiling panels in the 1268.

And as usual, other things were going on all across the property.  IRM never sleeps.

Curtain Time

The curtains have been installed in Barn 4 to keep the eastern two-thirds of the building relatively warm for work during cold weather.  This is basically the same as the system used in Barn 2.

One of the current major projects is the 306, of course.  Here John is working on painting up the rebuilt seat frames.

And in the barn, Gerry and Phil are getting the door motors to work.  Here's the main compartment, with lots of new interior paneling.

They demonstrated the door motor for me, but with the clamps to the drive shaft loosened so the door leaves don't actually move while adjustments are being made.  But it's bound to work.  I can't wait!!!

And Tim was installing two more of the newly varnished ceiling panels in the 1268, with some help from Steve Iversen, Gerry, and me.

This is going to look great.

Finally, I need to level with you.  It's always been obvious (if you're there in person) that the Jewell Road shelter was sort of tilted, and the temporary blocks it was sitting on were torquing the structure.  That's the sort of challenge I like, so I calculated the required lifts required at each corner, and made blocks at home to insert underneath.  Then with a small jack and sufficient leverage, I was able to raise it up to a more level position.  Using an ordinary carpenter's level, this is probably the best you can do.  For its permanent location at the corner of Jewell Road and Diamond Lane, we'll have the use of more accurate leveling tools to provide a secure and level foundation.

And then I had some time to do more interior painting.

That's all for today, folks!

Safety First

I can only hope Harold doesn't hear about this.  He'll give me a six-month suspension for sure.

Sunday Report

Frank writes...

Sunday afternoon I worked with Richard to complete the remaining work in the 460 and "release the car to the Operating Department," at least as far as I'm concerned. This mostly consisted of driving a bunch of decorative upholstery tacks into the backs of the antimacassars, per original practice, and cleaning up the stuff left over from the project, such as extra machine screws. A huge thank you goes out to Richard for all his help getting the 460 seat project completed!

After that, Ashtin and I went over to the 453 in Barn 13. I want to include a few seats removed from the 453 in the next batch to be redone, so to start, we removed three of the regular "spinner" seats, as shown here. Unfortunately, unlike the other two cars, all these antimacassars are held in not just by upholstery tacks but also by a row of regular steel carpet tacks, hidden after installation by the metal bar across the top of the seat. After dinner I returned to the 453 and was able to carefully remove all these tacks so that we can send the seat backs out for upholstery work while retaining the antimacassars for reinstallation when we get to the 453's seats.

Going back in time a few hours, when I first arrived on the property, Tim (shown here) dragooned me and Matt into helping him hoist the first of the newly varnished ceiling panels for Northwestern Elevated 268 into place. Above is the "before" picture...

...and here's the "after" picture, with Matt and Tim in the frame. The wood sticks with cloth over them just helped hold the panel up while it was guided into position and the wire for the light fixture was snaked through the hole. This car is really going to be beautiful!

About 50' to the east, I snapped this photo of progress on the wiring trough on track 41. The B&G guys have hung these "unistrut" sections underneath the garage door that will support the wire trough up to the point where the "flipper" will go in.

There was a lot of activity. Nick, Greg, Bob, and Jimmy were out on the railroad performing repairs to the overhead wire following some damage from a bad wind storm a couple of weeks ago. A few guys including Brian, Jeron, and Will were working on inspections and various car repairs, including more air gauge work. And Joel was working on sorting parts and organizing.

He found his brass plaque. A bit of online research suggests that these plaques appeared on Boston Type 3 semiconvertible cars.

Joel also found this neat piece of business reply mail. I wouldn't try mailing your dues to Chicago 3 these days.

And now, as a free sample of our famed series of Hicks Car Works Correspondence Courses, we present to you:

How to Make the Most of Your IRM Roster

We have good news: after 15 years, IRM has issued a new printed roster! You'll receive it with your next issue of Rail & Wire, which is currently in the mail. Obviously, this applies to you, an upstanding IRM member and contributor to society, right? Right!

Step 1: Your issue of Rail & Wire has arrived in the mail! A modest celebration of this occasion is appropriate, after which you notice that the new printed roster is stapled into the center of the magazine. It's kind of a 20-page-long centerfold.

Step 2: Open the combined magazine/roster to the centerfold, as shown here. You'll see four staples holding it together. Using a letter opener, pocket knife, scimitar, or other flat blade-like object, gently open up the topmost of the four staples.

Step 3: Now, do the same with the bottommost staple. See, you're getting the hang of it already! You'll be an expert at this just as soon as you're done with the project.

Step 4: Find the spot where the magazine ends and the roster begins. Grasping each separately with a thumb and forefinger, carefully pull the roster away to separate it.

Step 5: Now, setting the roster aside, take the magazine and bend the two open staples back to the original closed condition. Careful attention at this stage will limit punctures and minimize blood loss.

And there you have it! You can now read your issue of Rail & Wire while keeping your roster separate to use as a reference going forward. Many thanks to Richard for demonstrating these techniques (oh, and also for creating and maintaining the entire roster in the first place).

But, you ask, can't I just leave the roster in the middle of my magazine? Of course you can! Nobody will judge you. Well, few will judge you.

If you enjoyed this, make sure to register for our professional development correspondence courses on rattan seats, MU control circuits, and more, plus personal enrichment courses on subjects such as talking like Shakespeare.

Tour of the Visitor Center

So far we've shown what the street-side facade of the Visitor Center will look like.  But even more important is what will be inside the building.  Want to take a tour?  We know you do!  So here's an explanation of the various features that have been cleverly designed into the structure.  This is looking at the building with the roof removed, in the south-east direction.  The building directly across the street, in the upper right-hand corner of the picture, is the Schroeder Store.

1 - Main public entrance from parking lot, at the northwest corner of the building near a circle drive for drop-off; the canopy roof provides shelter for school groups to queue or for people to wait out of the rain.
2 - Ticket window, intended to use original ticket counter wickets from Union Station
3 - This wide "hallway" along the side of the building will funnel arriving visitors toward Main Street and will provide space for exhibits along the walls
4 - Restroom entrances are here; the big grey block pictured has restrooms on the lower level and storage space on the upper level, with second-floor bay windows to present an "interlocking tower" look
5 - Past the restroom entrances, arriving visitors are directed left and down this hallway to the main hall, with more space here for exhibits and orientation signage along the walls
6 - In the main hall, there is space for a small theater area where an orientation video can be shown, as well as ample space for historic exhibits
7 - This is where the main entrance/exit from the Visitor Center out onto Main Street is located; from the outside, it will simulate a theater entrance complete with overhead marquee
8 - The center of the main hall will feature a track where a couple of pieces of rolling stock can be displayed; the horsecar is pictured (in yellow) as an example
9 - Along the east side of the main hall are air walls that allow up to three classrooms or flexible event rooms to be blocked off, with various configurations possible
10 - This is the southernmost of the three classrooms, shown with chairs set up lecture-style; these rooms can also be left open to the rest of the Main Hall by retracting the air walls completely
11 - Along the east side of the building is the office wing; at the southeast corner, indicated here, is a small reception room for volunteers that will include the operations sign-in station
12 - This office space will replace the current museum office
13 - The center of the three flexible classroom spaces is shown here with round tables set up and the air wall to the Main Hall retracted
14 - The northernmost of the three classroom spaces is pictured with rectangular tables
15 - In the center of the north wall of the building, facing the parking lot, is a track door to permit equipment to be moved in and out of the Main Hall display track (item 8); this would be intended only for extremely rare use, as the equipment on display would be placed there semi-permanently
16 - Exit through the gift shop! Visitors leaving the museum would walk back into the Visitor Center through the theater door off Main Street (item 7) and be directed through the gift shop to the entrance. The gift shop has doors at both its east and west ends to allow this. The staff working the ticket counter (item 2) could also work the gift shop on light days simply by turning 180 degrees.

Robert Clemons Collection - Illinois Electric Railways

This is a collection of photographic prints from the collection of Robert Clemons, all donated by Thomas Clemons to the Illinois Railway Museum. Many thanks to Thomas and the Clemons family for their generous donation. All images are copyright Illinois Railway Museum. Images may not be reproduced or distributed without authorization.

These photos are mostly of Illinois interurban systems and street railways, presented more-or-less in alphabetical order.

Alton Granite & St. Louis 57 was one of eight cars built by St. Louis in 1904. Read more about the AG&SL here.

Champaign-Urbana open car 50 was built in 1902 by Stephenson. It's signed for the Church & John line, which served the west side of Champaign. You'll notice it has a center aisle, like Veracruz 19.

Champaign-Urbana 61 was built by St. Louis in 1912; here, its motorman is apparently throwing a switch. Read more about Champaign-Urbana streetcars here.

Chicago & West Towns 103 was built by McGuire-Cummings in 1917. It's shown signed for Austin Blvd.

Chicago Rapid Transit 5001 is pictured around 1948 in the Loop.

Chicago Surface Lines 2802 is pictured at Halsted and the Englewood 'L' line in 1941. It looks to be on a fan trip, explaining the destination sign for Hammond, a line which had been abandoned the previous year. This car was built as Chicago City Railway 2554, sold to Calumet & South Chicago as their 702 in 1908, and then went to CSL as 2802.

The number isn't legible, but this is a CSL 2846-2856 series "Interstate" car. It's April 23, 1930, and the car has just crossed the Illinois Central tracks, likely on 92nd - anyone know for certain? Read more about the "Interstates" here.

CSL V201 had the distinction of being the giant system's only line car in its later years. It was built in 1907 by Chicago City Railway as their number C5. It's pictured at South Shops in 1950.

These horsecars are part of the Citizens Street Railway fleet in Danville, purportedly in the late 1880s, just a few years before the system electrified. Read more about Danville streetcars here.

East St. Louis Railway 283 was one of six cars built by American in 1910 and retired between 1919 and 1925. Read more about the ESLR here.

Fox & Illinois Union 7 started life in 1912 as an electric freight motor built by McGuire-Cummings, but it was rebuilt in 1931 with a Buda gas engine as shown here. It was sold to Hyman-Michaels in 1938 and ended its career on the Colorado Railroad near Pueblo, CO, in the mid-1950s. Read more about the F&IU here.

Illinois Central MU car 1132

Illinois Central MU car 1180 and a trailer whose number can't be made out.

IC MU cars on a railfan excursion, likely 1180 on the same trip as the previous image.

This car has an unusual history. It was built by St. Louis Car Company in 1924 as their number 600, a demonstrator. It was soon sold to Kankakee & Urbana Traction as their number 242. In 1930, Third Avenue Railway System purchased it as their 1702, later rebuilding it and renumbering it 1250. It ran in New York until 1948.

Here's a side view of K&UT 242.

One of the K&UT's big wooden interurban cars is pictured at the station in Rantoul. Read more about the K&UT here.

Illinois Power & Light 434 was a typical Peoria Birney with doors at all four corners, though by the time this photo was taken its left-side doors had been closed off. This car was part of a series of 50 cars built by American in 1923. Read more about Peoria streetcars here.

Rock Island Southern 302 is pictured at Monmouth. This was one of six identical cars built in 1907 for the Washington Baltimore & Annapolis and purchased by the RIS in 1910. This car was destroyed in a fire in Monmouth c1931. Read more about the RIS here.

The University of Illinois owned this attractive "electric railway test car", mostly using it on the Illinois Terminal lines around Champaign. It was built by Jewett in 1905 and scrapped around 1942. The above photo shows it on April 19, 1936.

Per the description on the back of the print, these men are "[George] Krambles, Stone, Olmsted, [William] Janssen" sometime around 1934.

The test car is shown at a University of Illinois Railroad Club open house on April 13, 1935, with an Illinois Terminal Class C locomotive visible at far right.

This photo was also taken at the April 13, 1935, open house. University of Illinois dynamometer car 30 was built by the Illinois Central at its Burnside Shops in 1900. It was rebuilt in 1907, renumbered to 22 in 1922, later (likely in 1930) renumbered to 30, and rebuilt again in 1937.

The dynamometer was replaced by a new all-steel dynamometer, also numbered 30, built by the ICRR in 1943. This car was likely scrapped at that time. It's pictured here on the Illinois Central in Chicago.

McKeen car 711 was built by McKeen for the Woodstock & Sycamore in 1911, one of three of the distinctive gas-mechanical cars that opened service on the ill-fated line. The McKeen cars only lasted in service on the W&S for about three years. Read more about the Woodstock & Sycamore here.