The interurban in autumn

 

Frank writes...

Sunday was the first time I can recall - and possibly even the first time ever, though it seems unlikely - that we ran the CA&E wood cars in regular service in October. It was surely the 319's first time carrying passengers during October since its return to Illinois in 2010. Usually our only October special event is the Pumpkin Train, and that utilizes specially-decorated cars selected because they have working heat. But this weekend turned out to be something of an ad hoc special event dubbed Fall Festival. It came about when the Steam Department decided to run the Shay for a final weekend (steam in October at IRM also being very unusual) and then Harold suggested making the weekend into something a bit more expansive than the usual two-train setup.

It seemed to me that it worked out great. There were good crowds both days, the weather was beautiful, and the fall colors were nice to see. I usually don't operate in October, given the limited number of trains we usually have in service, so that was a bit of a treat.

The Shay performed admirably both days and, as always, was the main attraction. There were three trains on the main line; besides the steam-hauled coach train there was a two-car train of spam cans plus the 309 and 319.

Originally the CA&E steel cars were scheduled, but I asked Jim West whether he had an objection to swapping in the wood cars and he said it would be fine. So there we go, rare autumn mileage for these cars. My conductor was the nattily attired Henry Vincent but I'm afraid I failed to get a crew photo. It was "all hands on deck" for the car shop, as Joel was conductor on the coach train while Greg and Good Nick crewed the CTA train.

The 309 doesn't usually get to see the trees change color. The last time we had these cars out on the railroad after Members Day was three years ago when a (never released) movie called The Letter was being filmed. That was at the end of November, though. Regardless, it seemed like everyone had a great time and I hope that the museum considers adding this event to the schedule again next year.

After we put the train away, I had barely enough time before losing daylight to put a coat of fresh Bankers Grey on the front end of the 18. This is significant progress, as it's the first patch of "final" finish paint to go onto the car. It was applied using a trim roller, which gives an even - if not quite mirror-smooth - finish. The color match was provided by Walt Stoner and Steve Heister of the Northern Ohio Railway Museum, so we thank them for providing this information. There's a bit more Bondo work that needs to be done behind the bumper but for all intents and purposes the dash of the car is now painted and sealed up. One thing you might notice, in the above photo, is that the right side dash panel we are looking at still has four screws in it where the advertisement frame was once attached. We will need to replace this at some point, as the car would have had this fitted during the mid-1940s, so if anyone knows of an original that could be used as a pattern please let us know.

Richard was in the shop, working on the CLRV truck, and late in the day he was joined by Greg. Here we see Greg (left) and Richard trying to break loose a balky bolt holding on part of the gear box. This is a mono-motor truck, so a single motor is mounted centered in the truck and parallel to the rail - it's the black octagonal-looking case visible behind the grey lateral framing member. That motor drives each axle via a gearbox using a collar arrangement. On the near axle, the gearbox is centered (with a blue shop rag lying on top of it), the collar is to the right, and on the near side is the brake disc. Weird. And in other exciting news, Good Nick was working on rebuilding an S-16 governor for car 453. We actually are not entirely sure what type of governor these cars were fitted with when they were delivered, but the 451 and 460 both came to us from Trolleyville with S-16's so that's the best guess.