Sunny Sunday

Frank writes...

It was a beautiful day for railroading on Sunday, with weather in the 60s and hardly a cloud in the sky. The North Shore train was operating with the 251 and 749 and I got a chance to say hi to Fred Zimmerman and Greg Ceurvorst, who were on the crew.

As for me, I pulled the 308 and 309 outside to finish up initial inspection work by lubricating the motor armature bearings. This can be done inside the barn but it's easier outside where there's more ambient light. Joel Ahrendt, Zach Ehlers, Greg Kepka, and Richard Schauer helped with the lubricating and switching chores. The motor armature bearings on these GE 66 motors are tough to get at but it didn't take too long to get the job done. Now the 308 is all ready for service, as are the 36 and 319; the 309 can run but has a coupler out for repair.

There was a lot happening. Norm and Jeff were working away at the 28, needle-chipping the steel framing just behind the anti-climber in preparation for fitting the steel floor sheet at the front of the car. It's really coming together! Jon Fenlaciki was working on the roof of the 65 removing more parts so that roof repair work can begin in earnest. Joel, Zach, Greg, Richard, and Jeron were also doing some switching down in the south yard. A few unusual pieces of equipment were outside, including these spam cans.

Car 6462 (nearest camera) and 6461 have never run at IRM but are complete and not in particularly bad shape. I think that 6462 is the last electric car in our collection to have a photo gallery added in the museum website gallery; the car just typically isn't located where I can get a decent shot of it. Behind the spam cans in the photo above are CTA 4321 and Gary Railways 19 on its flat car, with the South Shore package trailer in the distant background.

Then towards the end of the day some repairs had to be made to an overhead switch on the east loop of the trolley bus line. In the above photo, Richard and Jeron are on the lift while Joel, Zach, and Greg keep a watchful eye on the proceedings. Working on trolley bus overhead requires extra precautions beyond working on regular railway overhead: while on railway overhead the electrical ground is 15' under your feet, on trolley bus overhead the ground wire is just a few inches away. So for this operation the overhead in this part of the property was isolated and locked out; a jumper was installed (from the ground, using an insulated "hot stick") directly between the positive and negative wires next to the work site; and only then did the crew go up in the lift.

In other news, I said hello to Bill Pollman from Seashore, who was wrapping up his visit, and since last weekend the 3UE test rack has been moved into the new air brake room (formerly the "clean room," one of the more outstanding misnomers at IRM). I also took a quick look at the 1218, which had been moved next to the door on track 131 late Saturday. I missed seeing the car outside - the first time the car has ever seen the sky in Illinois, as it has been in the barn since it was un-tarped and had been tarped since its days in storage in Ohio - but Zach sent me the above photo.