Don't get too scared

Happy Halloween from all of us here at the blog! In honor of the occasion, we have this spooky sight: what Egon Spengler might term a "free-floating" apparition of an 'L' car suspended in mid-air. But of course, there's nothing too strange going on here - it's a photo taken by our intrepid freelance photographer Bob Sundelin on Sunday, showing the 1754 up on jacks during its big truck swap. You'll recall that the 1754 was rebuilt in the early 1920s with trucks and electrical gear basically identical to that fitted to the 4000s, but when the car came to IRM in the 1970s the CTA wanted to keep the motors (either that or we just couldn't afford to buy them!) so we got the car with a motor truck from an older, non-upgraded wooden 'L' car. Now that the 1754 is being restored to its late-1920s/1930s appearance, it has been needing a correct 4000-style Baldwin MCB motor truck, and over the last year or two a great deal of work has gone into rebuilding one. Bob reports that the truck swap was indeed completed on Sunday, though some side bearing adjustment remains to be done. Keep an eye out for the 1754, complete with its correct MCB motor truck, in regular service next year.