Cold Switching

Frank writes...

Winter has suddenly arrived; a couple of days of light snow was followed by a dip in the temperature, so the last day of Happy Holiday Railway 2022 on Sunday was sunny and festive-looking, what with the patchy snow on the ground, but rather chilly. Sounds like a good day for switching!

I spent most of the afternoon with Nick and Joel helping them switch. The goal was to get North Shore 757 over to Barn 4; the weekday guys are building new side doors for the car, and having it close at hand will be a big help with that project, especially given the winter weather. The car was on track 64 behind steeplecab L4 and three wooden 'L' cars. We used the L4 to switch the 1754 out of the way, then the 1797 and 1268 - shown above - motored themselves over to track 61. Then the 757, which is fully operational, just temporarily door-deficient, ran itself around the car line and into Yard 4 West in between HHR streetcar traffic. We left the car on track 43 near the west end of the barn.

The impetus for getting this work done on the 757 is that it is due to run in public service, for the first time in quite a few years I believe, for North Shore Day on January 21st. It will be the first time IRM has been open in January in 30 years, and we'll be commemorating the 60th anniversary of the last day of the North Shore. Quite a bit of NSL-related excitement is planned, so mark your calendars now - it's not every day you get to experience a ride in a nice, warm interurban car through the frigid midwinter countryside.

After that, Nick and I worked on a streetcar brake valve for a while before dinner. After dinner, we helped a crew of Diesel, Electric Car, and Bus Department volunteers who went through our leased Metra bi-level to deep-clean it before it goes back to Metra. This was the first time IRM has ever leased a passenger car to run for the public, but it not only provided extra seats for HHR, it also provided the ability to accommodate ADA passengers. Above, for future reference in case we're ever curious, it was car 8523, just outshopped by Metra's car rehab forces.