Frank writes...
Most of the department spent all of Saturday and most of Sunday switching, and we've got more on that below. For my part, I worked with various other volunteers to make progress on a few of our CA&E (and other) cars. Apologies in advance if I've forgotten anyone's name!
These aren't in chronological order, but the most notable step forward was probably the progress on the last third rail beam for the 460. Greg, Jimmy, and I went over to Barn 6, picked up the third rail beam, measured the correct end-to-end hole spacing, and brought the beam back to the car shop. Here it is after Greg set us up to drill new holes on the drill press. (I should also mention that this was made possible by Joel installing dowels in the old holes last week.) This project went smoothly, so we took the beam back over to Barn 6 just before dinnertime.
After dinner, Greg, Nick, and I installed the beam on the car. Voila, the 460 has a complete set of third rail beams, I believe for the first time since it left Wheaton in 1962.
Over on the CA&E wood car fleet, during the afternoon, Zach, Ashtin, Will, and I removed the pilot from the 36. We put the pilot along the barn wall and also moved the third rail beams from the trailer truck out of the way. We hope to pull the trailer truck within the next few weeks so that we can replace broken leaf spring packs; once that's done, the car should go back into revenue service for the first time since 2023.
I failed to get any photos, but Brian also got replacement studs and nuts - plus a new gasket - and reinstalled the feed valve on the 308. We still need to complete this car's annual inspection, but lacking motors at the moment simplifies that job.
There wasn't really any progress on the 451 this weekend, but it did get moved for the first time in a few months because the CTA 2200s that have been living at the northwest corner of Barn 4 left the barn via the pit lead and the 451 had to move out of the way. (The new denizens of Track 41 west of the curtain are Sand Springs 68 and Veracruz 19.) Here's the 451 being shoved back into its spot west of the pit. But wait, what's that in Yard 4?
That's right - like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, the storage reefers have returned to Yard 4 East. Department switch crews brought them back over on Sunday morning and refilled track 42. While the reefers to the right, on track 43, are more or less immobile, the ones on track 42 are expected to move on an occasional basis to move cars in and out of the restoration bays at the east end of Barn 4 on the center track.
The other thing I worked on was Shaker Heights 63. I touched up the grey paint around the edges of the roof and the upper rear markers; although these areas were rolled with grey paint last fall, there were some spots that needed to be filled in. I still need to climb up on the roof one of these days and put a coat of grey on the center of the roof, but except for RA emblems and a bit of door-adjacent lettering, that will complete the paint job on this car.
50th Avenue
Before we get to the switching update, there's big news over at 50th Avenue! Ever since the 'L' station replaced Yard 1 back in the early 1980s, the plan has been to install a gantlet track on the west side that would allow us to operate either narrow (Chicago 'L' width) or wide (railroad width) equipment out of that track. But for the last 40 years or so, only the wide track has been in place, making it impractical to operate elevated-width equipment out of that track for the public due to the 1' or so gap. But this past week, our hardworking Track Department volunteers all took a week off their jobs and tackled the task of installing the "narrow track" on the west side of 50th. They also replaced ties and installed a switch. The result was that on Saturday, the 431 was brought over for clearance testing. After a bit of "platform shaving,” the test was a success! Thanks to Bill Wulfert for sending along these photos of the testing work on Saturday.
This is an exciting step forward. It will make it easy to operate two different shuttle trains out of 50th Avenue, meaning that if we want to, we can operate six mainline trains as part of a regular rotation instead of five - the usual four out of the depot plus two shuttle trains out of 50th. A huge THANK YOU goes out to our indefatigable Track Department for all their work to make this happen!
Switch-A-Palooza
There was quite a bit more switching on Saturday and Sunday, involving moving cars to different spots in various barns. Barns 4, 6, and 7 in particular have seen some changes. Barn 7 is now home to at least two cars that have been redeemed from exile in Barn 13. Thanks to Bill Wulfert for the following photos.
And some additional photos taken during the Saturday switch-a-thon were sent by Joel:
Here's IT 1702, looking smart with a demonstration wire spool prototypically mounted on its deck.
Milwaukee Electric L7 runs, but its air compressor needs an overhaul.
And here's the L10, which was also brought back from exile in Barn 13. It was the subject of on-again, off-again work in the early 2000s, and there's some interest in diving back into it to see if we can make it an operating locomotive for the first time in probably 50 years.
A lot more equipment has moved around that isn't pictured here; you'll just have to visit to see all the changes!
