The Illinois Railway Museum was a hotbed of activity again today. If you weren't there, you missed a lot!
As for your humble correspondent, I first assembled the repaired roof fuse box for car 36, and painted it black. I just can't wait to get it installed!
And then there was more paint removal, sanding, and painting with white primer. Here's a sample.
Later in the day, I did some more electrical testing, then more paint stripping in preparation for next time.
As for your humble correspondent, I first assembled the repaired roof fuse box for car 36, and painted it black. I just can't wait to get it installed!
And then there was more paint removal, sanding, and painting with white primer. Here's a sample.
Later in the day, I did some more electrical testing, then more paint stripping in preparation for next time.
For the record, here's what the old paint looks like. To the right, you can easily see the circular outline of the old covered wagon emblem that was attached to the car in the early days at North Olmsted.
And where we're parked now, when you look out the train door you're looking right down the boom of the D16. I must admit it still sort of scares me once in a while.
Hey, by the way, Jon Fenlaciki is in charge of making sure all the cars have their Kevin signs in place. The LSE 150 had one, but now we don't know where it is. Has anyone seen it recently? I couldn't find it. Thanks!
Hey, by the way, Jon Fenlaciki is in charge of making sure all the cars have their Kevin signs in place. The LSE 150 had one, but now we don't know where it is. Has anyone seen it recently? I couldn't find it. Thanks!
But that's enough about me, he said reluctantly. Let's see what others are doing. And there were lots of different projects going on. Tim Peters was making good progress on the 1797, as usual. Here he is installing the dash panels on the west end of the car.
The world's biggest pushbuttons.
By the end of the day it looked like this. The conductor had to stand between the cars, lean out to look along the platform, and operate the buttons to open and close the doors. It seems suicidally dangerous to me. Nice work if you can get it, though!
Norm and Jeff and Jon were working on the 972 truck, the 28, and various other things, and here we see Joel and Greg repainting the roof of the 415. Not to be confused with the 451, for those of you who are addicted to gambling.
The tree trimmers were hard at work all day removing dead trees and dangerous branches. If a branch falls on the wire, it's a real downer for everybody.
I'd like to thank everyone who has pledged to the 309 fund for the new CA&E seats so far. Those I know about include Carl Lantz, Ray Pieschuk, Nick Kallas, Al Reinschmidt, Frank Hicks, (and me). But we can still use your contributions! Thanks!
Due to a switching move, the UP rotary plow wound up on station 2. So that was interesting.I'd like to thank everyone who has pledged to the 309 fund for the new CA&E seats so far. Those I know about include Carl Lantz, Ray Pieschuk, Nick Kallas, Al Reinschmidt, Frank Hicks, (and me). But we can still use your contributions! Thanks!
For the first few years, I posted a railroad-related hymn for Easter each year. But there just aren't many of them -- I'm stumped! So all I can do is post a link to what I'll be singing tomorrow: Hosanna!
I'll be singing it in English, and not nearly as well as Enrico Caruso, of course, but I hope it will be effective. Hosanna!
I'll be singing it in English, and not nearly as well as Enrico Caruso, of course, but I hope it will be effective. Hosanna!
6 comments:
Conductors in the CRT era didn't have to lean out and look along the platform. There was a conductor between each pair of cars, and he was responsible only for his pair of boarding points (doors or gates). He stood in the train-end doorways, watched through the car end windows, and operated the doors or gates.
The practice of leaning out between cars to look along the platform came only in the CTA era with Remote Door Control, which the wood cars never received.
But it sounds more old time railroady to have to lean out and look along the platform you must admit
Yeah, but it WAS much more dangerous, as the CTA--which actually lost several conductors between cars along the way--discovered. (Our own 6125-26 was involved in one of those accidents.)
Well, to my memory the conductors DID lean out and look along the platform. I believe this was the design for the wood cars and the 4000's. It was not until the 6000s came that an interior conductors position was created using a drop window near the end of the middle car in a pair. Not yet installed in these pictures are some cast step plates which go below the the door control box. Hardly big enough for one of my big feet, and certainly iffy in wet or icy conditions.
Bob Kutella
I asked Tim about this subject today, and everybody's correct to some extent. Most wood L cars did not have the remote door controls, so the conductor would stand in the doorway and operate the overhead lever controls. As Time says, by the time the 4000s came along they had figured out how to make it less safe for the conductor. And the 1797 was one of the few wood cars to be modified in 1938 so it could train with the plushies, and as such, it had the step plates and pushbuttons installed which we see in the photos. Hope this helps.
CRT 1797 is equipped with Semi-Remote Door Control, the same as the Plushies (4251-4455) had when built. This permitted the trainman to open both the near and far doors of the car. In order to eliminate one trainman, they had to couple two cars with remote door control next to each other. On a 4 car train, they would couple those cars as number 2 & 3 in a train. The conductor between cars 1 & 2 would open the gate/door on car 1, and both doors of car 2. The trainman, between cars 3 & 4 would open both doors on car 3, and the gate/door of car 4. The front and rear doors of a train were not opened. The employee did have to look out between the cars to make sure that the passengers were clear of the doors on the far end. Therefore they had the sheet metal steps on the cars. All of the North Side (& Lake St.) wood cars could be operated together with Plushies from the begining. Only a handful of the wood cars were converted to Semi-Remote Door Control. On cars without the RDC, the person only had to look at his two doors, and there were no steps on those cars. The CTA converted all of the 4000's to Remote Door Control in 1949, so that one person could operate all of the doors in a train. The first 200 "6000 series" cars had outside doors controls. They were later modified to be inside of the "A" (odd numbered) car. Bill Wulfert
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