Today was our annual re-enactment of the notorious mid-day abandonment of service by the CA&E in 1957. For this, we had a two-car train of wood cars and a three-car train of steel cars.
Streetcar service offered some variety:
And the North Western bilevels provided authentic rescue service for all the stranded commuters:
But I was too busy during operations to get any good pictures. Larry Stone was the motorman, and I had a new (to IRM) trainman in Bob Alkire, who has worked at some other museums. And everything went very well -- any day without dewirements is a good day! While I didn't get any pictures of the abandonment, we've shown this before. We'll be glad to post any shots that you, our faithful readers, want to send in.
And sorry, folks, I didn't get the crew picture you've come to expect...
But as it happens, all of my children and grandchildren and in-laws are visiting, so they organized a family excursion to the Museum. And of course, a good time was had by all!
The children all had a great time at the model railroad display with its interactive features, and they also enjoyed the various cars that are open in Barn 3. And the playground, of course! There's always a lot of different things to see and do at IRM.
It's worth pointing out that the bi-level train was an authentic 1957 pre-HEP, pre-push/pull consist. Our usual bi-level train includes an F7 and a cab car, but the cab car wasn't built until 1959 and the F7 didn't enter commuter service until 1961. This consist includes a 1948 GP7 (that originally had a boiler for passenger service), a 1927 combine, and two 1955 bi-levels.
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