Winterfest 2026

Frank writes...

This past weekend was quite the change of pace. I was fortunate enough to attend Winterfest, the annual gathering of NEATO (the Northeastern Alliance of Trolley Organizations), at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum.

IRM isn't formally part of NEATO, but we were graciously extended an invitation, and no fewer than 14 of us made the trek out from Illinois. The volunteers and staff of PTM put on an absolutely amazing show, and I can't thank them enough for their hospitality and hard work. It was a wonderful event that allowed us to talk and network with working volunteers from museums across the northeast. I got to know a bunch of people I hadn't met before and chat with friends I hadn't seen in years. And, of course, we got to tour PTM, including their terrific new visitor center.

I carpooled with Richard, and when we arrived on Friday, PTM had just closed to the public (they're now open year-round) and Winterfest operations were beginning. The first car I hopped on was Cincinnati Street Railway 2227, shown here boarding behind the visitor center.

This is in the inside of the car looking toward the rear, with Alex Bruchac, an old Trolleyville volunteer now active at PTM, serving as conductor. This car was preserved at Trolleyville from 1964 until it came to PTM in 2009, so Alex knows it well.

This car was built by Cincinnati in 1919 and is single-ended, with a bench seat down the left side.

Here's Zach, the guest motorman for this trip on the 2227. PTM kept up an intensive operation, with four or more cars on the "main line" at any given time and another two cars on the loop at the visitor center.

One unexpected surprise was that SEPTA 606, a 1960 Budd-built "Almond Joy" car from the Market-Frankford Elevated in Philadelphia, was actually in operation. PTM volunteers had rigged up a trolley pole at one end of the car and it ran short trips through the barn, out into the yard, and back. To the right is a really nice feature PTM has recently added: a rapid transit-style platform, complete with wheelchair-accessible ramps, so that visitors can walk into car 606.

Up on the platform, you can also step into the museum's Brill "Bullet car" and a Red Arrow freight motor.

Here's Jersey Shore & Antes Fort 3, a 1906 Niles interurban car in unenviable condition. PTM has turned lemons into lemonade by displaying this car as a hunting cabin, which was what it served as after its interurban days were over.

Here's Greg and another view of JS&AF 3.

Returning to the boarding platform, we see Pittsburgh Railways 4145 approaching the platform with our own Jon F at the controls. This Jones high-floor car was built by Pressed Steel in 1911, restored by Ed Blossom around 1970 or so, and preserved at Trolleyville from 1973 until it came to PTM in 2010.

Here's a view inside car 4145. It's a single-ended car with rare K-43 control, which is actually a six-motor controller because these cars were intended to pull two-motor trailers.

Friday ended with a pizza dinner and more train operations; here we see Philadelphia double-end city car 5326, a 1923 Brill, boarding at the platform. This car is generally similar to our own car 3142 but has Maximum Traction trucks, a type not represented at all in IRM's collection.

Here's a quick video of "Almond Joy" car 606 in action.

Saturday there were more operations that were interrupted only briefly by rain (and even some hail) in the late afternoon. Here, dump motor M551 is pulling up in front of the visitor center outfitted with benches. It gave rides around the short loop line. This car was built by Differential in 1922 and has B-8 control, which is an unusual type that has dynamic braking capability.

There was even some operation of a two-car train of Red Arrow "St. Louies," cars 14 and 24, built by St. Louis in 1949. This is a good time to mention that the ambiance here, between the visitor center and the "Trolley Display Building" with the double-track, bi-directional streetcar tracks down Volunteer Boulevard, was amazing. It gives you an idea of what IRM's Main Street scene could look like someday.

Here's a video of the two-car train. At some point it got wyed.

On Saturday afternoon, I went over to the Reliance Building with PTM volunteer Artie Ellis, an expert machinist who is overseeing some remarkable work there. The Reliance Building is an enormous facility, some 60,000 square feet (that's about as much space as Barns 13 and 14 combined!).

Here, Jeff Hakner and Artie discuss the metalworking machines they have. You'll note the overhead jib cranes that help move things around. Also, for a sense of scale, you can see streetcars stored three wide behind Jeff and Artie - and we're just looking down the middle of the building's three bays.

Artie has been working on re-profiling flanges on a wheelset for Red Arrow 73, which is in the PTM shop. Unfortunately, I didn't make it down to the shop on this trip.

Here are some of those streetcars stored safely in the Reliance Building. On the left is 2723, a SEPTA PCC built in 1947, while on the right is 2282, a Philadelphia city car built by Brill in 1906 that was acquired in 2024 from the Electric City Trolley Museum.

Artie demonstrates a tool he built for precisely measuring various dimensions on a wheel flange.

After that, I joined Norm and Jon for a ride in Red Arrow 4, a double-truck McGuire-Cummings snow sweeper built in 1922. As you can tell, it was a pretty popular attraction.

The three big Pennsylvania trolley museums are represented by our PTM pilot, Mike from Electric City, and Joel from Rockhill.

Back at the visitor center for dinner, I had a chance to look at some of the educational displays. They're extremely well done, and these are just a couple of them.

In addition to the area with these displays, there's a large (and divisible) event space where we ate meals; a classroom space with a ton of interactive toys and activities, including even a couple of 3D printers; an expansive entryway and gift shop; bathrooms; and offices.

After dinner on Saturday there were (of course) more operations. The PTM volunteers really outdid themselves, operating something like two dozen cars over the two days of the event. Here, West Penn 832 is prepped to go out. This 1930 Cincinnati curve-sider was one of the museum's first three cars and was fully restored just a few years ago. It's really gorgeous.

Another of PTM's first three cars is low-floor car 3756, built in 1925 by Osgood-Bradley. This car is a pretty typical Pittsburgh low-floor car except that it had a left-hand door added for Neville Island service. It's rare because it has magnetic HL control, a Westinghouse-built variant that uses electromagnetic contactors (similar to GE Type M) instead of electropneumatic unit switches.

Here's the inside of car 3756.

And here it is at the platform. I went for a couple of rides on this car; it's really a beauty.

A few of us also went for a ride or two on Red Arrow 66, a 1926-vintage Brill-built center-door car from that line.

Here's a shot of car 66 at the platform. It was beautifully restored by the museum's volunteers many years ago.

And here's the gang from IRM: Brian, Steven, Richard, Zach, Norm, Jimmy, Steve, me, Will, Nick, Greg, Bill, Jon, and Jim (photo by Scott Becker, Jim Ward collection). Saturday night wrapped up Winterfest events at PTM; I can confidently say a fantastic time was had by all, and we're very grateful to our PTM and NEATO hosts for everything they did to make this such an enjoyable event for everyone who attended.

Friday Specials

Friday was relatively quiet in the car shop; Frank Kehoe and Tim were working on the 268, and Gregg was working on the 109 as usual.  I'll let Gregg toot his own horn.

I attached the replacement bottom rail on the 460 side door, and expoxied the gaps.

Frank had a production line set up for making new parts for the L car.

And I finished painting the next third rail beam.  It's nice and shiny.  Now all we need are some end plates.

Frank helped me turn the door over so I could install new screws for holding the metal plate in place.  You may notice that it needs some Bondo in the far corner.

And by the way, a summer beam has a unique feature: If you stand at the right angle, you can see right through it!

Later in the day, I had an opportunity to show some special visitors a couple of our cars, but I won't say anything more about that just yet.  Here at Hicks Car Works we want to keep you in....   SUSPENSE!

Comment Policy

It seems to be a good time to emphasize our policy on comments, which I admit we haven't always been enforcing.  We get a lot of generic spam comments offering bizarre things like taxi services in Timbuctoo or whatever, and those are easy to spot and delete.  But serious comments also need to follow some rules.

Most importantly, you need to identify yourself.  If you have a Google account, that happens automatically.  Otherwise, we should have your real name and not some handle.

Secondly, I would suggest that it's important to make it clear what the source of your information is, if it's not immediately obvious.  As an example, I'll let the most recent comment on paint schemes stand for the time being, even though it's a violation of both rules, because it's interesting.  "Zero Tolerance" is not always a feasible goal.  (At least for us -- try submitting a paper to Physical Review!)

Wednesday Projects

To start with, we have an answer to the question last time about the door that was being surgically rebuilt.  Dr. Morisette is the expert repairman, and the door comes from the private car Ely, one of the real jewels of the collection from the earliest days.

To keep going on my door for the 460, I was able to cut the piece of rubber hose to the right length, drill the holes, and attach it to the new bottom rail for the door.  It was then painted black and left to dry; I won't be able to paint any part of it once it's inside the door.

And then I turned to the third rail shoe assembly that I acquired from the material yard last time.  It needed a lot of wire-wheeling.

And then primer.  It looks newer, if not new.

Several other projects were in progress, of course, but I didn't have the time to photograph them.  However, Victor and Bill stopped in, and here's the drinking water tank that will go into the Pennsy tool car.   I wasn't thirsty enough to try it out-- neither was anyone else!

And I did some cleaning and arranging in one of our storage cars, but more about that some other time.  Finally, the third rail beam is nearly done, as seen here.

This is the first "summer beam" I've made.  The empty holes are painted black so they won't rot out in service.  It's just about done except for painting the shoe assembly and the bolt covers on top.

By the way, I don't know what the current official number is, but I think we're approaching four miles of track under cover, which is more than most other museums' total trackage.

Air Brake Shop Update

Many thanks to the head of our newly reorganized air brake shop, Brian LaKemper, who sends along a photo essay detailing some of his projects from this past weekend.

The first five photos are CA&E 451's S-16 governor as disassembly began. This governor clearly had some issues, and will need to be completely stripped down and repaired on both the electrical and air sides.

This governor is particularly nasty and will require at least several more hours to get it all clean and back together.

This photo is the governor that was previously in North Shore 251. It had built up a carbon track and was contributing to blown fuses, so it was swapped with a spare. Now, this one has been completely rebuilt and is ready to have the pressures set, having received new Glyptal insulating varnish, a new air filter, new rubber gasket, and fresh lubrication.

We swapped CSL 1374's motorman's valves as part of the annual inspection because they were getting stiff; fortunately a spare pair of valves was ready to go. This is one of the valves that came off the 1374. It will be cleaned up and go into stock to be used on 1374 or one of our other operating cars that use this valve.

Monday in the Car Shop

I've been working on repairing one of the side doors from the 460, and I brought out the new bottom rail and trimmed it.

It's been painted, and should be attached next time.

I got some help from Fritz and Tim, in finding some heavy-duty hose that was no longer useable for watering the lawn, but makes a good replacement for the bumper we looked at last time.

Then I noticed another door that needs serious surgery.  I just don't know the patient's name, or the surgeon's for that matter.

Here Fred Z. is rebuilding the roof fuse box for the 306.

And Gerry spent a lot of time underneath the 306 installing the piping.  It's not easy!

Among other things, Tim was working on making new window guards for the 268.  He points out that no two of anything are alike.

And some progress photos on the Michigan Electric 28:

The front train door (outside)

and inside!

The baggage door on the left side of the car looks like this:

And finally, here's what the interior looks like.  Don't let this discourage you, I've seen worse.  We all have.