14th Annual DOWT

Sunday I was one of many dozens of volunteers who helped out with the museum's 14th annual Day Out With Thomas event.  The event ran Friday, Saturday and Sunday this past weekend and will resume for Saturday and Sunday of next weekend.  The weather all weekend was gorgeous, the first truly temperate weekend we've had in some time - mid 70s and sunny virtually the whole of the three days.  Attendance seemed good, about what it was last year give or take from some reports.  Overall the crowds seemed happy as usual.

I only managed to get one (poor) photo of Thomas himself, above just before the gates opened while some of the volunteer staffers were getting their own photos as well.  Once the crowds descended it was time to get to work.  I was working as conductor on CSL 144, one of the gems of the museum's streetcar fleet.  This car is really the representative Chicago streetcar and it's always great to see it out in operation, swallowing up the crowds like it would have on Madison or State sixty or seventy years ago.

Above left, the 144 approaches Central Avenue (taken during my lunch break!); at right the interior of the car before putting it back in the barn at the end of the day.  Car 144 is a PAYE (Pay As You Enter) car of the type that was nearly universal in Chicago for decades, until one-man cars, Sedans and PCCs started to become common.   Riders board on the expansive rear platform and pay the conductor, stationed just outside the bulkhead between the doors into the body of the car, before they enter the car.  This setup allowed for more efficient fare collection than previous roaming fare collection and the large platform on these cars made it possible for them to board a large crowd standing at a car stop and then start moving while people searched for change to pay, rather than waiting while for the line of people to file onto the car.

Above, a photo showing the crowds of people on Depot Street with car 3142 stopped at Central Avenue.  Streetcar line operations for Thomas are much different than on normal days.  Four cars operate continuously, with relief crewmen available to give the crew lunch breaks without having to take the cars out of service.  The Central Avenue and Barn 9 North stops are "abandoned" entirely while a new car stop for the Thomas train boarding area is added at about the center of Barn 9.  The busiest stops tend to be Depot Street and the Thomas stop; typically for long stretches during the middle of the day there are consistent lines to ride the streetcar at these stops.

During one of our trips we were treated to an unusual sight: Chicago & West Towns 141, being switched around by a crew of Electric Car Department shop workers.  This car is awaiting measurements for and fabrication of new brake rods but most other work, including major wiring and air piping, is complete.  There are hopes that it may operate next year.

 And finally, the scene in Barn 7 after the three Chicago cars were put away.  Sometimes when you're standing there, imagining being at Kedzie or Devon during the late 1940s surrounded by carmine red and Mercury green streetcars, you need someone like Mike Stauber to bring you back to reality and point out "What are you taking a picture of?  It's just a streetcar!"