Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Labor Day Report

The 308 and 309 were running again on Labor Day, with Greg Ceurvorst as motorman. Our trainman was unable to show up, so luckily Jim Windmeyer was there to be the conductor, and I was trainman again. We had a good crowd and the cars were nearly always full, and I was too busy to take pictures. So if you've got good photos, please send them in!

Everything went smoothly. The Zephyr was running again, as well as the caboose train and the coach train. With L cars and two streetcars, I think, that makes seven trains in regular operation. And that's not even the maximum we sometimes handle, and wasn't straining the limits. I don't know of any other museum that comes close to being able to operate so many trains simultaneously. It's a real privilege to be involved in this operation.

In other news, the Car Dept. switched out the 319 while I was busy (with my permission) so the L-7 could be wedged into the empty space on track 84. Presumably this will allow us to move something else inside, so that's good. We're still hoping to have the 319 running again for service on Members' Day.

2 comments:

Lee Wells said...

I really appreciate your postings and your updates on CA&E (and other) progress. One question:
On my visit to IRM while you were on vacation, I noticed a sign in the vestibule window on the 36 that said "no power no move no!" I later saw that you had posted that the lights in that car work....is there something else major wrong with the electrical system on the 36?
Thanks for any info for wondering minds. (or wandering ones, for that matter)

Joe said...

When the 36 was in Cleveland, it sat in the shops for motor and control work. They had removed all of the contactors, and taken apart control wiring on both ends. Because of this, and the fact that the ground connections had been removed, we wanted to make sure no power was applied to the car until it had been thoroughly inspected. The red tag was put on after someone attempted to put a stinger on the car 10 minutes after it was unloaded from the semi truck.