The Horn Blows at Midnight

Frank writes...

To echo what my father wrote, Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend was a terrific day on the railroad, and a good time was had by all.

But the festivities didn't end when the CA&E train went back to the barn! The aptly named "second shift" crew was just getting started. First off was a cookout. Many thanks to Joel, the founder of the feast, and Richard, who did the grilling; below is a shot of some of the gang gathered around the grill in the car shop parking lot.

While this was happening, a car that hasn't been seen out and about much recently was doing test trips on the streetcar line. Sand Springs 68, which has been out of revenue service due to air leaks and a few minor miscellaneous issues, was being worked on by Brian and some of the other guys during the day. The below photo was taken by Zach of one of the test trips.

It's good to see the 68 out again! It will need more work before it's ready for prime time, but the guys are on it, and we fully intend to have it back in revenue operation once volunteer time and resources permit. I snapped the below photo after dinner of another "only at IRM" scene, with our 1918 lightweight interurban car in the foreground and our SD70MAC in the background.

Several of the guys spent the evening working on the CTA 2600s, but for a bunch of us, the priority was Shaker Heights 18. You may recall that the last time the car was in service, in September 2024, a problem cropped up: the car was climbing the frog at the South Junction switch. This issue kept the car out of service all through 2025. Fortunately, though, our friends in the Track Department had a few ideas for possible fixes.

The first idea, trying to tighten the guardrail on the inside rail, was taken care of by Mark and the track guys last week. Thank you!! So, Zach took the lead on bringing the 18 out of the barn after dinner for a test trip, as shown above.

Good news, the car is no longer climbing the frog. However, the wheels are just far enough to the outside of the curve that the flanges are striking the point of the frog and being "kicked" over slightly. That's not ideal. So, the next suggestion of the track guys was to put grease cookies in the car's center bearings to help the trucks swing more freely. This was done alongside Barn 2, so we could place the jacks at tie level (the jacks themselves are too tall to lift the car from railhead height). A huge thank you goes out to Zach, Brian, Steven, Scott, Ashtin, Will, Joel, and everyone who helped with this!

Here's Zach using one of the motor inspection hatches to insert grease cookies into the center bearings...

...and yours truly, in a photo taken by Zach. This job went on past the fall of night, and when complete we took the car out for another test trip or two. We may need to make some further adjustments, but we are hopeful that the 18 will be back carrying passengers - on occasion, at least - at IRM before too long.

Mikey helped put the car back in the barn with me; I snapped the above photo of the 18 on the tail track before it went to bed. Thanks again to everyone who helped, especially Zach, who kept things moving forward late into the evening! It was really nice to see the 18 back out on the car line for the first time in a while.

Spectacular Sunday

On my way to the Museum on Sunday morning it was raining heavily, and I was doubting the weather reports that predicted clear weather.  Are we ever going to be able to get out of the barn?  But by about 10 it had all passed, and the rest of the day was magnificent.

The first train out was the North Shore 749 and 251.  It was still cloudy early in the morning, but the sun soon came out.  The 251 has the important advantage of allowing us to carry wheelchairs and provide access for passengers with limited mobility.

And then there was the CA&E 319 and 309, with our 48-star flags for Memorial Day.

The Shay was running all day.  

Finally, Zach has been promoted from the North Shore to the heavyweight train, with the luxurious parlor car Pawnee on the end.

You might notice that the 319 has been wyed.  This puts the oval window on the visitor side.  It also makes two other third-rail beams more obvious.

These are the two we got from the 315 about 25 years ago, and they have some rotted wood. So these will be next in line to be replaced.  At least I have all of the parts; only the wood has to be changed.  I'm never going to get away from this project, I'm afraid.

And here's the crew.

We had a full train on almost every trip, and everyone seemed to be having a good time.  Another rewarding day at IRM...

And there will be even more spectacular equipment running on Monday!  Don't miss it!

Friday Prep Work

 There weren't very many people in the car shop on Friday, but quite a bit got done anyhow.

My first task was to get the CA&E train ready for operation on Sunday.  This requires getting under the car and getting dirty, so it's not something you want to do in your spiffy uniform, and it's best to get it done beforehand.  I had to connect the air hoses and control jumper, check and fill the compressors, test the brakes and buzzers, and so on.  Then I ran it back and forth a few feet in the barn to check that both cars were motoring, etc.  All is well, so we should be ready for service early on Sunday.

Going Uphill?

When we first got the 36, it seemed to be going downhill.   I thought we had that problem solved, but I guess not.  Now it looks like it's going uphill, at a worse angle than before.  I just don't understand how these things happen.  Maybe someone else can solve this conundrum....

Having given up on that, I went back to work on the third rail beams.  I painted most of the one in front black, as seen here.  Then the one in the rear, the last of the current set of summer beams, got the bottom surface and most of the rest of it painted black also.

Here we see Fritz proudly standing in front of the Michigan Electric 28; this paint job looks superb.

Fritz also helped me by using the impact wrench to free up some bolts on the third rail scrapers, so I could clean up the fuses and reinstall them.  And they all get brand new metal clips for holding the fuses out from the wood, so it doesn't catch on fire when a fuse opens, I suppose.  This beam should be ready for installation once the paint dries.

Tim is always hard at work; here he's cleaning up some more wood for the 268.

This is something I didn't know before.  Since the 268 is a trailer, it doesn't have ordinary electrical cabinets like most cars.  So the door controls are located in a small compartment right at floor level next to the sliding door.  You have to get down on your hands and knees to turn things on or off.

Finally, the B&G department was very busy today.  Contractors are replacing the south wall of Barn 7.  Dave points out that the barn is now more than 40 years old (inconceivable!) so this is scheduled maintenance.  Barn 8 will be done next year.

And then Dave and Carl were working on installing the magic bridge for the trolley wire over track 41, so that when the rolling door is open cars can pass through without a problem.

I hope it works!

Simms Collection -- Northern Indiana Railway

The Northern Indiana collection consists of smaller prints than usual for some reason, but I think most of these images turned out pretty well.  Almost all of them have good info on the back, which I've copied verbatim.  (Updates from Art Peterson in italics)

 

George Krambles photo
South Bend    8/7/32

NI 300 series at Elkhart, Ind.
City Birney (600 series) behind

George Krambles photo
Michigan City    9/6/33

5-30-40
Southbend Ind.
Notre Dame Ave.

5-30-40

5-30-40
Southbend Ind.
Notre Dame Ave.

5-30-40
old grand trunk bridge at Southbend

#221 at South Bend
Aug 25, 38
Orange & cream
Richard H. Young

#805 at Mishawaka
Aug 12, 38
Orange & cream
Richard H. Young

#601 at South Bend
Nov 7, 37
Orange & cream
Richard H. Young

Northern Indian Ry. #352?
On Ship St.   St. Joe, Mich. -- 2 St. Joe
Benton Harbor Birneys   #6th So St. Joe  

Finally, I think this is hilarious.  Just like Nick's Used Car Lot!   Low miles on this beauty....

By the way, if you can't read it, the message painted on many of the South Bend city cars is as follows:

  WARNING

THE LAW PROHIBITS

 AUTOMOBILES

PASSING THE REAR

OF THIS CAR WHILE

STOPPED OR STOPPING

I would think that by the time a driver has read this message, it's probably too late!

Monorail Preservation

I just happened to be passing through downtown Seattle, and since I rode the famous monorail once about sixty years ago, it seemed like a good opportunity to visit it again...

The monorail is an idea whose time has come and gone, I would say.  But it's still a rail-way, although one that would be particularly difficult to preserve in operation.  Downtown Seattle has the only original Alweg system, still running in daily service.  

Incidentally, I hadn't realized that "ALWEG" is actually the Swedish inventor's initials.  I would have guessed it was a German abbreviation -- Anhangs-Linie-Weg or some such thing.

The system consists of two parallel tracks about a mile long, each with one four-car articulated train.  There are no switches or anything; each train runs back and forth on its own track.  The track is just a large concrete beam.  Power is collected from two third rails, so to speak.

Maintenance must be a real headache.

One end of the line is at the famous Space Needle.

Anyway, let's go for a ride!

 

Well, that was fun.  Just be glad we'll never have to maintain something like this!

Help Wanted

It may be hard to believe, but this Sunday is the day before Memorial Day.  Frank and I will be running the CA&E wood cars, 309 and 319, and we could use a trainman.  You do not need to be rules-qualified.  Let us know if you can, and show up on Sunday.  You'll be glad you did!

Wednesday Work

I'm back from a vacation in Alaska, which is why there hasn't been much weekday news.  But I do have some pictures from today.  

Mostly I was working on the same old story -- the third rail beams.  Bored yet?  I removed another shoe assembly from one of the Brookins beams, cleaned it up, installed it, and gave it some primer.

This is the last of the current set of summer beams.

Meanwhile, Buzz was making a new window frame for the Milwaukee Road caboose.

And people were working on the 28, but I didn't get any pictures.   Sorry.

Tim was working on the window sills for the sections that have the door engine inside.  It's rather complicated; the door engine is controlled by a set of links and levers for operation by a conductor standing at the end of the train.  

And the next beam got a partial coat of black.