Saturday, November 6, 2010

West LaGrange

Does this look familiar? On Thursday, B&G installed the ElectroMotive sign from the EMD plant in LaGrange on its new base alongside the connector track, as seen here. Since it faces northeast, a good picture will have to be taken early in the morning, just as the sun rises over the Hoffman barn. Maybe next week.

Here's the back of the sign, by the way. Your message here, at reasonable prices.




I did some more painting; the final four 319 windows got white primer on the inside surfaces; the first three are seen here.

I also did the remaining window shade tracks, and the wrecking tools, which will likewise be painted the basic wall color.




Then two electric car trucks arrived from Cleveland on a flatbed, so I helped unload them. We're still receiving parts from the Trolleyville collection.

Joel is running the big forklift, while Dan Fenlaciki watches. An EIB truck without motors was unloaded and placed along Bruneau Ave.



Here the truck driver helps Joel position the forks over a 4000 motor truck. This truck is heavy, dude! Five of us wound up sitting on the back of the fork lift to put sufficient weight on the rear axle so it could be steered. I sure wish I could have taken a picture of us!





Then we had a derailment to clean up. These trucks had been pulled out of the material yard, but one of them went on the ground. After Joel, Dan, and I put it back on the rails, it's evident what the problem is. You may notice that one wheel isn't even touching the rail. This problem can easily be fixed, of course.

7 comments:

David Wilkins said...

So where is the corporate boundary between West LaGrange and East Union?

Randall Hicks said...

I guess it goes right through the middle of Barn 2.

On a more serious note, I find that the address of what's left of EMD is now 9301 W. 55th, McCook. I always thought of it as being in LaGrange -- when did it become McCook?

Al Reinschmidt said...

It has always been Mc Cook, but Mc Cook didn't have a PO so it had a LaGrange PO address.

Anonymous said...

So, those silver derailment prone trucks - are those passenger car trucks destined for the OLYMPUS or SILVER PONY?

Bob Kutella

Anonymous said...

So, with the mention the unloading of a St Louis EIB truck, was that one of the new acquisitions? If so it could be useful as a shop truck, with some work first of course, to place under the TM 972 and allow it to come off the jacks during wheel and motor work. Or is it one or the original 354 trucks perhaps, that has been out in the field for so many years? What type of wheels? Tram, compromise, or full profile?

Bob Kutella

Randall Hicks said...

Bob: The EIB truck is from Trolleyville; I believe it's from the Fox River car that was scrapped. (305?) We got one truck and FRTM got the other.

I should have explained that EIB stands for Elliptical Integral Bolster and was a special St. Louis Car Co. design. It's used under our 354, 306, and 972 -- am I forgetting anything? I know Bob knows this but others might not.

As for the silver trucks, I'm not sure. Speak up, Phil.

David Wilkins said...

I believe those trucks are from a former Santa Fe mail car.