Thursday Report

This will really be brief, and most of it is much the same as we've seen before.  Sorry.

I'm now making two third-rail beams at once, and it is indeed more efficient as I had hoped.  I was able to cut the beams to length, cut the notches, and drill all the holes.  Then they started getting a first coat of primer.

Technical note:  It was embarrassing that one of the previous beams had holes that didn't line up and had to be redrilled.  I had measured a couple of different cars, and it appeared that they all had a beam length of exactly 6'.  But there are evidently exceptions.  I was told that this next set will be for the 451, so I measured it.  The lengths are actually shorter by about 1/4" to 1/2", and for 3/4" holes that can be important.  So this next set is being drilled for the correct spacing -- I hope.

Meanwhile, Tim was producing more wood for the (1)268 with its complicated window arrangement.

These toy harpoons, though, should be a big seller in the gift shop:

Later, by carefully balancing the beams, I was able to get all six sides painted.

Fred was hard at work on the wiring for the 306.  Getting a picture of the complicated arrangement inside the controllers is difficult.  But here, the three grids are patiently waiting for installation.

Simms Collection -- CA&E

The CA&E collection is huge, over 200 photos, so choices have to be made.  The railroad is already extremely well represented in books and magazines, of course, and for the most part the photos in the collection don't add a lot to what's already published.  I'll limit the many roster shots mostly to pictures of cars that were preserved.  Very few have info, but those few are interesting.

11

Nov. 23, 1944
This, of course, is before it was rebuilt into a line car.
Fun fact: 11 is the only wooden car ever on the roster that had one king post instead of two queen posts on each side.

 303

309

311-315

You can never have too many interior photos.  This is a Kuhlman in later years. 

315

316

July 1, 1945

317

318

321

460

FAN  TRIPS 

Cars 10 and 321 on the CERA fan trip of Aug. 6, 1939 at Batavia, viewed from across the river.

This is a 1940 CERA fan trip with the 318, paused at the end of track in Elgin.

Luckily, I can name all of the people in this picture!  (L to R)

Howard Odinius

Fielding Kunecke  ("my cousin")

Karl Pearson

Herschel Pemberton - Conductor

Edward Barmore - Motorman

Frank Krejcik

Dave Prescott

Arthur Kirby

Now it's your turn!

"Aug. 10, 1941

The Special at the C M St.P.&P.

under pass on the Elgin branchs

Nos. 9, 11 and 319.  the latter

was dragged both ways the controls

will not operate with the freight

motors"                                   

"Aug. 10, 1941
On the Aurora branch along the
Fox River   We were backing in the
hole to let a regular passenger by."

WORK  SCENES

Here the IC diamonds at Elmhurst are being rebuilt.  

The work equipment in the background appears to be from the CTA, so they may have also hired CTA crews to do the work.

Here the 500 has been loaded onto a flatcar and is presumably on its way to Highwood to get a new identity, in 1941.

And here the old linecar 45 is working on the overhead at Elgin.  That dates this to no later than 1947.

WORK  EQUIPMENT

9

"Nov. 23,1944

This car has been striped of its

G.E. 66 machines for use on the

passenger equipment."               

"Jan 28, 1945

Don't get excited, they just slapped a coat

of brown under coater on this car, put

new grab irons & step iron on her.  Pulled

the G.E. 66 machines and spotted her out

behind the old freight house on the Aurora

mainline south of the car barns.

New rails in the left foreground."

THE GENEVA BRANCH

On the Geneva line, to be sure, but where exactly?  I'm going to say Wheeler's siding, at Anderson and State in Geneva, but it could be elsewhere....

This looks like it must be on the Geneva branch.

And then this would be Geneva Jct., back before the branch was abandoned.

 High Lake Station

MISCELLANEOUS

46

Good interior photos are always hard to find, but when was this one taken?

The only clue is the partial view of an advertising card.  It's obviously promoting "Du Barry Was A Lady", a movie which came out in 1943 and starred Bert Lahr among others, based on a musical by Cole Porter.  And then I propose that "ANGER" is actually "Background to Danger", another movie that came out in 1943.  QED.  We make this site as educational as we can!

6-15-40
Eastbound freight

"Oct. 15, 1944
#89 at Lincoln Ave. Wheaton
4 cars used to be unusual for a branch
line train.  This train goes to Elgin."

16

"Sept. 4, 1944
#16 just pulling out of Batavia
Part of the station can be seen at
the extreme left"

I guess the interesting thing here is that you can see the Geneva-St. Charles branch running down the middle of Main St. heading east, I believe, and it appears the wire is still up.

This is the only picture in the CA&E collection taken of preserved equipment.  This is at Brookins, of course, in the early days, with cars 319, 303, 451, and a Fox River car.

Finally....

They just don't make postcards (or dime stores) like they used to.

Pneumatic News

Thanks to our Pneumatics Bureau Chief, Brian LaKemper, who has sent in an update of work performed this past weekend in the Electric Car Shop's air brake section.

Less air brake work was done this weekend due to the marathon of switching, but I managed to get one more S-16 complete and ready for testing. This one was just waiting for its electrical "box" to be built, seen here before and after installation on the body.

Mikey also did some quality assurance on one of 1374s newly rebuilt straight air valves, but I neglected to get a photo. Similarly Will continued cleaning up the form-a-gasket S-16.

Meanwhile, Saturday night we needed to relocate the CLRV wheelset that had been on track 41. The forklift and straps made a relatively easy job of this task.

S-105 and the 1129 are seen in their new home in Barn 13, although not quite in their final positions. The switching will continue.

The shuttle from Cold Springs Shops is shown waiting at Car Line Junction with L10 and B48 recovered from the land without wire and heading to Barns 6 and 7 respectively.

Tuesday Brief

Hardly a day goes by without notable progress in the Car Dept., and I can only catch a little of it.  Here's part of what was happening on Tuesday.

Over in Barn 8, Steve Smunt and Paul Hough are making great progress on the interior of the 277.  The main compartment is essentially finished, and they're now working on the vestibule.

Here Steve is stripping paint on the door frame.  Finding a good camera angle is not easy.

There are a couple of window shades and other details that still need repair in the main compartment, but it looks great.

Steve Iversen continues working on the Kansas City PCC.  There's an awful lot of rusted metal to be repaired.  But he doesn't give up.

I don't want to keep making third rail beams for another year, so maybe it will go faster if I can do them two at a time.  

Gerry and Steve K. were working again on the air piping for the 306, and it's nearly done.  

The plumbing on this car was drastically changed by Shaker Heights, but after a lot of work they finally have it back the way it must have been on the Fox River.  So this is a huge accomplishment.