Mysterious Relic

While looking through the Museum's collection of relics from the 309, I found this brass plate that was badly warped, presumably by the 1971 fire.  It's been in the collection for so long, I don't remember exactly how I came across it in the first place.

It's a cast brass builder's plate for the Stanwood steps that the 309 has always been equipped with.  There are fragments of the light green paint for the interior walls.

THE Q&C STANWOOD
STEP
PAT.NOV.13,1890  JUNE 1,1892
RAILWAY APPLIANCES CO.
CHICAGO  ---  NEW YORK

(Size: 2" x 4")

Some of the steps have a couple of holes in the top back plate that would be just right for mounting one of these castings.  But that doesn't explain how it came to be painted light green, or why it was in the fire.  

 

Weekend Report

Although some of us were tied up over Easter weekend, the Electric Car Department never sleeps! Many thanks to our redoubtable roving reporter, Brian LaKemper, who sends us this update of activities in the shop this past weekend.

Saturday in the car shop was focused on inspection on the 309 and the latest edition of recreational switching. I neglected to get a photo of 309 on the pit, but I'm sure those curious can find photos of its previous inspections in the Hicks Archives.

The objective of this weekend's edition of recreational switching was twofold. One, the 319 was behind the line train on track 82 and needed to rejoin the other wood cars on track 84 so it can be inspected next weekend. The second objective was to move 431 and 460 back to their usual home on track 62 so the two-car CA&E steel train is available once 460's doors are reinstalled. I only managed one photo, looking down the two-car steel train at the line train while 319 was moved. Not seen is 1374 waiting patiently for us to clear up so they could come back to the barn.

Once the day's revenue operations were done, NSL 714 was split from 749, and towed over to the pit lead. The objective was to make permanent repairs to the #1 end motorman side trap's support bracket. The wood spacer and bolts holding it in place had deteriorated to the point the trap could not be opened and temporary bracing had been installed to keep the trap in place. Joel, Roland H, and I removed the trap and brace, and with a few taps of a hammer the bracket was free. 

Here is the spot the spacer sits against, fortunately the steel is still solid, the majority of the wastage was in the wood and the bolts.

Here is the bracket sitting on 714s step, you can see just how little of the bolts remained intact.

The bolts and wood screws had to be pounded out of the bracket.

The remains of the wood spacer.

After the removal of the bracket, 714 was pushed into the shop for the night. Joel made a new wood spacer in the wood shop which I unfortunately forgot to take a photo of.

On Sunday, Roland drilled out the remains of two of the bolts, then cleaned and primed the steel the spacer sits on.

With careful use of pliers washers and nuts were added to the back of the fresh bolts. Working in this area behind the steps is not easy and the hole in the frame to reach these nuts is only about the size of my hand. If I didn't use these sprung pliers, I would be working by feel alone. 

Finally, after a long day, the bracket is back in place with fresh bolts and screws. At some point we'll touch up the paint, but for now 714 is back in service with all 4 traps functioning. 

Finally, I spent about 9 hours in the air brake room sorting, organizing, and cleaning our stock of gaskets, new and used. I only took one photo of this rather filthy and generally unphotogenic task, here is one gasket that was buried in a drawer. Any guesses from readers where on the M-15 this gasket goes?

Tuesday Snapshots

Today, we have another brief sample of the many things that were going on the shop.  I don't have time to get pictures of all of them.

The partition door from the 451 needed some repair, so Gerry helped me set it up on sawhorses where I could work on it:

And I did more painting on the next third rail beam:

Steve Smunt brought a couple of window shade boxes over from the 277 so they could be repainted in the nice warm shop:

They look great!

And here Tim is installing new wood for the platform floor:

And as for the other projects, I guess you just have to take your own pictures and send them in, as the 109 crew are doing.

109 Express

Today's update on Green Bay & Western 109 is a bit of an "express" update, coming as always courtesy of our intrepid investigative reporter, Gregg Wolfersheim:

In our last episode, we had Jack attempting to install window hardware. He is slowly accomplishing that.

Another view of the sash with some of the hardware installed.

Both of the stoves now have their sheet metal wall panels installed. Also, the pipe guardrails are in place. We're awaiting the cabinets with a countertop to be installed where the bay windows were. Electrical work is next for a few outlets and additional lighting.

Easter Greetings

 

The Resurrection

 c. 1511-1515

Mathias Grünewald, c. 1480-1528

Note: Mathias (or Mathis) Grünewald is the subject of Hindemith's symphonic masterpiece Mathis der Maler  (Mathis the Painter).

Thursday Brief

April showers bring shorter hours.  Today's work time was shorter than usual due to heavy rain, and the radar was threatening worse to come, so I left early.  But some progress was made.

Steve Iversen continues working on the Kansas City car.  He was grinding some rust off this ventilation grill, but I just missed getting the flying sparks.

Frank Kehoe painted the frames for the new 50th Avenue signs.  They look great.

Finally, I was able to cut beam #8 to length, cut the notch, drill all the holes, and put a first coat of primer on most of it.

Meanwhile, Gregg and Jack continued work on the 109, and of course Tim was working on the (1)268, but I don't have any pictures.  Better luck next time.

Art Exhibit at IRM -- Mitch Markovitz

Let me draw your attention to an art exhibit coming to a museum near you -- the work of Mitch Markovitz.  I haven't seen him in years, but we're glad he's still going strong.  You won't want to miss it.

Link here.

Tuesday Activities

For the last six months or so I've been turning out third rail beams for our CA&E cars, and it may seem rather monotonous.  But I'm not done yet.  I just got the wood and started assembling the eighth one of this series.  We need to make some more cast iron parts to complete the next ones.  And that will be expensive.

Here we see #7 waiting to be painted black, while the wood for #8 has been cut to size and glued.

I paid a visit to Barn 8 to resolve a couple of problems with the beams recently installed on the 460 there, and while in the area I stopped in at the 277 to see how Steve Smunt and Paul Hough are doing.  They're doing an excellent job on the main compartment interior, and I'll get some pictures next time.  Here Steve is working on one of the window shade boxes.

Tim is finishing the floor at one end of the (1)268.

The 306 guys are making progress on the air piping; at the west end the air gauge is in place.

Now that the Kansas City PCC is in Barn 4, Steve Iversen can make further progress.  Here he shows how the tail light will be mounted.

On the other side, when the outer layer was removed, it appears the side sheets were more badly rusted than expected.  This happens with used cars all the time.  Buyer beware!

Finally, I have figured out how to repaint all sides of a beam on the same day.  #7 is done.

And that's no joke.

The Kolossus of IRM

The museum business can be rather challenging at times; it's not easy to get all the publicity we want and deserve, although we have a lot to offer, of course.  We need something new and exciting to pull in ever bigger crowds.  Our planned Visitor Center will go a long way towards fulfilling that goal, and we encourage everybody to donate what you can to its construction.  But one of our previous General Managers thought that we should also have something even more exciting and stupendous: the Kolossus of IRM!

This will be a huge concrete statue of Nick Kallas bestriding Main Street, welcoming the masses into our Museum.  It is planned to be about 120' tall, and it will certainly be the most astounding tourist attraction of its sort anywhere this side of North Korea.

Now we realize that this may not be everybody's cup of tea.  And in fact, when the idea was proposed at the most recent Board meeting, the discussion became rather heated, to say the least.  But the survivors agree that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we can't afford to miss.  So please donate today!   Do not send cash or stamps.  No refunds.

Ely Door Update

 Master craftsman Buzz Morisette reports:

I have an update on the doors for the Ely I have been working on.

For Pullman Weekend coming up May 2nd and 3rd, Roger and Co. have been working on the Ely along with others. I was asked to help out with some door and window problems with the car.

These double doors at the back end of the car had rotted bottoms that needed repairs as pictured. Just completed, Fritz helped me mount them today.

The other rear side door had been made by an outside sash shop as long as 30 years ago. Never painted and lost in the shuffle, apparently.  Roger located it some time back and recognized the latch hardware matching the hinges on the temporary door.

That door is still in the shop waiting for tempered glass.

Note:  IRM has by far the most comprehensive collection of Pullman cars of all types -- passenger, freight, and electric -- to be found anywhere, and you won't want to miss Pullman Weekend on May 2nd and 3rd!!

Motion Everywhere

Frank writes...

Sunday wasn't just the second day of Bunny Trolley Hop, it was a day of movement, including after the event ended.

What I spent a good part of my afternoon moving was third rail beams. The quartet of beams built by my father over the winter were taken over to Barn 8 for installation on the 460. Above is the one at the current northwest corner of the car...

...and here's the one at the northeast corner. A huge THANK YOU goes out to Greg and Good Nick, who helped install the beams. We also got the beam at the southwest corner of the car installed, but the fourth had fouled bolt holes, so that was left for remedial drilling and later installation. I strongly suspect the 460 hasn't worn third rail beams since 1962, so it's really nice to see these on the car again.

Another thing that got moved was the 453's coupler! Dan F dropped the coupler off the west end of the car and hauled it away, as shown here surrounded by the blocking used to ease it down off the car. Yours truly helped. This coupler is missing a few parts, but we have a plan to address this so that the 453 can be run in train service in the future.

And I finally remembered to test fit that 3D-printed height-adjustment plate template by trying to bolt it both to a truck frame and to one of our newly made third rail beams. I'm happy to say that it fit both perfectly, though I'll need to swap the hole positions left to right. The next step will be to send the 3D file to a couple of area foundries and fabricators to get quotes. That's the easy part - the hard part will be paying for it! And in other news, I got some more needle-chipping done on the ceiling in the 451, though it wasn't especially photogenic.

So, what else was happening? When I arrived, Norm, Jon, Dan and Jimmy (the latter two pictured here) were working on Michigan Electric 28. The 28 sits atop the trucks from long-gone North Shore combine 250, but the North Shore set the side bearings on its trucks further out from the car's center-line than was typical. Norm speculates that this may have been to reduce swaying on the 'L.' Anyway, Norm moved the side bearings on the front truck inward many years go to match the bearing plates on the car itself, but the rear truck never had this done. Until now!

Dan headed up the work to use the mag drill to drill new holes in the center bearing support brackets, then he and Greg (shown here on the left) bolted the side bearings into place in the new, correct location. The truck was then moved back under the 28 and the car was set back down, this time with all four side bearings correctly aligned.

You'll see more about this below, but Kansas City PCC 755 has shown up in Barn 4, and here we see Steve lying down on the job as he examines the steel work that will be needed at the right rear corner of the car.

Brian was hard at work on air brake stuff, as usual. Above is a completely rebuilt air gauge for the 306 that he just completed.

As part of his project to rebuild several S governors at once, he's had to fabricate a missing retainer clip for the internal filter on one governor. Above is how they're supposed to look.

And here's the replacement on the left with the original on the right. Both of those photos were taken by Brian LaKemper. In other shop news, Joel and Jimmy completed the inspection of Veracruz 19 and Joel was up to various other things, including moving spare parts out of the west end of Barn 4 and distributing first aid kits to the operating fleet.

And now, it's time for our ever-popular series, Switching Roundup! With the vast amount of equipment that is being moved around as part of the Barn 15 project, IRM is really living up to its "Museum in Motion" tagline. We start with an update from Saturday. The below photos were taken and submitted by our redoubtable roving reporter, Bill Wulfert.

Kansas City PCC 755 is the subject of a long-running restoration project, but only now is it being brought over to Barn 4 so that the crew has readier access to tools. Above, the car is seen on the tail track.

And here it is on Station Track 1 as part of a wye move. I don't think it's been to the depot since I painted the car in KCPS colors about 25 years ago, and for all I know, it's never been through the depot. As for my corn-broom paint job, I'm pleased to say that its mediocrity has held up nicely, and the quality is just as middling now as it was when the paint was fresh.

The switch crew extracted the Cleveland PCC from track 42.

The lettering and striping on this car isn't 100% done, but it's close.

And back into Barn 4 it went, but this time on track 43 instead of 42.

That opened up a new spot for the 755. Here, the diesel has run around the car and is pushing it down the west leg of the wye.

Next stop, Central Avenue! One of these years, the 755 will hopefully be calling at this same spot, but under its own power and full of passengers.

And into the work barn it goes.

Here's a very happy Steve next to the car.

The front of Barn 4 is now far too modern for my tastes, between two PCCs and a pair of Budd 'L' cars, but what can you do?

With that, let us progress to Sunday. Although I was on the property, I was busy messing around with third rail beams and couplers and neglected to get any photos of the fun. The focus for the day was extracting the AEM7 from the west end of track 52. The AEM7 was the recipient of enough donations to purchase it indoor storage space, so it's going into Barn 15.

Here's an unusual sight, courtesy of Brian LaKemper: a train of lightweight passenger cars in Yard 6.

This photo by Jeron Glander shows track 52 completely emptied out.

And the final result, in a photo by Brian LaKemper, has a pair of IC Highliners at the west end of track 52 in the spot formerly occupied by the AEM7. All four Highliners are lined up on this track, in fact, with the two most recently operational ones to the east, where they can more easily be extracted.