Highlights of 2023

It's time once again to celebrate as we review the accomplishments of 2023.  As always, additions and corrections are welcome!

• Celebration of IRM's 70th anniversary, including the world's biggest trolley pageant ever.  We've come a long way!
• Commemoration of the 60th anniversary of end of service on the North Shore Line
• Acquisitions:

1. C&IM 30
2. Pullman "Palm Lane"
3. MBTA 4110

• First operation in regular service of the Shaker Heights 18.
• First operation of a four-car CA&E steel train, including car 451 in its first public operation.
• Operation of both the Decapod and the Shay several times this year.
• Special days such as Pumpkin, Thomas, Vintage Transport, and Happy Holiday all went well
• IRM hosted some important private events.
• Completion of track work in Yard 12.
• Initial construction of the Barn 4 extension and reconstruction of Yard 4 East.
• And as usual, operations proceeded smoothly and safely during the year, thanks to our operating department.
• We can't list all the restoration projects that were either completed or made significant progress this year.  Ones that come immediately to mind are the 306, 1702, and 441.
• Perhaps most importantly, we have several new active volunteers.  We are certainly grateful for their help, and hope they will stay with us for a long time!

And finally, a public service announcement:

There's plenty to celebrate, but don't let others talk you into overdoing things.  You might regret it.

In Memoriam - David Streeter

We are sad to report that longtime IRM Operating Department volunteer David Streeter died on Tuesday after a period of health issues. He had been a regular conductor and motorman at the museum for at least 10 or 15 years and was one of a core group of volunteers who helped hold down public service throughout each summer. He was also a Burlington fan, an HO scale model railroader, and he was active with the NRHS. Our condolences go out to David's family and friends. He will be sorely missed at IRM.

Test Fit

Frank writes...

I was able to make it out to IRM for a rare weekday appearance today, and as luck would have it, my father was able to be out there too. So, that was nice! When we arrived, we were greeted by Frank Kehoe's handiwork. Frank was out on Tuesday and made tremendous progress on the 18's fender: he cut, bent, drilled, painted, and installed all of the remaining metal straps that hold the basket to the fender. He also took the whole assembly apart just enough to thread new rubber air hose sections onto the front pipe, per Shaker Heights practice, effectively completing reassembly of the "basket." I can't thank Frank enough for all of this work!

My father and I spent a little while gathering hardware for the fender, which included new cotter pins to hold the body attachment brackets to the fender frame; bolts to go through those brackets; and a couple of S-hooks and some chain to hang it. Fortunately, the chain and spring for one side was intact, so we had a pattern to work from. We then carried the fender over to the car; used a grinder to cut off an intransigent bolt that needed replacing; and voila!

You'll notice that the "fence" is missing; this is held up by a short chain to a hook on the front dash of the car, but that hook is missing, so we'll need to figure out how to replace it. But we tested the fender in both its "deployed" and "stowed" positions, the latter shown below.

We are going to order some new chain and hardware, since the original chain and split links are pretty deteriorated and these are not components that we want to risk failing in service. So, after this test fitting, we removed the fender and took the hardware to be replaced back to the shop. After that, we headed over to the Jewell Road shelter. My father caulked up some spots around the door frame while I helped with a bit of straightening and cleaning inside the shelter.

And then it was time to consult our treasure maps - as Victor Humphreys had told me when I ran into him in the wood shop earlier in the day, X23 marks the spot! We made the short walk from Jewell Road's current location over to Barn 10, where Victor showed us progress on the Pennsylvania Railroad X23 boxcar-turned-tool car.

So far, the Freight Car Department has completely re-sided half of one side of the car, which you can see below. The car is being restored to its later (WWII-era) configuration as an MOW tool car and painted in battleship grey.

We even got a tour through the car, including a look at some of the original tool car equipment (like those wooden bins) and the piles of lumber that were cut years ago and have been stored safely inside the car awaiting volunteer time.

The siding needs to be replaced from inside the car, so that necessitates some disassembly and then reassembly of interior appointments. The next area to be restored will be the remainder of the south side of the car, as shown below; this is the wall visible on the right side of the above photo. Victor and the rest of the Freight Car Department crew were just recipients of a Heritage Rail Alliance achievement award for their restoration of the PRR "bobber" caboose, so it was nice to get an update of their next venture.

New Doors and Other Weekend Updates

Frank writes...

Many thanks to our intrepid cub reporter, Steven, who sent along several photos from this past weekend at IRM. Steven reports:

Friday was another wet day but saw good public turnout considering the weather.  Not many volunteers were at the museum outside of those needed for operations. CA&E 431 was being used out on the car line again, once again a fan favorite of the two cars out running. The only other notable event was the lights on the third box car on the Steam Lead display going out. Joel, Jeff, and I did some troubleshooting for a good 30 minutes but couldn't get the car to turn back on.

Saturday's photos: First, the final day of HHR 2023 went fairly smoothly.  Joel did a bit of work to get the box car from Saturday lit up again for Saturday's visitors. It looked stunning once again for the last day of Operations 2023.

Overall, HHR this year was an absolutely huge success from everything I saw. This was my first year of HHR and I can't wait to see how the event grows the next few years!

Progress on the barn 4 extension: New garage doors have been installed on all tracks and the new lean. Luckily there was an extension cord ran from the 41 tracks opener so we could get the door open for our next project of Saturday.

The IT Class B switch move: Greg and Nick started up the 25-tonner from Yard 4 and headed over to Barn 6 to start a quick switch move. The goal was to get the B out and get it moved over the pit for some work next weekend.  The first step was getting the North Shore duo out of the way. Along the way to Barn 6, Richard joined the switch crew. He moved the North Shore cars out of the way and back into the barn. Greg and Nick moved the B over to Barn 4 through the new extension and over the pit.

Happy Holidays and have a great new year!

Christmas Greetings

 

Madonna and Child

with Saints John the Baptist, Jerome, Laurence, and Dominic

Mariano di Ser Austerio da Perugia, c. 1493

(I wonder, has anybody discovered anything interesting recently?)

And as at every Christmas, greetings from the grandchildren:

(As an aside, the Mariano altarpiece above was restored due to a grant from a couple who are members of the California Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museum.  That's certainly a worthy endeavor!  But since I could never qualify as a restorer of medieval art, I guess I'll stick to trains.)

A New Mystery

Art Peterson has been sending us more terrific in-service photos of Illinois electric cars (check out the latest additions to the Coal Belt Electric page!) and one of the latest batch caught my eye.

This open car was described on the back as the East St. Louis & Suburban, "running to Central Park on the first day the standard gauge line ran." But there are a few problems: the ESL&S didn't run to anywhere called Central Park that I'm aware of (though I could be wrong); it was all standard gauge, making that reference a bit odd; and this car doesn't really have an ESL&S "look" (most early ESL&S cars had their headlights on their roofs, for one thing, and they tended not to have poling pockets). Anyone have any idea where this might have been taken, either on the ESL&S or not?

Paint on the Fender

Many thanks to Frank Kehoe, who was out at IRM this week and back at work on the 18's fender! This time he was hard at work with the gloss black finish paint.

The top two photos were taken by Frank, the bottom two by Joel, who was in the shop later in the day. Both the "fence" and the basket are really looking sharp! Of course, there's more to do - we need to cut, bend and drill more of the little straps that hold the basket to the pipe framing, then we need to take it apart just long enough to slide the new rubber sleeves onto the front bar. But it's really coming along rapidly.

Weekend Report

Frank writes...

I wasn't able to make it out to IRM this weekend thanks to a bug that kept me home taking care of ill family members (nothing serious, don't worry). Fortunately, our intrepid cub reporter Steven was at the museum to document it all and sent a full report - thank you, Steven!

Project 1 of the weekend was to replace a burnt-out bulb in the Hornet while it was out of service for this weekend. [See below.] The bulb was acquired from the "Lean-3" attic and worked perfectly in the Hornet.

One of Saturday's oddities was CA&E 431 being used in streetcar service due to Hornet's roof having a few leaks. 431 seemed to be very popular with the crowds with the great heat inside! 

Ed: Kudos to the shop crew for running all three kerosene markers!

Miscellaneous photos from Saturday. Main notable stories were that the 45-tonner was in and out of the Diesel Shop a few times this weekend for various projects. Other shots are various HHR property shots and a quick two photos from 18's fender progress. 

Sunday Photos: Richard mentioned that the online roster was missing some info on the Toledo Edison 1, so equipped with a tape measure, Joel and I took a walk to Barn 13 to get the height, width, and length dimensions of the steeplecab. Shots show off the cab, one hood, and the double articulated coupler.

Joel also did what he does best, teaching us newer volunteers new skills; today's skill was properly lighting and trimming the wick of our kerosene lamps. Here we see Joel, Will, and I getting the three kerosene lamps hung onto the back of the 431. I was told that the CA&E normally only ran with the two lamps but when downtown on the Metropolitan line they ran with a third in the rear middle, which we recreated the last few days of operations. The final photo was a parting shot of the Barn 6 lineup with the Warrenville CA&E sign in the background and the 431 on the other side.

Ed.: This isn't the best angle and I couldn't find a good view of my own, but with its hood propped up like this TE 1 looks like the world's largest and rustiest game of Hungry Hungry Hippo.

Many thanks again to Steven for sending this update!