The Biggest Parade Yet

Frank writes...

Today was the "70 for 70 Trolley Pageant," commemorating IRM's 70th anniversary with a staggering 71 electric cars participating in the parade in front of the depot. It seemed like there was a big crowd present to witness the event, and they were treated to quite a show. Credit for organizing this unprecedented lineup goes to the people in the car shop who made all of the plans and spent a lot of late nights getting all the equipment ready, and to the 60+ operators and other volunteers who made it happen.

I arrived a little bit before the 9am orientation meeting and got to see a smiling Zach operating the Electroliner through Station Track 1 on its way to 50th Avenue, where it spent most of the day - except for its time participating in the parade - on public display

Part of the freight train had already been spotted in Station Track 2, including North Shore MD car 213 (being towed), Milwaukee Electric container car M37, and Lake Shore Electric interurban freight trailer 810. ComEd 4, on the right, was also towing WEPCO L7, the green steeplecab, which runs but has a bad-order air compressor at the moment.

After the orientation meeting I caught the four crewmembers of the CA&E wood train heading to Barn 8 to take their stations. My conductor on the 18 was Kyle from the Steam Shop, though we failed to get a "crew photo" I'm afraid. As a member of the Steam Team, he did not have much experience hopping trolley poles for back-poling moves, so working the 18 was really being thrown into the deep end. But he did an outstanding job, so obviously he's no longer allowed to work in the Steam Shop and needs to start volunteering in the Electric Car Shop instead. Sorry, them's the rules.

It was impressive to see all the equipment being staged out behind the electric barns, and I only photographed a few random pieces. Here we see the 354, with the 6100-series 'L' cars to the left and Indiana Railroad 65, which fittingly led the parade as the lead car, just inside the door.

The event was the first-ever public operation of a four-car CA&E steel train at IRM, and the first operation of a four-car CA&E steel train anywhere in probably 40 years, give or take. The 451 was at the west end of the string. I think Julie Johnson would be pleased.

We had two four-car CA&E trains in service, which was pretty fantastic. It's notable that of the six CA&E cars in this photo, five came from Trolleyville. In fact, my father pointed out that nearly all of the nine cars we acquired following dispersal of the Trolleyville collection operated in the parade. The sole exception was Shaker Heights PCC 63, which needs a new MG set.

Of course, the 451 wasn't the only ex-Trolleyville car making its debut for the public. The 18 is pictured in Yard 7. I really need to repaint the roof. And the panel between the doors.

Here the car is halfway between the West Switch and the east end of Schmidt Siding, followed by the 19, 141, 68, CA&E wood train (in Schmidt), and CA&E steel train (on the main). I don't have any photos from our trip past the reviewing stand or back into the barn, of course, but everything was handled with speed and efficiency by Main Line Dispatcher Jeron, Car Line Dispatcher Harold, and the designated Joel for the day, Joel.

After closing up the 18, I headed to the depot to watch some of the parade. It was good to see some friends there visiting from other museums including PTM, WRM, Branford, and SCRM. SEPTA 55, shown here, was running for the first time since the 2011 trolley pageant. Unfortunately, it was about this time that the substation tripped out, which slowed things a bit.

The culprit couldn't possibly have been this, the longest train of the day, a seven-car pack of spam cans. It's certainly an impressive sight, I'll admit!

And following it was the second-longest train of the day, a six-car train of CTA "high-performance" cars including the 2000s, 2200s, and 2400s. Unfortunately, I needed to head out before I got to see the pantograph equipment at the end of the parade, but there will surely be photos and videos showing up online before long. For the record, the parade participants (in order) were:

IRR 65

CTA 4391

CSL 144

CTA 3142

CSL 1374

IT 277-518-234

IT 101

C&ME 354

CNS&M 229-604

CNS&M 801-802

CNS&M 749-757-714-160-251

SHRT 18

CTUSU 19

C&WT 141

SS 68

CA&E 319-36-309-308

CA&E 431-409-460-451

NWERR 24-CRT 1268-1797-1754

CTA 4290-4410-4412-4146

SEPTA 55

CTA 22-41-6655-6656-30-6125-6126

CTA 2153-2154-2243-2244-2433-2434

TMER&L M15

TMER&L D13

CE 4-WEPCO L7-CCW 300-LSE 810-TMER&L M37-CNS&M 213

CSS&SB 34-40-504*

CSS&SB 1100

IC 1198-1380

Metra 1630-1637

CSS&SB 803-PRR 4927-Amtrak 945

*Towed by diesel due to mechanical issues