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Vintage Transport weekend went off very well, I thought. This was a new contestant and attracted a lot of attention. Please don't touch that glossy finish! It looks a lot better sitting on the track.
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On Saturday I painted the 36's anticlimber and part of the side sill blue, until I ran out of paint.
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And then the flag brackets at the #1 end needed to be installed, so we could mount flags for the Extravaganza. This was later painted red.
And I worked more on the roof of the 319, and so on.
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The 1630 was running both days.
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And the L car guys have new challenges to keep them busy...
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And Max has been installing a new power line south along Olson Rd. These poles are only about 100' apart, so perhaps they will eventually be holding bracket arms for the car line extension.
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Sunday was extremely busy, and I only took a couple of pictures. This is just a small sample of the antique cars, trucks, buses, and what not on display.
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The 36 and 309 ran all day, and we were completely full on every trip until the last. Zach Ehlers was my conductor. We were running five trains on the main line, one every 15 minutes, as well as an L car shuttle from 50th Ave. to Jefferson, about every half hour, and two streetcars. Nobody else on this continent can come anywhere near that. I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures from elsewhere available.
4 comments:
If you were completely full on every trip, it sounds like you need to add another blue car to that consist. IRM may very well have the largest butt-miles than any other museum (people with butt in seats per mile per day).
I would have liked to have another car, but I only had one trainman. Zach does a very good job, but two cars are all one conductor can handle. Also, we're running out of track! We had three two-car electric trains running, and that's all that can fit on Staion 1. The steam train was usually packed at least 15 minutes before departure, and again it would be nice to have more cars, but there are only so many trainmen, and if the steam train were any longer, it wouldn't fit onto Station 2 with the Zephyr. We were running at the facility's capacity.
And also, we never had much of a chance to take a break or have lunch. It's like being at work, only without the pay! But very satisfying, nonetheless. We got a lot of compliments from visitors, so that makes it all worthwhile.
We really have to give the dispatcher credit for keeping it all fluid with 5 mainline trains, the "L" cars from 50th Avenue, and more.
From Dan Buck,
I was the dispatcher on Vintage Transport Day, and I appreciate Brian's compliment. I would have liked more three car trains, but Randy is right about station capacity issues. With our single track railway, the tightest practical headways are every fifteen minutes. Running five trains including two of the most popular {steam and the Zephyr) is a recipe for potential chaos. The Zephyr is also notoriously slow loading and unloading (a handicap it shares, by the way with the Electroliner). I was planning to give lunch breaks by running trains into 50th Ave. station, but it's currently full of "L" cars. (Not that that's a bad thing!)
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