Memorial Day Operations

Today was a busy day for public operations, and the CA&E wood cars ran for the first time this year.  Here the 308 and 319 are pulling into the station.

This was the first trip of the day.  I was a trainman on the steam train, but since it wasn't ready yet, I was able to ride along on the first trip.  Everything went well.

And here's our crew: Dan Buck, Keith Letsche, and Chris Buck.  They do a great job.

And the CSL Matchbox was operating today, something you don't see very often.

When I got on, there was only one lonely passenger.

Paul Sprenger was the motorman, and I had a chance to talk to Frank S. (seen above) a little before they started taking on passengers for regular service.  It's great to see this car running again.

Then it was time for the 1630 to go into service.  Everybody likes to watch the locomotive in action.

I should have gotten a crew picture for the coach train: conductor Sam Polonetzky, Dan Bixler, and me.  We had a good crowd during the day.

And then there were several other trains I didn't get a picture of: the Zephyr, the caboose train with the IT Geep and four waycars, the CTA 2200's running in shuttle service again, and the 4391.  The CA&E train had to be pulled from service when a trolley pole came loose on the 319, but I was able to get it fixed with help from the operating crew, Joel, and Gregg.   Nobody got hurt and there was minimal damage, but we held up the railroad for a while, and it's more embarrassment than anything else.  So for the most part it was a good day, and lots of people had a great time.

My son was out there today, I'm told, but he was helping with switching in the south yards, and I never saw him.  The place is so big they could be making a bonfire of the 321 and I wouldn't know it.  But he promises to post something later about what they were doing.