Curve-sider Afternoon

Frank writes...

Sunday was unseasonably warm, about 50 degrees, and sunny - a perfect day for switching.

When I arrived, I was treated to the above sight and the steady whirring sound of the 460's MG set. Many thanks to all of the "second shift" guys who built a new battery tray and got the car's set of batteries back in shape and reinstalled! The car is now back to generating its own power for lights. I finished the last of the wire-wheeling inside the smoker and then got a good start on sanding down the wooden trim.

While taking a break, I wandered over to Barn 6, where rumor had it they were going to be switching out our second curve-sider. Sure enough, Nathan and Mikey were hard at work. They pulled out the L4 (above) and then the 431-409, which were at the door on track 62. Behind the CA&E cars was the L7, which runs but can't make air because it has a blown air compressor. The L4 was used to pull the L7 out of the way.

Next in on track 62 was NWERR 24, which also needs air compressor work but can move itself. It's shown here switching itself out of the way. While all of this was going on, Bob, Marcus, and I think one or two other Track Department volunteers were hard at work rebuilding the switch at the throat to Yard 5 in the background.

And here's the goal of the switch move: to extract the 451 and leave it adjacent to the 409-431 so that we can test the car's brake operation and control wiring. The 451 has never operated at IRM, other than being towed around dead in switch moves, but its operational debut is tentatively planned to be on July 1st as part of the "70 for 70" Trolley Parade. Mark your calendar now to see the first operating four-car CA&E steel train in Illinois since 1957!

Thanks to Nathan Kayer for sending this neat panoramic photo of the three-car train, as well as the following two images.

What a beautiful sight!

Here's a photo by Nathan of the two WEPCO, ex-Milwaukee Electric, steeplecabs. Both of these are planned to be in the parade on July 1st as well, as will NWERR 24.

After the 451 came out, the L7 was put  back near the west end of track 62 (this was past the end of the trolley wire so the L4's "extension cord" was used to do this - hence the reason they used the L4 and not ComEd 4 for this move) followed by NWERR 24 and then the three CA&E cars. Before the three-car train went back into the barn I got this photo just before sunset.

So what else was happening? Joel was roaming around on various chores, while Greg and Good Nick were over at the substation making repairs and adjustments there. Bob was working on M23 brake valves in an effort to repair the brake valve at one end of 'L' car 1754 - above, he's sitting at the bench holding a very small brass plunger of some sort.

Meanwhile Zach was also off on a variety of errands, including helping with more air and electrical work on the wooden 'L' cars. He also spent some time on the CA&E cars: a couple of light bulbs in the 460 were burned out, so he was able to replace them with ones from the 453. At some point we need to get more of these - anyone know of a source for 25W, 30V DC light bulbs?

And then after dinner I did more sanding until I ran out of sandpaper, then with help from Nick I removed the door from the 460's smoker onto the platform and brought it into the shop. As you can see, the paint is in pretty bad shape, so this door will be stripped and repainted. I had the paint store match this blue-grey color on Saturday so a gallon of the correct paint was deposited in the shop. Of the four surviving curve-siders, the 460 is the only one whose interior isn't tan. So there's your trivia tidbit for the day.