Cleveland Trip Report

The distribution of parts at Cleveland went well, and we were all busy most of the time. So I don't have a lot of pictures. I'll try to add more narrative tomorrow.

Here is a view of some of the cars stored in the warehouse, awaiting shipment to their new homes. The Lake Shore group had many sections of this portable track made from square channels, about 20' long per section. It fits together with 1" steel pins, just like toy train track. Four men can pick up a section and move it around. What fun!

Here Bill Wall, who masterminded the whole complex enterprise, is lecturing the group from the boat car. His leadership made it all go remarkably smoothly. In the back row you can probably recognize Frank, Bill Wulfert, Andy, Scott, and Greg.

Next to the dock is this huge lake freighter, which has been preserved and is on display. Next to it is a Shaker PCC which had already been loaded, and left shortly after I took this picture on its way to Scranton.



Fortunately my friend Joel Salomon from Rockhill sent me some pictures he took Sunday morning:

Here Andy is piloting the boat car as it is moved into position for loading onto a trailer. It came from Blackpool in England and has already been moved to the National Capital Trolley Museum.

We look on as Bill Wall finished hooking up the Cleveland car to a forklift, so Nick can pull it into position.

Ed Amrhein from Baltimore watches the clearance as Nick edges the Cleveland center entrance car past our trailer. This trailer was being loaded with all of our parts, and will soon be at Union.

And here is the 1218 in motion, at about 2 MPH.

Thanks for the photos, Joel!

Cleveland Tourism

Here at Hicks Car Works we don't bother with the usual tourist attractions like the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Instead, let's see some bridges and viaducts!

On Saturday night we all had dinner at an Irish pub in the flats district. As we were leaving the restaurant, bells and whistles sounded and a gate went down across the street. It was the only operating swing bridge across the Cuyahoga in action! The bridge swung 90 degrees to allow a huge freighter to pass. It must have been loaded, drawing 21'. The river seemed barely wide enough for the ship; the captain has no room for error and everybody was impressed with the skill it must take. Unfortunately it was dark and I didn't have my camera.

So early the next morning I came back to take some pictures. Here's the swing bridge in normal position.

This location is directly underneath the huge Detroit Rd. overpass.

The Superior Viaduct

This is an old stone structure that is truly a bridge to nowhere, as you can see here. It serves as a parking lot and scenic walkway in the flats area.





On top of the viaduct, there's still a couple blocks' worth of double track in the street, as seen here.

For a while, Ron Jedlicka was running a streetcar on this route, using a generator for power. Now, however, his car is parked in a nearby lot behind chain-link fence with barbed wire. This PCC is lettered "Lady Rose."

The viaduct extends as far as the power house for this bascule bridge. The railroad is long gone, so the bridge is never used.

And from this location, you can look down on the swing bridge we visited earlier.