Tuesday, September 17, 2019

The Electroliner - Together Again!


Today's big news was the reassembly of the Electroliner.  Many people helped with this project, and I'm afraid I may miss someone, but I hope not.  This was not just a Car Dept. project, but we had help from the Diesel, Steam, Track, and especially B&G departments.  Thanks to the confident wisdom of everyone, it all went smoothly.

The two big rented cranes were essential parts of the whole process.


Yesterday (Monday) a lot of switching was done to get everything into position.




Gerry Dettlof, Carl Illwitzer, Dave Diamond, Dan Fenlaciki


Gregg, Dave, Jeff Calendine


This is the idler truck, so you can see more of the suspension.


The B unit is lifted so the shop trucks can be rolled out.


This was under the 319, but the motors have been removed.


Bob Olson ran the big fork lift, to remove the shop trucks from the track.


Ed Oslowski was recently in hospital, but nothing could stop him from showing up to help.


The boys discuss whether this can actually work as a single-truck car.




Another view of one of the A units.  I can't tell them apart.


The idler truck goes under one end of B.


Paul Cronin was the dispatcher and coordinated most of the rail movements.


The Army Diesel, run by Ray Weart with Bob Albertson as ground man, did most of the work.





Jeff and Gregg move the big needle beam into position.  This is necessary because the cars were designed with holes in the frame for lifting hooks...


But at this end the North Shore installed some conduits and piping, so the holes are unusable.  Please stop laughing.


So the C liner is now in the air.


Bob and Bill Halsted help get the beam into position.



On the left, Jeron Glander.  The guys in the yellow hardhats are from Avalon.  And next is Jamie Kolanowski. 



He's working on the magic bowl for the joint between the units.


Jamie and a volunteer crane expert watch as the two units are put together.



Then it was discovered that one of the trucks had to be rotated 180, so that took some time.


But finally, we have two units together.   On three trucks.


Next up is the 801 A unit.




Jeron and an Avalon guy position the body over the truck.



The two center units are brought back in.


Meanwhile, the IT Diesel is brought in to move the other A unit.  Operated by Gregg Wolfersheim.



Nick Kallas and Carl discuss their next move.  I should mention that Nick went to get lunch from Subway for everybody, courtesy of the Electroliner project.  Thanks!



Finally, we have a three-quarter Liner.  Since both A units have to be facing the same way for the truck swap, at this point it was necessary to wye the train.  So us onlookers got to go for a ride.



Typical railfans in the front seat enjoy the fruit of their labors.




Here we are rocketing down the mainline towards Milwaukee.  Well, we can imagine.



The 802 is lifted off its trucks



And the other three cars are pulled into position


Another one of the golden bowls in place on the 802.


And finally, it's all back together!







Of course, a lot of work remains to be done to hook up all of the electrical, brake, control, air conditioning, and other systems before it can run under its own power.  But this will be a major priority for the department over the next several months.  Our thanks to everyone who contributed to this project!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful set of photos Randy. The only thing you guys lacked for was getting Electroburgers from the diner but I suppose Subway was the next best thing? Thanks for posting.
C Kronenwetter

Anonymous said...

One more question, how are the bronze bowl joints lubricated in operation? Does the joint have to be lifted to relubricate it or are there lube fittings?
C Kronenwetter

Randall Hicks said...

I really don't know, but I suspect they have to be lifted. Before the articulated joints were put together, the Avalon guy would get in there with a tube of grease and slather as much as he could on both surfaces of the bowl. The end trucks have a standard type of center bearing, and those you need to jack up in order to lubricate.

Frank LaPrise said...

Frank LaPrise

Great set of photos!
Last thing I recall was that the Electro-liners went from Chicago to Philadelphia
becoming the Liberty-liners. So at some point they were retired and donated to a museum? Was that where they reverted to Electroliners?? I am talking about decades
ago.

Anonymous said...

Both Liberty-liners were retired back in the 90's. One went to museum in Pennsylvania where it is being restored (and operates now and then) as a Liberty-liner. The other one came to IRM and was restored to its Electroliner configuration and paint scheme.
C Kronenwetter

Anonymous said...

Both 801-802 and 803-804 were out of service on the Red Arrow by the late 1970's. They were stored until formally retired by SEPTA in 1982, and at that time they made their ways to their respective homes. 803-804 lives at the Rockhill Trolley Museum where it is preserved as a Liberty Liner and occasionally operated. 801-802 was made operational at IRM soon after arrival, but it wasn't painted back to NSL until around 1991.

-Zach