Showcase Showers

Frank writes...

Dire weather forecasts called for rain all day Saturday with up to 2" of rainfall, which would have washed out Showcase Weekend. As it turned out, though, things weren't nearly as bad as predicted.

When I arrived at about 10:30am, the light rain had just stopped. I had planned not to start running the 18 until 12:30 or so, but with the rain holding off, Zach switched the 4391 out of the way and the decision was made to take the 18 out. We got out onto the car line at about 11am.

My conductor for the "day shift" was Chris Buck. We ran right up until dinnertime with the Matchbox and - for a time - the 144 also running on the car line. As is often the case on Showcase Weekend, there were some rarely seen trains on the main line, though I failed to get any photos of them. The heavyweight train was running, with BNSF 9400 on the head end and a terrific-looking consist that included the Inglehome, Villa Real, Galt House, and a few other cars. The Zephyr was also out for its only full operating day of the season, and the caboose train sported Milwaukee Road X5001 on the tail end in the IRM regular operations debut of that "office caboose." The 309 and 319 were scheduled, but due to the rain, they were replaced by the 431 and 460.

And here's a crew photo - thanks to Steven for taking this! The rain started back up in the early afternoon, but it was only drizzle or light rain, and we discovered to our satisfaction that the roof on the 18 doesn't seem to leak - at least not with this quantity of rain. We also carried a charter group from the Northern Ohio Railway Museum, which owns the other car of this series that's currently in museum operation, Shaker Heights 12. 

The rain stopped again in time for the BBQ dinner at 5:00. Above, the assembled congregation at the pavilion is entertained by an odd switch move including the Shay flanked by its coach-caboose consist on one side and the ex-C&NW Ohio crane on the other.

There were a lot of puddles all over the property, but really no flooding per se. The track just south of the Barn 9 North stop, though, had water nearly up to the top of the rail head. Fans claimed that the flanges of the cars were creating wakes. Above, after dinner it was time to light the lights. The 1374 was taken back to Barn 7 and the 3142 came out to join the 18 for the evening shift. Steven Jam was my conductor after dinner.

There had been trolley bus operation during the day and after dinner one of our newly acquired CTA buses came out and started making trips around the property. Richard, Steven, and the other bus guys have been reapplying the correct red and blue decals to this bus, which arrived in plain white paint.

Here's the 18 all lit up at Depot Street. Note to self: try and get the destination sign light circuit working. The car stayed in operation until sometime after 10:00; many thanks to Zach, Mikey, and Steven for keeping the car in service and ensuring it was put safely back in Barn 7 after I signed out! Thanks also to Harold and Andrew, the daytime and evening dispatchers respectively.

Here's the 460 at 50th Avenue; by this time, light rain had restarted. These cars really look terrific at the lit-up 'L' station. Greg pointed out how evocative this is of the image of the 460 at Wells Street on the back cover of the Shore Line bulletin "Cooperation Moves the Public."

And at the end of the night, "night bus" service was provided by the London Routemaster. As always, a great time was had by all.

Sunday Report

Frank writes...

The focus for me on Sunday was, again, the 451.

I spent a while needle-chipping and managed to effectively complete that task inside the car. The only areas of metal not already chipped are a couple of sections along the advertising card racks, which I want to leave intact so that there's some sample of the original paint color left. Next up: wire wheeling.

Richard (left), Greg (right), and Nick were working more on the new bumper for the end of the 268. Additional progress was made in heating it and bending it to the correct arc.

And pest that I am, I persuaded Richard and Greg to help me out with the 451 while the torch was out. The car only has a rope guard fitted at one end because the one for the other end was pretty badly bent when we got it. Fortunately, Richard and Greg - with some assistance from Bob, who happened by - were able to figure out how to get it restored to the correct arc shape. Nick snapped the above photo of Richard providing the heat while Greg and I do the bending.

Voila! I need to wire wheel and prime the areas that were heated, then paint the thing black, but after that it's ready to put on the car. Thanks also to Nick and Greg for helping me move the two third rail beams for the 451 off the bench in the wood shop and out into the barn. And finally, after dinner, Nick, Steven, Greg, and I made progress on repairs to the 600V switch in Barn 8.

This coming weekend is Museum Showcase Weekend, and all sorts of interesting operations are planned. Make sure to come out and join us - you don't want to miss out!

Friday Brief

Friday was a quiet day.  Most of the time it was just Tim and I in Barn 4.  Here Tim is spraying the rebuilt springs for one of  the bench seats in the 268.  This is in the west part of the barn.

And back behind the 451, I was stripping the wood molding strips for the interior.  

Outside, I was able to catch one of the steam guys disassembling the 1630's tender.  You can just see his head above the truck; he was running the crane by remote control.  I didn't want to bother him, of course, so I don't know his name.

And here's another set of bench springs in the shop being cleaned up.  Just like truck design, these have a combination of leaf springs and coil springs to provide a smooth ride.

And the many of the wooden strips for the 451 have been stripped, but there's more to do.

The Hall Closet

Everybody needs closet space, but in most electric railway cars that's hard to come by.  In many cars the toilet compartment doubles as a closet, but in cars without one there's usually no closet space at all.  But the last order of CA&E cars included five cars (451-455) with a small storage closet.

Anyway, here's the closet on the 451 with the door removed.  Inside, on the left you can just barely see the big ice breaker pole, the coat hooks, and the third rail slippers are on the floor, with various other things.  The door itself is only about 14" wide.  Don't open that door, McGee!!

But it needs to be stripped, so here it is on the operating table.  

And later, after some work with a heat gun, scrapers, and steel wool, it's down to bare wood.

Meanwhile, the other weekday projects continued.  Here Gerry is working on assembling the pilot for the Fox River 306.

And Jim is grinding some of the parts into shape.

And John (not shown) is making great progress on assembling the electrical controls at the east end.

Another project I need to work on is stripping the paint from the wooden molding strips attached to the ceiling of the 451.  

Tim is back from another cross-country bicycle ride, and he was working all day on woodwork for the 1268, but I didn't get any pictures.

Finally, over in Barn 8 Steve Smunt continues restoring the interior of the 277.  The rear vestibule is rather cramped, and so when I stopped by he was unable to open the door.  But looking through the window, you can see that most of the interior is now in white primer.  He's making good progress.

Saturday Evening Post

Frank writes...

To echo what my father wrote, Saturday was a great day with terrific weather and a good crowd. Assigned to the evening shift, I didn't arrive until about 1:00.

I ran into a familiar face running the 3142.

While I was over at Barn 4 to pick up kerosene for fueling the marker lanterns, I encountered Dan, who was hard at work wire-wheeling one of the wheels for the air compressor wagon, AX545. A huge thank you goes out to Dan for all his work to move this project forward!

When I stopped by later, Dan had completed his work and palletized the four wheels that are being shipped west to the shop where new solid-rubber tires will be fitted. The top two wheels are all cleaned up and ready to go; the third will require the shop to remove some stubborn rubber remnants; and the bottom one is purposely being sent with its original tire so that they can authentically replicate the profile. That tire, too, will be removed by the shop.

When it was time for the "shift change," Zach, Fred, and Steven brought Shaker Heights 18 out of the barn. This was the car's second regular service day of the year.

The above photo by Zach Ehlers is aptly titled "A Rainbow of Traction." You can see CSL 1374, CTA 22, IT 101, CCW 300, and CTA 4391, all viewed from inside SHRT 18. Only at IRM!

Another view from Yard 7: Shaker 18, CTA 4391, the 3142 barely peeking out in the background, CTA trolley bus 9631 passing on Central Avenue, CA&E 431 in the background, and of course CA&E 319 and 309 on the Yard 8 lead.

We went into service just after 5pm. Due to last-minute scheduling changes, we ended up with three different conductors over the course of the evening. The above crew photo includes Mike, the trainman all evening; Steven, the conductor for the second trip; and Ted, the conductor for the first trip. Aaron (not pictured) was the conductor for the third and fourth trips we made. Many thanks to all of our conductors for jumping in at the last minute to help out!

Here's the train in the center berth of Station Track 1 as the shadows lengthen. The west berth is currently under reconstruction; all the ties have been replaced by the indefatigable Track Department, so that means next up is new asphalt and concrete.

The only three mainline trains during the evening shift were our train, Amtrak 231 pulling a rather impressive heavyweight train, and the Shay with its caboose train. Here, the 231 passes westbound just before our 7:30pm departure. The lanterns have been lit!

Welcome aboard the 309!

...or, if you prefer, the 319!

Here we are toward the end of the night. All four markers remained lit throughout the evening; it's always gratifying when none of them blows out! As usual, we ran with markers at all corners and flipped them from red to white, or vice versa, when changing ends. You'll also notice that the heavyweight train over on Station Track 2 is nicely lit up. I'm not positive, but I believe they've started using LED light bulbs with built-in batteries, which allows for several hours of illumination without any modifications to the car itself. Pretty nifty!

As an epilogue, Ted Kuhn, our conductor on the first trip Saturday, was back at the museum on Sunday, but this time wearing work clothes. He sent two photos of the wire-wheeling he did in the main compartment of the 451, cleaning up the needle-chipped panels on the partition.

This is a huge help! Thank you, Ted!

Saturday Afternoon Variety

Labor Day Weekend is always a huge operation at IRM.  Saturday was busy all day.  I was running the 3142 and barely had time to take a break for photography.  But here are some quick shots.

Here we see, from left to right, the streetcar, the CA&E steel car train, and parts of the heavyweight coach train.  And while all this was going on, note that the municipal Department of Heat, Light, and Power were working on the electrical grid.  They never stop!

This is even better.  In the foreground, the huge LGB layout, and behind that, the Shay with its caboose train, the North Shore cars, and the CA&E cars.

The coach train is very impressive.  This is only a part of it: the Galt House, the Villa Real, the DM&IR 84, and more.

Also in operation were our 1898 gate car Northwestern Elevated 24, the 4391, and one or more trolley buses.  Stay tuned for what appeared in the evening after most of these cars were put away.

And if you can, be sure to come out to the Museum sometime during  the weekend to see for yourself!

UP M-35 Update

We extend our thanks to our redoubtable roving reporter Gregg Wolfersheim, who sends along the latest news concerning the restoration work on Union Pacific "doodlebug" M-35.

Work has been sporadic on the doodlebug this summer. Most of our time was spent on the Ingersoll Rand 91 painting. However, the rear of M35 was slowly needle chipped and then sanded.

The upper part is in primer. Lower is bare and shows where the UP patched the skin. After welding a piece in, they finished it with lead. Then some sort of early Bondo to smooth it all up.

The left side before primer.

After the primer. The bottom still needed more Bondo work. This was eventually fixed up.

The inner rear door was sanded down and the hardware cleaned up.

Now in primer. The other side is stained and varnished. That will need some help too.