Employee appreciation is important. Well-run companies always make sure that their employees know they are loved and appreciated. For instance, as President and CEO of Hicks Car Works, I make it a point to often express my appreciation for the efforts of my loyal and hard-working employees Frank, David, and Al - - although, come to think of it, what have any of you guys done for me lately?!?!? But seriously....
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The Union Pacific is a large and well-run company, and for the past few years they have been sponsoring UP Employee Appreciation outings at IRM. This brings in a large crowd to the Museum and provides a lot of educational fun for everyone. Here we see the UP excursion train coming in on Station 2, alongside a car almost a hundred years older.
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The excursion train consists of three deluxe passenger cars and a Diesel on each end, to make shuttle movements much easier. The train ran every hour westward to our interchange, out the old C&GU to some point short of Belvidere, and then back. The excursion train is for UP employees only.
Meanwhile, IRM was running the steam-powered coach train with RPO, the 308 and 309, and the 1268 and 1797, as well as two streetcars. The RPO demonstrated mail pickups throughout the day. I was too busy to take many pictures, so I'm relying on staff photographer Chuck Amstein to send me a selection of interesting shots. Everybody today seemed to be having a great time, except perhaps for dispatcher Jim West, who had a lot of unusual movements to handle -- so let's be sure to express our appreciation for his efforts!
The excursion train consists of three deluxe passenger cars and a Diesel on each end, to make shuttle movements much easier. The train ran every hour westward to our interchange, out the old C&GU to some point short of Belvidere, and then back. The excursion train is for UP employees only.
Meanwhile, IRM was running the steam-powered coach train with RPO, the 308 and 309, and the 1268 and 1797, as well as two streetcars. The RPO demonstrated mail pickups throughout the day. I was too busy to take many pictures, so I'm relying on staff photographer Chuck Amstein to send me a selection of interesting shots. Everybody today seemed to be having a great time, except perhaps for dispatcher Jim West, who had a lot of unusual movements to handle -- so let's be sure to express our appreciation for his efforts!
For those of you playing along at home, UP 103 "Cheyenne" is a business car rebuilt in 1964 from a 5DBR lounge car "Boise." The Cheyenne, at least according to the plan I have, only has one bedroom, an office/bedroom and a servant's room. It has a large rear lounge area adjacent to the rear platform.
ReplyDeleteFrank,
ReplyDeleteWhen you are the biggest; nobodycan match what IRM has or operates.
Although we have a pair of Richmond Shipyard railway ex New York elevated cars from 1887 at WRM. One of them is in the shop getting an end platform rebuilt at the moment.
I am glad that IRM is having a good summer!
Ted Miles
IRM Member
By the way, I replaced the Feed Valve with one from stock, so I didn't have to remove any from any cars. The Wheaton Shops do work overnight to keep the operating cars on the schedule demanded by the Hicks Car Works.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joel, that's a great help. We really appreciate it. And for tonight, I have a compressor to be changed out. :)
ReplyDelete