Monday, March 16, 2015

Back at it

Frank writes...

Sunday was my first day back at the museum since October, what with my busy wintertime work schedule, and I picked a good day to go out: highs were in the 60s and it was partly sunny so it was a great day to be outdoors.  I didn't get a whole lot done but I did help out with a few switch moves.  These revolved around the CTA 2000s, which were just repainted (see below) and look better than new.  They're also our new neighbors in Barn 8, parked right next to the 319, so we'd better be careful with that black roof paint!

I spent some time wandering around and acquainting myself with some of the progress since I was last out.  Richard, Greg and another volunteer whose name I'm afraid I managed to forget were putting poles and roof cables back on the 2000s while Norm and Jeff were back in the barn working on the Michigan interurban car.  With roof work on the latter essentially done they are now tackling the badly deteriorated floor at the front of the car (the rear platform floor was rebuilt in the early 2000s).
I also went over to Barn 7 and spent a bit of time looking over the CSL "green cars," the 2843 (shown above in service) and 2846, because I'm working on historical articles about these cars which should appear at some point on this very blog.  And you can help!  I'm looking for photos of these cars (in-service photos or pictures prior to their stint in Barn 7) or any original CSL documents pertaining to them.  Any assistance will be very helpful in fleshing out the history of these "hidden in plain sight" gems.

3 comments:

Joe S. said...

The site that Ray Piesciuk put together has scans of roster drawings for CSL streetcars, including the ones you mention. The link to that page is http://irm-cta.org/Blueprints.html

I have some ideas about possible places to find other documents, what kinds of things are you looking for?

Thanks,

Joe S.

Anonymous said...

Frank,
Since October? That is far too long! You know that all work and no play makes for adull man!

Ted Miles
IRM Member

Frank Hicks said...

Joe, thanks for the link. I did take a look and the blueprints on Ray's site are very interesting, not to mention useful. Right now I'm interested in just about anything involving the history of the 2843 and 2846 - assignments, info on modifications, AFE's, information on the south side routes, and photos of cars in these series.

Frank