Tracking Progress

 Lots of exciting things are happening at the Museum, and here's a snapshot of just a few of them from Thursday.

Tracks 41 and 42

When I arrived early in the morning, I immediately noticed that track 41 had been connected through the barn, as seen here.  It was installed over the past two days by the contractors, and today they started on track 42.

This is really mainline quality workmanship.

In the morning, roadbed for 42 was dug out and leveled, then they started filling it with rock ballast.

And rails were still going into place when I left.

1808

Tim was mostly working on curved ceiling panels, which are made in two layers glued together.  Here he is starting to spread the glue, as Phil looks on.

Later, we have two sections in the big press while the glue dries.

When installed, they look like this:

And he also spent time stripping the long molding strips for the ceiling.

306

Phil, a recent recruit, spent most of the day cutting and installing new floor parts, as seen here.

And John was working on the many new door panels.

460

Some of the second shift guys recently wire-wheeled the baggage racks for the smoker.  The racks are big and heavy, and their help is much appreciated.  Since there was no good way to spray them in the shop areas, I moved them back into the smoker with help from Phil, and I was able to warm it up enough for painting.  The racks will probably require some touch-up, as it's hard to see or spray all of the various surfaces on such a complicated construction.

Most of my time was spent finishing up the inner side of the smoker-vestibule door, more or less.  Stripping this paint is a real chore.

And then I turned it over, with help from John.  The other side isn't much better, and I might as well do it all at the same time.

And that's not even all that's going on in the shop.  As usual, you had to be there.  And that's no joke.

Chicago Trolley Bus Day

Thanks to Richard Schauer for sending along a series of photos taken during the Chicago Trolley Bus Day event this past Saturday, which commemorated 50 years to the day since the end of trolley bus service in Chicago. The weather was far from ideal, with snow falling in the morning (though not the 3-6" predicted) that made for some pretty unique photos. First, a batch from Bob Bourne:

And here are some photos from Michael Gross:

The stars of the show were our two Chicago trolley buses that helped close out trolley bus service, of course, 9553 and 9631. Our oldest trolley bus, and the oldest operating trolley bus in the country, CSL 84, was brought out and parked by Central Avenue for tours. Our heated streetcars were being decorated for the upcoming Easter event, so North Shore 749 carried passengers on the streetcar line while CTA 6655-6656 ran on the main line.

The Garden Prairie Substation

Thanks to Tim Peters, who paid a visit to the old Elgin & Belvidere substation in Garden Prairie, 10 miles west of IRM. The E&B had three substations along the line between Elgin and Belvidere, and ironically enough the only one of the three no longer standing is the one in Union - the ones in Gilberts to the east and Garden Prairie to the west are still there.

Tim writes: I took some pictures of the garden prairie substation today. It appears to be the same as the union substation as built. Note the passenger waiting area canopy bracket shown on the NW corner of the building. The second floor on the lower portion of the building appears to be an addition as seen from the SW view of the building taken from the fire station on rt 20. You will note the change in the brick above the original 1st floor. The entire street side facade is added.  That would be the side facade on the union substation. See page 39 in 'The Dairy Route '. Looking at the street side, the northern edge of the second floor deck is the end of the canopy. The second floor wall is the original end of the building. Everything north of that on the first floor is part of an addition. Note the alignment of the T intersection with the building.

Smoker Progress

Frank writes...

Sunday was a good day for progress on the 460's smoker. I masked off the entire compartment as needed and then did some additional clean-up, including removing the two baggage racks - thanks to Joel, Nick, and Greg for their help with that. Those will need to be cleaned up and sprayed silver, then reinstalled. After that, it was time for primer.

I was a little late arriving so I ran out of time, but not before I got half the compartment done, as shown. Next week I'll do the other half and then it's on to fresh blue-grey paint, which has already been procured.

In other news, Bob and Mikey were working on the Class B's control system; Nathan was turning something on the lathe, though I'm not sure what; and Joel was doing a variety of odd jobs. Nick and Greg were working on the substation, where they removed a failed re-closing device and sent it (and a non-working spare) out for repair. The re-closer lets the substation determine whether to automatically restart itself after it's tripped out, so it's a good thing to have in proper working order.

State Line Streetcars From the Bill Wulfert Collection

Many thanks to Bill Wulfert for contributing five quite interesting photos of streetcars that ran between South Chicago and the cities in northwestern Indiana.

This is what our CSL "Interstate," the 2846, looked like when it was new. South Chicago City Railway 338 later became CSL 2852; our car started out as SCCR 332. These cars were single-ended on SCCR, so this is the left or "blind" side of the car. Points of trivia: There's a drop platform at the rear, but not the front - the front had a steep step well of the same type as our older CA&E wood cars. Even though it was designed for single-end operation, there were poles and controllers at both ends. The car was heated by a coal-fired water heater at the front left corner, for which the stovepipe is obvious. It's not real obvious here but the front section of the car is convertible, and those are one-piece/two-light windows that would be removed (along with the section of car side underneath them) during the summer. The livery was vermilion with yellow along the windows, not too dissimilar from the later CSL colors.

Zoomed in, the herald on the side of the car says "Red Lines." The connecting Hammond Whiting & East Chicago, which ran joint through service with SCCR, was the "Green Lines."

This CSL company photo of car 2853 is dated July 30, 1915. Car 2853 is just one number off of the car shown above, but this depicts it after the major rebuilding this entire series underwent in 1910. Other than keeping the railroad roof, most of the odd aspects of the car design were changed to "BOSE standard" including double-ended layout, longer platforms, no convertible section or mid-car bulkhead, and electric heat.

This terrific photo shows South Chicago City Railway 204, a big double-truck open car built in the company shops, crossing the B&O at Baltimore & 83rd Street. These 200-series open cars are described in Bion Arnold's 1908 valuation report of SCCR, but they're listed as unpowered trailers, probably pulled most commonly by "Interstates" like car 332 above. It also describes them as having been built in 1908, though that could be when they were rebuilt as trailers (or was 204 later rebuilt as a motor car?). Anyway, car 204 shows off some interesting traits including corner boarding with a center aisle; fixed back-to-back benches, which were quite common in Chicago in the late 19th century, rather than the flip-over reversible benches more commonly seen elsewhere; Peckham 18CX trucks; and what looks like a D1-EG air compressor, the same type as the two ex-SCCR cars in IRM's collection had when built.

Fast forward a few decades and this is Chicago & Calumet District Transit 74, formerly of the Hammond Whiting & East Chicago. It's pictured in front of the Whiting post office toward the end of its career. The HW&EC and then C&CDT had 16 cars of this design built between 1916 and 1919 (this car was from the final 1919 batch) by American Car Company. Though resembling CSL "Big Pullmans," they had steel bodies and Brill 77E trucks. The highest-numbered 11 cars of this type were rebuilt for one-man service in 1932 (note the lack of steps at this corner) and thereafter the rest of the company's fleet was effectively retired. The last C&CDT car ran in June 1940.

Here's a rare interior photo of C&CDT 74. My guess is that this was taken after it had been retired because the controller is missing! Some points of trivia: note space to mount two fare registers, one for each side of the state line (CSL 2846 at IRM has this same feature); over the motorman's head you can see a variety of switches as well as a mirror for keeping an eye on the passengers; despite being converted to one-man operation, the car retains the original twin doorways to the platform, similar to Chicago two-man cars; and by the motorman's right hand you can see what looks like two hand cranks to operate the doors, similar to how C&WT 141 is set up at IRM.

Tuesday Update

 Another brief Car Dept. report from Tuesday:

John continues to assemble door leaves for the 306.  The parts were made a couple of years ago, and are now being glued together:

Tim is working on sockets for the lights in the 1808:

New doors for the North Shore cars:

Frank Kehoe continues to fix up the clerestory window hinges for the 1808:

Phil is varnishing woodwork for the 306:

Norm and Gerry are repairing the line breaker for the 306.  This is the trolley side:

And this is the control side:

Finally, I had wanted to switch around the CA&E wood cars to put the 308 at the door, but that turned out not to be possible due to a problem with the compressor on the 36.  But I removed the other stepwell at the #2 end and dropped the pilot.  I'm hoping we can pull the truck out sometime soon and then remove the motors.