Today had great weather for working on projects of all sorts. As usual, I was working on the 36, so:
After a lot of sanding, it was time for more white primer. Second coat on most the bulkhead, first on the middle ceiling. Thanks to poor planning, I ran out of white paint, so some more progress was made on the #1 vestibule.
Then work turned to stripping the window shade tracks, over in the lean-to. These generally have a lot of alligatoring, so they need individual attention. Who doesn't?
And now for news from other Car Dept. projects:
Really looks nice, doesn't it? These are the end platforms of the Baldy, CTA 4146, which got its Mastipave renewed just yesterday. Also the bad areas near the center doors, which I couldn't get to. The post-it notes say "KEEP OUT!" because the cement isn't completely set up yet. I have to admit this project is actually quite exciting. This car could be put back into service soon, which would be a big milestone. There are a few other "baldies" in existence, but none of them are anywhere near restorable condition. (Yeah, I know, "experts say it could be restored", but....)
Tim is varnishing the floor of the 24. And up on the roof, the poles are in place; the bases are not yet completely assembled. Notice the guards to keep the pole from hitting the destination signs. It's pretty complex.
And Eric continues to make progress on the Cleveland PCC. Here he is installing angles for the heater ducts. The car is going to be almost entirely new parts, replaced piece by piece.
Well, as usual I'm missing a lot of things that were going on. We could use one or more correspondents to cover all the various activities. Or better yet, you could participate yourself!
5 comments:
Maybe some day one of the other Baldies will get a all new piece by piece restoration like the Cleveland PCC.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the only groups operating 4000 cars is IRM and East Troy. I don't think there is any real interest elsewhere. Over time the cars will simply disappear. Sadly this is also the case with at least three (or more) North Shore cars. As far as a baldy goes IRM has and for the foreseeable future will have the only one.
Randy Stahl
Randy: There's also FRTM, but that is basically correct. When the 4000's were being withdrawn from the CTA back in the seventies, there was a lot of interest in them elsewhere, and it seemed that a large number of them were acquired by several museums: IMOTAC, ORM, and several on the East Coast. But over time the interest seems to have disappeared, as you say. I think I can guarantee that won't happen here.
Okay, I'll bite... what's a "baldy"?
Mike G.
The first order of steel cars built for Chicago Rapid Transit in 1915 were designed for operation in a subway (that didn't get built for another thirty years or so) and had sheet metal roofs. These roofs did not have poles mounted on them, or much of anything else such as ventilators, and the cars were therefore known as "baldies". The later cars in the 4000 series had the more usual wood and canvas roofs, with trolley poles, and these are the type that were preserved in large numbers. In a museum setting, a baldy could only be operated trained with one or more plushies.
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