Pole up!

Frank writes...

I was out at the museum Sunday afternoon, working in the car shop more-or-less normally despite the recent cancellations and other changes. Yes, IRM is closed until May, but the restoration shops are still open. When I arrived, the Matchbox was being moved off of the pit following inspection work while VC 19, shown below, was being moved onto the pit.

For much of the day Joel, Jack, and new volunteer Jesus were working on inspection on the 19. After the 1374 was put in Barn 7, Richard also removed the east end brake valve for some work to repair a small air leak.

Other shop news includes a first coat of Indiana Railroad green on the roof of the 65. This project is coming along very nicely!

While the others were working on inspections, Greg, Nick E, and I grabbed the block-and-tackle and headed over to Barn 7. The goal was to continue the reassembly of Shaker Heights 18 by lifting the trolley base back onto the roof. This entailed hooking the block-and-tackle to the barn rafter and winching the base, which is extremely heavy, up from the ground. I worked on the roof and Greg raised the base while Nick was in charge of making sure we didn't lose any windows. As shown above, it worked like a charm! Nick is shown atop a ladder checking on progress. I then fetched some hardware and bolted the base down. The main trolley lead from the base to the fuse box (shown above between the base and Nick) wasn't attached yet but that will be quick to do later.

The trolley base's "resting" position is normally sticking almost straight up. Some bases can be latched down but this one couldn't, and the trolley poles are long enough that the car needs to be outside to give you enough space to insert the pole and then lower it down to a horizontal position. It was at this point that Nick and Greg pointed out that it probably wouldn't be too big of a problem to pull the 18 outside and get this job finished, so we trooped back over to the shop. Richard was just finishing up on the 1374's brake valve, so with that installed, the Matchbox and 4391 were moved out of the way and Shaker 63 and the 18 were towed outside. Many thanks to the entire crew for their help with this! Joel came over and was instrumental in getting the pole installed; above he's shown lowering it so that we can hook it down. He asked me whether I had done this before, and amazingly the answer was yes! In fact I even have proof.

So here it is: the 18 is a trolley car again for the first time since 2010.

This is just a gratuitous photo of the Matchbox I took while switching everything back into the barn. How can you not like a CSL streetcar in late-afternoon light?

After this the new Toronto CLRV was again fired up, with more success than last week, and was operated a couple of times back and forth for maybe 40'-50' in each direction. It's the least interesting, and yet - given the proximity to the end of track - also the least forgiving ride at Union. But it's also a rare chance to ride a piece of equipment at IRM running on track that isn't standard gauge.

The last project of the day was that Richard and Greg wanted to check on some air system repairs that they'd made to a San Francisco Fageol-Twin Coach trolley bus we got a few years back from Orange Empire. The air system repairs seemed to be substantially successful, though fixing one leak revealed another smaller one, but progress is being made. They also identified an issue with the MG set on the bus that should be fixable. Above is an interior photo; this thing is in rather good shape though years in the Perris, California heat led to most or all of the seats being damaged.